Michael Peter SLOBODIAN

The Brampton Centennial Secondary School massacre

Classification: Homicide
Characteristics: Juvenile (16) - School shooting - "Fed up with life"
Number of victims: 2
Date of murders: May 28, 1975
Date of birth: 1959
Victims profile: John Slinger, 17 (fellow classmate) / Margaret E. Wright, 25 (art teacher)
Method of murder: Shooting
Location: Brampton, Ontario, Canada
Status: Committed suicide by shooting himself the same day

The Brampton Centennial Secondary School massacre was a school shooting, which occurred at Brampton Centennial Secondary School in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. It was the first school shooting in Canada.

On Wednesday, May 28, 1975, 16-year-old Michael Slobodian opened fire in the boy's washroom. Slobodian killed fellow classmate John Slinger in the boy's washroom and then his English teacher, Margaret Wright in the art classroom, and wounded 13 other students. Slobodian then committed suicide in one of the school's hallways.

Ontario Premier William Davis had a 15-year-old daughter Cathy Davis attending the school, but she was not injured. Another witness of the shooting was future Kids in the Hall star, Scott Thompson who was a classmate and acquaintance of Slobodian.

This shooting incident led to tough gun laws in Canada. Previously, anyone could walk into a store and buy a firearm.

Slobodian's terror may have helped spur gun law changes

Michael Slobodian's legacy may be more than a litany of shattered families and traumatized lives.

In the days following the shootings at Centennial Secondary School in Brampton thousands of names were penned to petitions calling on the federal government for better gun control. Slobodian was not a criminal. He was a kid with guns who could lash out when he was angry.

The day after the shootings, then Ontario Premier William Davis -- whose daughter Cathy, 15, was attending Centennial Secondary when the shootings happened -- asked his attorney-general John Clement to meet federal Justice Minister Otto Lang and Solicitor General Warren Allmand to review stringent amendments to the Criminal code.

Pat and Berwick Slinger put aside their grief following the death of their son John -- who was said to be probably Slobodian's only friend -- and testified at the subsequent inquest, calling for gun control rules. The Slingers took the petitions to Ottawa, meeting with Allmand, who, in 1995, chaired the committee reviewing Justice Minister Allan Rock's firearms registration legislation -- laws proposed to make access to weapons more difficult. The proposals were recommended for legislation and passed.