A gunman confronts 60 engineering students during their class at l’École Polytechnique in Montreal on Dec. 6, 1989. He separates the men from the women and tells the men to leave the classroom, threatening them with his .22-calibre rifle. The enraged man begins a shooting rampage that spreads to three floors and several classrooms, jumping from desk to desk while female students cower below. He roams the corridors yelling, “I want women.”

Before opening fire in the engineering class, he calls the women “une gang de féministes” and says “J’haïs les féministes [I hate feminists].” One person pleads that they are not feminists, just students taking engineering. But the gunman doesn’t listen. He shoots the women and then kills himself. Parents of the Polytechnique students wait outside the school crying and wonder if their daughters are among the 14 dead tonight. - CBC News

22 years since the Montreal Massacre, we remember them. Whether male or female, if you believe in economic, moral, societal, and sexual equality and liberation, you are a feminist. Even if the women Ecole Polytechnique pleaded, “We are not feminists”, it speaks to the stigma surrounding the word, and the ignorance of the assailant. Do not let it be seen as a negative, damning word. Accept it. Embrace it. Love it. Remember them.