This post contains graphic text pertaining to the 1989 Montreal Massacre, a deadly shooting which resulted in the deaths of 14 innocents and many more wounded.
The Montreal massacre also known as the École Polytechnique massacre, was a radically charged anti-feminist and misogynist mass shooting in the early December of 1989 which led to the death of 14 innocent women, and the injury of 14 others (10 women, 4 men).
Shortly after 5pm on the 6th of December, the perpetrator (may his name be forgotten), entered into a second floor classroom after spending an hour in the lobby. Interrupting an ongoing class, the murderer shot into the air and forced the men and women to separate by gunpoint. He sent the nearly 50 men outside of the classroom. The remaining women were kept in the classroom, and the murderer briefly spoke to them. After a brief argument, the murderer opened fire and summarily executed six of the women (Hélène Colgan age 23, Nathalie Croteau age 23, Barbara Daigneault age 22, Anne-Marie Lemay age 22, Sonia Pelletier age 28, and Annie St-Arneault age 23) and injured the remaining three. Of those three that were injured, Nathelie Provost, was one of the ones that argued with the murderer before he opened fire -- she survived the incident.
After killing the students in the, he left the room and wounded three students in the corridor outside of the door. After, he entered another room and tried to shoot another female student, but his weapon failed to fire. After reloading in the emergency escape stairs, he returned to find the door locked, but blindly shot through the door.
Frustrated, he left and shot at another student in the corridor and continued on to the administrative portion of the building for financial services. There, he murdered the budget clerk (Maryse Laganière age 25) through the door's window.
The murderer then returned to the first floor where he had been earlier, entered the cafeteria and opened fire at around 100 people. There, he killed a nursing student (Barbara Maria Klucznick, age 31) who was near the kitchen and wounded on other. The crowd then scattered, running or hiding. The murderer continued to a storage area connected to the cafeteria and killed two other female students (Anne-Marie Edward age 21, Geneviève Bergeron age 21). Still in the cafeteria, he commanded a male and female student to come out from hiding under a table. He let them flee.
The murderer continued to the third floor, taking an escalator, where he then shot two male students and one female student in the hallway at the top of the escalator. On the same floor, the murderer entered a classroom, commanded all the men to exit, shot and wounded a female student who was at the front of the classroom giving a presentation. In the panic, the rest began to flee or hide. He murdered two female students in the front row (Maud Haviernick age 29, Michèle Richard age 21) as they tried to flee. Discharging the rest of his ammunition, he wounded 3 more female students and killed another (Annie Turcotte age 20). After reloading a 30 round high-capacity magazine, the murderer moved to the front of the classroom and shot in random directions in the classroom. The student who was shot at the front of the room during her presentation asked for help, and the murderer took out a hunting knife and stabbed her three times, killing her (Maryse Leclair age 23).
After killing his last victim, he takes off his cap and coat, wrapped it around his rifle. The murderer last said "Oh shit" before killing himself by shooting himself in the head. He left behind 60 rounds on the table in front of him, and had fired about 100 rounds overall.
PolySeSouvient is a gun control advocacy group formed by the survivors of the massacre, one notably being Nathalie Provost. Nathalie Provost survived 4 gunshot wounds in the first room when the shootings first started. Since then, she has been politically active, running on strong anti-gun platforms. In 2025, she was voted in to be a member of parliament for Châteauguay—Les Jardins-de-Napierville, Quebec, with 45% of the vote. She was also appointed to be the Secretary of State (Nature), under the Minister of Canadian Heritage, by Mark Carney.
Montreal, the song.
The song itself was written shortly after the massacre, in 1991, and was originally meant to be part of the 1991 Road Apples album. The song was only performed once in 1991 but never recorded. It wouldn't be until 2000 for the anniversary of the massacre that the band played the song once more. There was still no official recording of the song, but a few bootleg recordings made its rounds from the 2000 playing. For the longest time, this was the only way to hear the song. Since 2021 however, the Tragically Hip have included Montreal in their Saskadelphia album, the album which was released 4 years after the death of lead singer Gord Downie, featuring all unreleased songs from the 1991 Road Apples recording session. Along with the release of the album, the band made a music video later that same year which donated all proceeds to PolySeSouvient.
Information for this post came from a multitude of sources, but the primary ones are hipmuseum.com, a online website featuring in depth research regarding the Tragically Hip by superfan Stephen Dame, who has been running the site since 2005. Regarding the events of the massacre itself, I referred to the wikipedia article, which itself is based on the book "Because They Were Women" written by Josée Boileau.