Mr. Trudeau, I have had several opportunities to meet you since you became leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Prime Minister. However, the majority of these meetings took place during the commemorations of the Polytechnique feminicide held annually on December 6. During these meetings, I believed in your commitment to banning assault weapons.
I believed you because I am convinced that the man, the husband, the father that you are sincerely wishes to act against this scourge of our society which are these weapons.
But you are prime minister first. The imperatives of state governance confront you. I am aware of it.
For my part, Mr. Trudeau, I cannot negotiate on this issue. It’s a blood pledge that I made.
On December 6, 1989, Annie Saint-Arneault’s last look impressed itself on my retina. The sound of Barbara Daigneault’s last breath still rings in my ears. I still feel the bodies of Hélène Colgan, Anne-Marie Lemay and Nathalie Croteau touching mine, our blood mingled that evening.
I took the floor on December 8, 1989, to ask my sisters and brothers to come back, to recreate Polytechnique. I told the girls from Quebec who have a desire for scientific disciplines not to curb their enthusiasm and to join us to study at Polytechnique. Life had to take over.
The wish of the majority
It is for this reason that I was at the Polytechnique Student Association press conference in January 1990 alongside Heidi Rathjen, who was then beginning the fight of a lifetime. That day, I met Suzanne Laplante-Edward, who, although grieving the loss of Anne-Marie, was determined to work to strengthen gun laws to protect other Quebecers and Canadians from the horror of another mass shooting. Our demand then was for a ban on assault weapons. We never stopped asking for it. And, you should know, Canadians have always overwhelmingly supported this request. Assault weapons have no place in our communities, in the hands of ordinary citizens.
I cannot accept half-measures concerning the ban on assault weapons, I have sworn to do so in memory of my colleagues. It is a half-measure that was proposed last Monday by the Minister of Public Security, Marco Mendicino.
Don’t get me wrong, I know that Bill C-21 contains strong measures and deserves to be passed. But since our original request is for assault weapons, we can’t drop this aspect.
I still believe that deep in your heart you really want to ban assault weapons. I am even convinced that Jagmeet Singh and Marco Mendicino like Bill Blair before him want it the same way. There must be an approach that complements the list of prohibited assault weapons and ensures that the limitations of the new definition will be met. You can still keep the promises you made to the survivors and family members of the victims of the Montreal massacre, as well as to the majority of Canadians who wish to see these weapons prohibited and who will applaud you for having the courage to govern. .
And if, despite everything, you persist in the current path, know that I will be there to observe the evolution of the situation, the increase in the number of weapons in circulation in Canada, the increase in armed violence, the increase in feminicides and, sadly, the likely mass killings. I will be there, with my sisters at heart, to observe the effects of your decisions, and I will be the spokesperson for those who have asked and are still asking for reassurance that they are safe from armed violence. fire.
The December 6 feminicide is not an abstract concept in my life. It’s a day marked in my flesh that makes the woman I am. I can’t negotiate with this.