For five years, Jean-Marc Dalphond and Marie-Joanne Boucher at the Polytechnique have been studying the shock of the femicide in order to assess its consequences to this day. After creating a lab and a podcast show, they present the results of their work in a documentary theater show at TNM and then on tour in Quebec.
Published at 1:23 am. Updated at 9:00 a.m.
If you were of the age of reason on December 6, 1989, you probably remember where you were when news of the École Polytechnique massacre broke. “The mass murder of women committed by Marc Lépine is a little similar to our September 11, 2001,” explains the woman who has been working on this project with Jean-Marc Dalphond for five years. The latter experienced the tragedy first hand: his cousin Anne-Marie Edward is one of Marc Lépine’s 14 victims.
On December 6, 2018, as on every anniversary of the killing, the actor posted the names of the 14 victims on Twitter. A very simple post that prompted a flood of hateful comments. After an exchange, Marie-Joanne Boucher persuades him to create a documentary play together to understand what happened.
In my head, these women were all untouchables. I realized I was living in a cocoon. I started researching and quickly became disillusioned. I have seen sites with vile content; including a blog “In honor of Marc Lépine, the Prophet”!
Jean Marc Dalphond
“Why are assault weapons still not controlled 34 years after this bloodbath? Why is hatred of women, both in words and actions, even more evident in 2023? Why is Canada (along with Sweden) one of the two countries in the world where the Incel (involuntary celibacy) movement has the most followers? » These are some of the questions addressed by the show Projet Polytechnique, directed by Marie-Josée Bastien and produced by Porte Parole. The company’s co-founders, Annabel Soutar and Alex Ivanovici, are also involved in the dramaturgy.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Jean-Marc Dalphond: “I’m doing this show to make sure my cousin didn’t die in vain. If it brings balm to my wound, all the better, but that’s not the reason I created this piece with Marie-Joanne. »
The first incel
On stage, the production will recreate the sequence of meetings that marked their investigation, mixing the violent testimonies with the sensitive reactions that this terrible event provoked. We will hear the words of Léa Clermont-Dion, as well as those of the incels, and also the words of former police chief Jacques Duchesneau, Guy Morin, a spokesman for the gun lobby, Nathalie Provost, who was injured in the tragedy, and journalist Francine Pelletier and a masculinist who is followed by several followers online, for whom feminists are the target, and the murderer, a hero…
“Marc Lépine is the first impetus,” claims Dalphond, after delving into this radical movement that is more important than we would like to believe. “We’re talking about millions of men on the planet,” he said. And the two centers of incels in the world, according to some researchers, are Canada and Sweden; because these are countries in which equality is more deeply integrated into the social fabric. »
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Marie-Joanne Boucher: “Before doing this show, I didn’t know that I was a feminist activist. »
It is exponential with the polarization of debates; There is currently an army of Marc Lépines in the world. The masculinist movement now feeds on social networks and disinformation on the Internet. They are better organized today than they were in 1989.
Marie Joanne Boucher
“We should have woken up the day after the femicide. There must be an immediate discussion about how to deal with the consequences of this massacre in society, says Marie-Joanne Boucher. Instead, we shunned responsibility. The word feminicide appeared in 2019, 30 years after the Polytechnique massacre…”
“We hope that the show lasts for a few more years and awakens the awareness of the audience, young and old. Everyone must act together. We are connected to each other. The solution is collective. You find it in the strength of community,” says Dalphond.
“These women did not die in vain,” the two authors and actors conclude.
On view at the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde (TNM) in Montreal from November 14th to December 13th. On tour in Quebec, until April 2024.
The creators of the Polytechnique Project invite you to share your memories and thoughts related to the femicide of December 6, 1989 at Polytechnique Montréal.