Every year on December 6, the engineering community pauses to remember the 14 young women murdered at l’École Polytechnique in 1989. Of the 14, 12 were engineering students, targeted simply because they were women who chose to study engineering.
For more than three decades, we have repeated the same words: we remember, we honour, we will not forget. But remembrance alone does not change the systems that allowed this tragedy to happen. And after so many years, we must ask ourselves with honesty: Have we changed the structures, the cultures, and the expectations that shape engineering in Canada?
The conditions, although different today, have not disappeared. Gender-based violence continues in many forms: discrimination, harassment, silencing, pay inequities, stalled careers, and environments that signal to women, implicitly or explicitly, that they do not fully belong. These realities are much more common for women who also navigate racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, or newcomer barriers. This is why gender equality remains pivotal to engineering; not as a symbolic value, but as a fundamental requirement for a strong, ethical, and future-ready profession.
The Importance of Diversity in Engineering
Engineering shapes our infrastructure, technologies, policies, and communities. When women and other underrepresented groups are missing from the table, the consequences ripple through the systems we build. We risk designs that fail to reflect lived experience, technologies that overlook key users, and policies that unintentionally exclude or harm. Diversity is not an accessory to good engineering; it is part of its foundation.
OSPE’s Gender Equality Initiatives
At OSPE, we work every day to bridge the gap between ideals and action. This year, we strengthened that commitment through the launch of Engineering Change: A White Ribbon Sexual Harassment Intervention and Prevention Program, a 26-month initiative designed to foster safer, more respectful, and more inclusive workplaces across the engineering sector.
Engineering Change builds on OSPE’s long-standing efforts to advance gender equity across our advocacy, research, and professional development. From examining how hybrid work environments impact women and caregivers to pushing for fair licensing pathways and equitable access to engineering roles, our work consistently centres safety, dignity, and inclusion.
Across climate, infrastructure, and innovation initiatives, we also continue to emphasize the importance of diverse leadership in shaping resilient communities. And through our networks, events, and storytelling, we elevate the voices of women engineers whose expertise and leadership strengthen the profession every day.
In Conclusion
This work is ongoing, and it is not finished. True change demands persistence, self-reflection, and a willingness to confront uncomfortable truths. It also requires a collective effort from employers, educators, regulators, policymakers, colleagues, and communities. The responsibility cannot rest only with those who are most affected.
As we mark December 6, we honour the young women whose futures were taken far too soon. We honour the generations of women who continue to push forward in the face of exclusion. And we recommit to building an engineering profession where remembrance is not the primary goal, but rather the focus is on the environments we create, the decisions we make, and the people we empower.
We remember.
We honour.
We act.
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