Nathalie Provost (born 1965 or 1966) is a Canadian gun control advocate who was shot in the 1989

École Polytechnique massacre École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

. She became a spokesperson for the PolySeSouvient gun-control advocacy group, created by survivors of the shooting. She works as a civil servant, and featured as a character in Louise Penny's 2022 novel '' A World of Curiosities''.

École Polytechnique massacre

Provost was a 23-year old mechanical engineering student at

École Polytechnique de Montréal École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scal ...

in 1989. On December 6 of that year,

Marc Lépine Marc Lépine (; born October 26, 1964 – December 6, 1989) was a Canadian antifeminist mass murderer from Montreal, Quebec, who, in 1989, murdered fourteen women, and wounded ten women and four menNote: Many sources state thirteen were wounded ...

, armed with a rifle interrupted a lecture, shot the ceiling, and ordered the approximately 50 men to vacate the room, leaving him with the nine female students, including Provost. Lépine told the women he was there to fight feminism, to which Provost stated they were there as students, not as feminists. Lépine shot the women, killing six, and injuring three, including Provost, before continuing his massacre injuring and murdering others, mostly women. Provost received four gun shots to her head and leg as she tried to persuade Lépine to stop and while cautioning her fellow injured to play dead.

Adrienne Arsenault Adrienne Arsenault is a Canadian journalist who is the Chief Correspondent of CBC News and co-anchor of '' The National'' since November 2017. Arsenault joined the CBC in 1991, as an editorial assistant and night assignment editor for CBC Toront ...

, 6 Dec 2022
''Montreal Massacre survivor targeted by online hate''
CBC's The National. Twenty-seven people were injured in the attack, and fourteen women were killed, making it, at the time, one of the most deadly mass murders in modern Canadian history. Lépine took his own life after the attack. Provost returned to her studies one month later, and completed her bachelor's degree in 1990, before completing her master's degree at the same university.

Advocacy

After the attack, Provost embraced the feminist label, describing it as a "beautiful title." With other survivors of the attack, she formed the gun-control advocacy group PolySeSouvient, and became one of the two spokespeople. In 2009, she advocated to retain the Canadian Firearms Registry, opposing plans that were eventually implemented by the Government of Stephen Harper in 2012. In 2019, she resigned her role as vice-chair of Canadian Government's Canadian Firearms Registry after serving on it for two years, citing dissatisfaction with the government's timid approach to gun control. In 2021, she urged federal politicians to reject firearms regulations proposed by the

Liberal government Liberal government may refer to: Australia In Australian politics, a Liberal government may refer to the following governments administered by the Liberal Party of Australia: * Menzies Government (1949–66), several Australian ministries under S ...

, which she saw as too weak. In 2022, Provost denounced the

Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights The Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights (CCFR) is a Canadian gun rights organization. History The organization was founded by lawyer Tracey Wilson in the autumn of 2015 shortly after the Liberal Party of Canada won the 2015 Canadian feder ...

for using the discount code "POLY" for its online sales. Her complaints prompted a barrage of online abuse, including sexual and violent threats.

In popular culture

In 2022,

Louise Penny Louise Penny is a Canadian author of mystery novels set in the Canadian province of Quebec centred on the work of francophone Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec. Penny's first career was as a radio broadcaster for the ...

sought and obtained Provost's permission to include her as a character in her novel '' A World of Curiosities''.

Career and personal life

Provost was born in . Provost works as a civil servant for the Government of Quebec. In 2022 Provost received an honorary doctorate degree from École Polytechnique. The university credited her for her “remarkable achievements, driven by uncommon determination and social values, ndfor the example of audacity that she embodies for the new generation of engineers in Quebec, in Canada and around the world.” She has four children. She lives with

post-traumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...

References

External links