Fourteen women receive engineering scholarships in commemoration of 1989 Montreal massacre

Fourteen scholarships were awarded to female engineering students in a ceremony at Polytechnique Montréal this week, in commemoration of the December 6, 1989, shooting that claimed the lives of 14 women at the school. 

The annual Order of the White Rose ceremony took place at the engineering school on Monday, December 1. Fourteen recipients from across Canada were awarded scholarships worth $50,000 each to pursue an engineering master’s or doctoral degree at the institution of their choice. The recipients also receive leadership training and mentorship. 

Instituted by Polytechnique Montréal in 2014, the scholarship program is supported by the Philanthropic Circle of the Order of the White Rose. Previous to this year, only one Order of the White Rose scholarship was awarded annually, but new donors allowed the program to expand. “It’s thanks to new donors who chose to invest in the future of women in engineering that we can grow our support to this unprecedented degree,” Maud Cohen, President of Polytechnique Montréal, said in a press release. 

Nathalie Provost, a graduate in industrial engineering from Polytechnique who survived the 1989 Montreal massacre and now serves as a federal MP and secretary of state for nature, attended the event. 

The scholarship celebrates the excellence of women breaking into the male-dominated field of engineering. In 2020, Polytechnique Montréal set a new institutional record with 30.2% of undergraduate engineering degrees awarded to women. This significantly exceeds the national average, which, according to Engineers Canada, was less than a quarter (23.3%) in 2022. 

Hanna Sigurdson, an Alberta PhD student in biomedical engineering, travelled from her lab at Harvard University in Massachusetts to receive the award at Polytechnique Montréal alongside the 13 other recipients.  

“A panel of brilliant and influential women in engineering saw my potential and felt that my dreams deserve support,” says Ms. Sigurdson. “It’s incredibly motivating to receive the Order of the White Rose scholarship.”  

Why 14 scholarships?  

The ceremony took place a few days before the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, when vigils and white ribbons pay tribute to the 14 women murdered on Dec. 6, 1989. 

At this year’s Order of the White Rose ceremony, Ms. Provost’s honorary title as sponsor of the scholarship was amended to include an induction into the Order of the White Rose Hall of Fame. She is the first to receive this honour. 

Several politicians paid tribute to the recipients’ achievements. Federal Minister of Industry Mélanie Joly, Quebec Minister of Higher Education Martine Biron, and Outremont MP Rachel Bendayan all attended the ceremony. Ms. Bendayan also celebrated the news on social media, noting that “their talent, determination, and vision represent the future of our country and honour the memory of the victims [of the Montreal massacre].”