For associate professor Zo Meletis the reverberations of the Montreal massacre are still very real these 26 years later.
Meletis is from the city where 14 women were murdered by Marc Lpine at cole Polytechnique on Dec. 6, 1989.
"I think it's left an indelible mark on me," said Meletis, who's helped organize the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women on Nov. 25 at the University of Northern B.C. where she teaches.
But this year she and co-worker Annie Booth have changed their approach, for the first time offering a two-week event called Inspiring Women Among Us - which launched this weekend - leading up to those commemorations to bring more people into the conversation.
"I felt that since those 14 engineers could have been our colleagues we should have better representation (at the annual event) and that we had to do something to keep discussions of what happened and trying to make campuses more inclusive and science more accessible."
The idea is to celebrate the impact women have had in science, technology, engineering and math and to offer speakers and workshops to help challenge the barriers women still face and discuss solutions.
"There are violent words, there are violent thoughts, there are violent actions and every time we do something to let more people in, be more inclusive, change ways of thinking, reduce stereotypes, I think we hack away at that violence and opportunities for violence and we build up people's ability to resist, to take a stand, to assert different opinions, to ask for fair treatment," said Meletis, an associate professor of geography.
"That's partly what we hope these workshops and panels will enable people to do a little bit more. Even if we just give them even one little tool in tool box, that's good enough for us."
For Booth, organizing 32 events over 13 days was a way to make conversations around gender and national day more accessible.
"We thought a positive event leading up to that might get people talking and far more engaged," said Booth, a professor of Environmental Studies.
"So part of it is simply raising awareness that women have made some fabulous essential critical contributions in science, in the environment and we just really don't pay attention to it," said Booth who used to ask her students to name five female scientists.
Most often, they came up with maybe two names. Naming five male scientists wasn't a problem.
"Somehow we forget about it, we tend to focus on our male colleagues a little more."
Both are quick to stress the event is open to all genders.
There's a workshop on how to be a good ally, a documentary on notions of masculinity and a number of speakers the two are proud to host at UNBC.
"It's really about finding solutions to some of the challenges," said Booth, adding she was really happy to offer the Discovery Centre over the weekend for youth under 18 to take part in interactive science-themed set activities.
"It's really about getting kids of any gender excited and interested and thrilled about science."
Part of the problem becomes the visibility of women in the field, whether it's with hiring decisions or who gets invited speak at conferences or on panels.
And not all exclusion is purposeful, Meletis said.
"Even accidental exclusion, you can be a part of the solution and track these numbers and say 'Hey we've got to start as an institutions to do a better job of balancing out our speakers so that our students can see themselves in the lineup," Meletis explained.
"There's still a pretty pervasive sense of imposter syndrome among (women in) all different groups: should I really be here?" she said.
There will be two sessions on Tuesday addressing those fears.
"Part of finding solutions is to say 'Hey we know what that feels like. We've been there, we've had those thoughts."
Other highlights this week include a poetry night, aboriginal women and science panel, a mentor coffee hour and a MakerLab workshop. Events continue at UNBC until Nov. 25 and a full schedule is online at www.unbc.ca/inspiring-women.
