The École Polytechnique massacre—a mass shooting incident on December 6, 1989 in which Marc Lépine used a Mini-14 rifle to shoot 28 people, including 14 women killed, before committing suicide—sparked a substantial rise in activism to tighten Canada's gun licensing and registry legislation. The first steps toward the Canadian long-gun registry began under the federal Progressive Conservative Party government of Prime Minister Kim Campbell. It was the child of former Conservative Senator Nathan Nurgitz, who wrote then Prime Minister Campbell requesting all guns be registered.