Nathalie Provost

Nathalie Provost (born 1965 or 1966) is a Canadian gun control advocate who was shot in the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre. She became a spokesperson for the PolySeSouvient gun-control advocacy group, created by survivors of the shooting.

She works as a civil servant, and featured as a character in Louise Penny's 2022 novel A World of Curiosities.

École Polytechnique massacre
Provost was a 23-year old mechanical engineering student at École Polytechnique de Montréal in 1989. On December 6 of that year, Marc Lépine, armed with a rifle interrupted a lecture, shot the ceiling, and ordered the approximately 50 men to vacate the room, leaving him with the nine female students, including Provost. Lépine told the women he was there to fight feminism, to which Provost stated they were there as students, not as feminists. Lépine shot the women, killing six, and injuring three, including Provost, before continuing his massacre injuring and murdering others, mostly women. Provost received four gun shots to her head and leg as she tried to persuade Lépine to stop and while cautioning her fellow injured to play dead. Fourteen people were injured in the attack, and fourteen women were killed, making it, at the time, one of the most deadly mass murders in modern Canadian history. Lépine took his own life after the attack.

Provost returned to her studies one month later, and completed her bachelor's degree in 1990, before completing her master's degree at the same university.

Advocacy
After the attack, Provost embraced the feminist label, describing it as a "beautiful title." With other survivors of the attack, she formed the gun-control advocacy group PolySeSouvient, and became one of the two spokespeople.

In 2009, she advocated to retain the Canadian Firearms Registry, opposing plans that were eventually implemented by the Government of Stephen Harper in 2012.

In 2019, she resigned her role as vice-chair of Canadian Government's Canadian Firearms Registry after serving on it for two years, citing dissatisfaction with the government's timid approach to gun control. In 2021, she urged federal politicians to reject firearms regulations proposed by the Liberal government, which she saw as too weak.

In 2022, Provost denounced the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights for using the discount code "POLY" for its online sales. Her complaints prompted a barrage of online abuse, including sexual and violent threats.

In popular culture
In 2022, Louise Penny sought and obtained Provost's permission to include her as a character in her novel A World of Curiosities.

Career and personal life
Provost was born in 1966 (age 23). Provost works as a civil servant for the Government of Quebec. In 2022 Provost received an honorary doctorate degree from École Polytechnique. The university credited her for her “remarkable achievements, driven by uncommon determination and social values, [and] for the example of audacity that she embodies for the new generation of engineers in Quebec, in Canada and around the world.”

She has four children. She lives with post-traumatic stress disorder.