Dawson College marks shooting anniversary, aims to be a model for other schools

Peace ceremony at Dawson Ten years after the Dawson shootings, a ceremony was held in the school’s peace garden with some of the staff and students who were there.

Like they did ten years ago, Montrealers congregated at Dawson College on Tuesday to show their support for students, staff, and others affected by a deadly shooting.

Hundeds of people gathered in the Peace Garden that was planted following the Sept. 13, 2006 shooting that left one woman dead and injured 16.

The school's director, Richard Filion, said there were two reasons to hold the hour-long ceremony.

The main reason was to remember and honour Anastasia De Sousa in her death, and support her family through their grief and recovery.

The second was to show how resilient the school was in the wake of a tragedy.

"We found the strength and the motivation to engage with greater determination and faith in achieving our educational mission. This resilience, this ability to recover and even draw strength from a sudden shock has driven this community since the very first day and has led us to deepen and broaden our commitment as educators," said Filion.

The ceremony took place in the garden that was created to honour De Sousa, and has a tree from her parent's yard at its heart.

Teacher Chris Adam said the garden was an excellent symbol of Dawson's strength.

"For me this is the epitome of how we've moved on. This is a celebration of life," he said.

Ten years ago, in the wake of the shooting, the school set up panels where students were able to express themselves.

The school removed those panels, but brought them back this week as a way to remember the past, and show new students -- who were in elementary school at the time -- what had happened.

Further, people all over the world can leave their messages of peace on the Dawson Peace Wall website.

The panels were returned to Dawson College to mark the tenth anniversary of the shooting

Staff say that most students have very limited knowledge of the attack, which they believe is a good thing because it allows the school to quietly focus on building community and sending a positive message.

Adam, one of many teachers who had to lock down his classroom ten years ago, said the 90-minute experience was terrifying.

"When someone knocked at the door we weren't sure if it would be the police or the shooter. We had a plan for that. We're not sure it would have worked, but that was a tense moment when we decided to open the door," said Adam.

He found that walking through the school in the wake of the shooting changed him, and convinced him to make Dawson College a model for other schools.

"Take back your school, teach, bring people together, build community. I think that goes a long way to deflecting conflict before it even happens," said Adam.

Over the past decade Adam has been the driving force behind Dawson's "Living Campus."

That has meant creating natural spaces in the school where students can learn, reflect, and connect.

"We want to have project where people bump into each other and talk," said Adam.

Anthony Williams was 17 when he was first a student at Dawson in 2006.

He remembers the disbelief and what had happened, and the solidarity students and teachers found afterward.

"You saw it really blossom that day, but ever since the 10 years and coming back to Dawson, it's a different culture," said Williams.

Now Williams is student union president, and most of his fellow students, ten years younger than he is, never ask about the tragedy.

"I think the students right now are just trying to attend college," he said.

"That's the best thing about Dawson, is that we didn't focus on just the tragedy. We turned it around and made it a positive."