On December 6, 1989, Marc Lepine brutally shot 14 young women whose only crime was their ambition to succeed in what he saw as a man’s domain.

Lepine’s horrific actions at the École Polytechnique triggered a surging awareness of violence against women and the conviction to end it.

On Tuesday afternoon, students, staff, and faculty braved the cold and gathered at the Great Hall to reaffirm their conviction against violence and to pay respects to the women who died senselessly sixteen years ago.

“We are not immune to prejudice and hatred,” said President David Naylor in the opening address. “All of us at U of T need to combat the more insidious forms of prejudiced behaviour against women and youth.”

Opinions are mixed over the impact that initiatives to stop violence against women are having in Canada.

“There isn’t any possibility of it happening again because we are aware of it,” said Asif Farooq, president of U of T’s Humanitarian Response Council.

Undergraduate Susan Bustos disagreed.

“People forget stuff like [the Montreal Massacre] and get into a safe mode. Sure there are memorials, but people forget anyway. We need to reach the people that don’t come to memorials.”

It was terribly clear Tuesday that the message of the memorial had not reached all Canadians.

Frustrated with his inability to register his new hunting rifle quickly enough, Donald Doyle, a 59-year-old divorced father with two daughters, sent emails with the subject line “Women, Bitches, Sluts” to several feminist groups across Canada earlier this month. In the email, Doyle vowed to finish what Marc Lepine started sixteen years ago. He received a three-year probation and a ten-year firearm ban.

Connie Guberman, U of T’s Status of Women officer, thinks the increased awareness of violence is still insufficient to stem violent prejudices like Doyle’s and the outburst associated with them.

“Hatred still exists, and our system of holding violent perpetrators accountable is still not strong,” said Connie Guberman, U of T’s Status of Women officer. “We have a huge resistance to gun laws in society and we hear music that endorses violence against women.”

Guberman blamed violence on the stereotyped gender roles of ‘pretty girls’ and ‘tough boys’ that society indoctrinates into children.

“We need to educate for change from a very young age. We need to teach girls and boys they can behave differently so there aren’t rigid expectations of how a boy or girl should act.”