It was late Thursday night when Adrienne Winrow, a Concordia political science student, approached a group of Dawson students to talk to them about how they could influence Canada’s gun laws.
She wants Dawson and Concordia students to take a stand and do something to prevent a repeat of Wednesday’s tragedy. Petitions and letters to Prime Minister Stephen Harper about Canada’s gun registry laws have started to circulate. Winrow will also be leading an awareness group that will inform Dawson students about Canadian gun laws.
The majority of Dawson’s students and administrators don’t think metal detectors would have prevented the situation. However, many feel that stronger gun laws would help.
Faced with returning to class yesterday, their school’s security was on everyone’s mind.
Almitra Yee, 16, a health science student, said that she wasn’t afraid to go back to school, but still had mixed feelings.
“We know for sure that it won’t happen again,” she said, “but it was a crime scene. It’s going to be weird walking through the atrium.”
After a thoughtful pause, she added, “It’s obvious that the security needs to be improved. A lot.”
Alice Wydrych, 17 and studying law and society said, “Our security at large is important to everybody.”
Marvin Hershorn, a Political Science professor at Dawson and Concordia, spoke up about the security issue at Dawson’s staff meeting last Friday.
He said that metal detectors would not be installed and that security guards will not start searching people who enter the building.
“We live in a democratic, open society, thus, Dawson will remain an open institution,” he said.
However, he said, there will be more surveillance cameras installed around the campus.
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