MONTREAL, June 23, 2026 /CNW/ - The Fédération des femmes du Québec (FFQ) expresses its deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims, as well as and its solidarity with all those whose lives have been changed by this act of violence.

What happened yesterday isn't a miscellaneous event, nor the isolated act of a disturbed man. Based on available information—including an explicitly anti-feminist manifesto—the FFQ calls out this act for what it is: an attack on women and equality.

Ideology, not personal distress
The perpetrator's manifesto reflects the incel (involuntary celibate) movement. This ideological movement stems from the belief that women are responsible for male loneliness, that equality between women and men is an aberration, and that violence against women is a legitimate response. His manifesto explicitly calls for a return to a social order in which women are reduced to reproductive roles and calls for an armed revolution.

"These aren't just the thoughts of a single man alone in his room," claims Vé Mikaelian, who oversees antifeminist cases at the FFQ. "It's a structured, documented, and rapidly growing ideology that leads to real victims. Reducing this crime to that of a lone wolf or a mental health issue is both troubling and dangerous."

Numbers that should have been alarming
According to Incels: From the Click to Attack author Annvor Seim Vestrheim, violence in the name of antifeminism have caused at least 15 deaths since 2014 in Canada. Research shows that the volume of messages published in the manosphere has more than doubled in 10 years, and that overtly anti-women language has increased by more than 60%.

These numbers were well known. The warning signs were neither weak nor ambiguous.

Normalization: a different kind of violence
"Antifeminism isn't bound to extremist forums," says Janic Galibois, General Coordinator at the FFQ. It's found in discourse presented as reasonable and even humorous. People talk about the masculinity crisis. Equality is portrayed as excess. Misogynist behaviour in schools is on the rise. These facts and their normalization aren't unrelated to what happened yesterday."

Discourse trivializing hatred of women creates a landscape where extreme ideas become conceivable, then acceptable, and then actionable.

What we demand
The FFQ is calling on the governments of Canada and Quebec to take concrete and urgent action to counter misogynist radicalization and engage in an in-depth analysis on the continuum of male violence.

SOURCE Fédération des femmes du Québec