SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Member of Parliament

Andréanne Larouche

  • Member of Parliament
  • Member of Parliament
  • Bloc Québécois
  • Shefford
  • Quebec
  • Voting Attendance: 66%
  • Expenses Last Quarter: $81,135.43

  • Government Page
Context: House Hansard - 263 - Dec/6/23
Ms. Andréanne Larouche (Shefford, BQ)
  • Dec/6/23 4:56:58 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, Geneviève Bergeron, Hélène Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Anne‑Marie Edward, Maud Haviernick, Barbara Klucznik‑Widajewicz, Maryse Laganière, Maryse Leclair, Anne‑Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michèle Richard, Annie St‑Arneault and Annie Turcotte. Year after year, we insist on repeating those names. We keep saying that we have not forgotten them, but that is not true. We have forgotten those women. The sound of the sirens on that December day has faded away, and with the passing of time, so have the faces of the Polytechnique women. We rise in the House on December 6, and we are moved as we take turns delivering our liturgy of speeches. December 6 should not be a necessary step, speeches, a candlelight vigil and then nothing until next year comes. Time is a thief and we cannot mourn forever, keeping the sadness and anger inside. Time erases them. It rips them away from us, and we move on to something else. Would these women, who were murdered because they were women, be any safer today? Are the speeches we are giving right now helping to stop this from happening again, and is this helping give us peace of mind? What have we done and what are we doing, as elected officials, to ensure that Polytechnique never happens again? A gun registry that was torn up at the first opportunity? A mandatory buyback program for assault weapons that is being postponed until 2025, when we know, or at least suspect, that the Conservatives will be the ones in charge of implementing it? We know what they will do with that program. The most beautiful speeches in the world will not have as much impact as real action. We want to commemorate Polytechnique and push ourselves to remember the women we lost so cruelly on December 6, 1989, but what are we actually doing? What am I doing to honour their memory? Have we made the best use of the tools democracy has given us to better protect women? I am far from certain of it. There has been a sharp increase in femicide. In 2022, it was up 20% from the year before. A woman was killed every two days: 184 femicides. It is not slowing down. The Polytechnique tragedy continues. There is not just one killer, but many. The victims are not grouped together, they are isolated, over and over again. What are we doing to stop the cycle of violence? Are we doing enough to ensure that a woman is not killed simply because she is a woman? The mandatory buyback of assault-style weapons is not a panacea and this Parliament cannot do everything. We must count on everyone. We must count on the federal government. We must count on the governments of Quebec, the provinces and the territories. We must count on the municipalities, community organizations, police, education in our families. We must count on women and we must count on men. Whenever something can be done, we must do it. It takes a will and courage. Today is December 6, 2023. Thirty-four years ago, a man walked into a school and entered a classroom. He lined women up against a wall and then shot them at point-blank range. He did this because they were women, women with ambitions, dreams and talents, women with lives. All of that was ripped away from them. They were ripped away from us. We will remember them. We say their names so that they will never truly die, so that we can keep them with us in our hearts. They are Geneviève Bergeron, Hélène Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Anne‑Marie Edward, Maud Haviernick, Barbara Klucznik‑Widajewicz, Maryse Laganière, Maryse Leclair, Anne‑Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michèle Richard, Annie St‑Arneault and Annie Turcotte. This must never become a routine or a habit. These women do not deserve to die a second time. Let us keep their memory alive in our hearts. Let us keep the fires of their memory burning bright so that these women, their names and their deaths act as a catalyst, driving us to take action and to do more to combat violence against women. If we succeed in making progress in the fight against violence, if misogyny subsides and if femicides go down, then we will also owe that to these women.
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