Updated: Sun Dec. 06 2009 16:55:14

CTV.ca News Staff

Canadians attended ceremonies and services across the country today to remember the 14 women slain by a gunman 20 years ago in Canada's worst mass shooting.

About 300 people convened in a Montreal park to honour the victims, who were gunned down by Marc Lepine at the Universite de Montreal's Ecole polytechnique on Dec. 6, 1989.

Women's groups in Montreal formed a human chain, and were joined by some of the survivors of that tragic day.

Nathalie Provost was shot four times when Lepine walked into an engineering class carrying a .223-calibre Sturm-Ruger rifle and opened fire. Over a 20-minute rampage, Lepine wounded 13 other people -- nine women and four men -- before turning his gun on himself.

Provost met the two ambulance paramedics who helped save her life.

"Do you remember holding my hand and screaming in the ambulance?" one of the paramedics asked. "No, I don't," was the reply.

Provost, graduated from the Polytechnique and became a mechanical engineer and is now employed as a director of strategic planning in the Quebec civil service.

She famously confronted Lepine before she was shot, saying, "We are not feminists" and tried to reason with him.

Lepine was angry at "feminists" who he blamed for his problems.

The shooting led to tougher gun-control laws, including the federal long gun registry, which MPs voted in principle last month to end.

Provost, like many of the other victims and their families, has spoken out against the move.

"A firearm is a dangerous object. We register cars and need a licence for them. I don't see why it's scandalous to ask people to register and get a licence for firearms," she told the Globe and Mail.

Jim Edward lost his sister, Anne-Marie Edward, to Levine's bullets, and lobbied for the long gun registry.

"Twenty years later, the hurt's still there in a certain way, I still miss Anne-Marie," he told CTV Montreal.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who is travelling in Asia, called the massacre "one of the most tragic acts of violence against women in our country's history."

"Soon after this tragedy, a powerful resolve grew out of a simple statement to 'first mourn, then work for change,'" Harper said. "As we mark the 20th anniversary of this tragic event, Canadians remain committed to preventing and eliminating violence against women while making our communities safer for all of us."

Conservatives have long argued the registry is a waste of taxpayer dollars and unfairly targets honest gun owners. However, the registry has wide support among Canadian law enforcement officials, who argue it has cut down on some gun violence and leads to more responsible gun ownership.

In early November, a private member's bill to kill the registry was passed by a vote of 164 to 137. The bill must next undergo a Commons committee review, which could lead to amendments.

Supporters of the registry, particularly law enforcement officials in Quebec and family members of Lepine's victims, have spoken out in favour of keeping the registry.

With files from The Canadian Press