Victims should be named, not shooter

Dear Editor:

Re: Campaign shines light on violence on page 15 in the November 27th Pioneer.

As The Pioneer articles are usually articulate, thoughtful, and well-written, it was a bit of a disappointment to see that, while the write-up for Purple Light Week identified the disturbed person who perpetrated the tragedy, it failed to name the women whose lives were truncated by his violence. This has left them nameless, nebulous victims in the face of his notoriety (fame?). One understands the need for brevity in any newspaper column so, if the women could not be named, what need to name the perp?

There is a good attempt by CBC (2009-12-08) to honour their memories and give the rest of us an inkling of the people the world lost at this link: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-massacre-victims-1.797455. What struck me is that the article did not name the shooter.

Thank you for your attention. My apologies for any offence, since none was meant. It just occurs to me that bowing to sensationalism might be part of the culture of violence that Purple Light Week is attempting to stamp out.

Shizu E. M. Futa

Invermere

The 14 women who were killed at the Universite du Montreals Ecole polytechnique on

Sonia Pelletier