Ottawa marks 50 years since deadly St. Pius X school shooting

As Ottawa marks 50 years since the deadly St. Pius X school shooting, CTV’s Tyler Fleming speaks with someone who was in the classroom that day.

It lasted only moments, but the memories have stretched across half a century for students at an Ottawa high school.

For Paul Clarke, that one day in high school, Oct. 27, 1975, still rings as clear as a bell. He was sitting in his Grade 13 religion class at St. Pius X High School when four blasts from a sawed-off shotgun tore through the room.

“When the shooting started, my reaction was that the wall was falling down, that there was a wall falling on top of me,” Clarke tells CTV News Ottawa. “It was so loud.”

Moments after the gunfire erupted in the ground floor classroom 71 at the school on Fisher Avenue, another shot echoed from the hallway. The shooter had turned the weapon on himself.

Six students were injured in the shooting. Seventeen-year-old Mark Hough underwent emergency brain surgery and later died in the hospital.

“There was mayhem in the classroom. Somebody picked up a chair and just smashed the window,” Clarke says.

“We climbed out the window, not knowing who was hurt or who had been killed. So, when we were outside and I heard the name Rob Poulin, I immediately thought that he had been the victim because whoever had been shooting obviously had shot where Rob usually sat.”

But it was Robert Poulin, an 18-year-old student at the school, who pulled the trigger.

The shooting, around 2:30 p.m., ended a disturbing chain of events that began that morning. Poulin had lured 17-year-old Kim Rabot, a student of Glebe Collegiate Institute, into his basement bedroom of his family home, sexually assaulted and murdered her, then set the room on fire before cycling to school with a duffle bag containing a sawed-off Winchester shotgun. Firefighters discovered her body hours later.

“I was astounded to find out that he was the one who was the perpetrator,” Clarke says. “It was a sad day.”

In 1975, there were no cellphones, no lockdown drills, and few crisis supports. Clarke recalls the daze that followed.

“I lived in Aylmer, Que., at the time and to get home, you had to take the bus, go all the way downtown, then you had to take another bus. And I think what I did was I simply got on the bus and went walking along Sparks Street Mall.”

Clarke, like most, was stunned by the horrific events, which rattled authorities and shocked the city. Over the coming days, some residents would hand in their guns to police. Meanwhile, students were expected to return to class.

“It was different back then. Now it would be so different, I think a school would probably be closed for a week and there would be counselling,” he says.

“I had English class in room 71 the very next day, about 10 of us showed up. It had been painted. The windows had all been repaired. It was as if nothing had happened. It was very weird. And then, after about 10 minutes, Mr. Crowe, the teacher, he could see the look in our eyes and he said, I think that’s probably enough for today.”

Students described Poulin as a loner who never fit in. But two years earlier, when Clarke transferred to St. Pius, the two became friends.

“We spent time together at lunch and we probably had some classes together too,” says Clarke.

”When this happened (the shooting) the school happened to be under construction, and so we only had afternoon classes. We didn’t really have lunch or anything. We went from good friends in Grade 11 to Grade 13, never seeing him. And so, over the years, I thought about, you know, did he become more withdrawn.”

Clarke still wonders why.

The motive was never clear. But the St. Pius shooting came just six months after another school tragedy in Ontario — the Brampton Centennial Secondary School shooting.

On May 28, 1975, a 16-year-old student opened fire with two rifles, killing a teacher and a student, and injuring 13 others before taking his own life.

The back-to-back school shootings helped galvanize calls for tighter gun control. Within three years, the federal government introduced new firearms classifications and banned automatic weapons.

In a statement, Ottawa Catholic School Board director of education Mary Donaghy said the anniversary is a time for reflection and compassion.

“I want to express my heartfelt sorrow to the families and survivors who continue to live with the impact of the tragic events of 1975. Our understanding of trauma has grown enormously since then, and if such a tragedy were to occur today, our response would be very different,” Donaghy said in a statement to CTV News Ottawa.

“We now have crisis teams, mental health professionals, and chaplaincy leaders who provide immediate and on-going support … While we regret these supports were not in place in 1975, we remain committed to responding with compassion, care, and practices that protect healing and student well-being.”

Fifty years later, Clarke and former classmates plan to gather again.

“Nineteen seventy-six is when we graduated. So, 2026 is the 50th anniversary of our graduation,” he says.

“Some people are organizing a 50th anniversary. So, I wonder what that would be like knowing what this piece that we lived through, but it was only one piece.”

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