HALIFAX – A Halifax woman who used to live in the Paris neighbourhood where one of the attacks took place said she will not let fear overtake her.
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Julie Chamagne lived in Paris for approximately 10 years and lived down the street from where a gunman opened fire in a restaurant in the 10th arrondissement. She said the attacks hit, literally, close to home – her old apartment is 100 metres from the shooting site.
“If I had been in Paris, I probably would have been, on a Friday night, in one of those restaurants, having a drink, having a delicious Cambodian meal,” she said.
As news of the shootings transmitted through social media, Chamagne reached out to family and friends who still live in the area.
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“I felt a real initial panic when I heard the news. I texted all my friends there to see if they were all right,” she said.
Chamagne, who said all her loved ones are safe, said she felt a range of emotions about the attacks.
“My beloved Paris, my beloved neighbourhood and even my beloved street was under attack,” she said. “I have so many friends and family members there, so many fond memories, past and hopefully future of those very restaurants and that very kind of area.”
She said the decision of the attacks to target her neighbourhood and even the Bataclan theatre, which saw a hostage situation Friday night, is unnerving.
“It’s almost symbolic in that it’s not overtly symbolic. It’s not the Eiffel Tower. It’s not an embassy. It’s not an official building,” she said.
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“They were neighbourhoods. Multicultural, vibrant neighbourhoods with great mixes of religions, nationalities, cultures, ages and professions, all that makes France and Paris so great. To hit that kind of a target, that kind of apolitical, asymbolic target is something that’s really touching.”
Chamagne works at the Halifax Refugee Clinic and said she also sees the attack from that perspective.
“I can only hope people will realize these groups who carried out these attacks and these kinds of people who do these things – those are the very groups the refugees who are coming into Western Europe need to be protected from,” she said.
The Halifax woman said she is worried the attacks will cultivate fear among Parisians and she is calling for them to stay resilient.
“I really think we need to unite and all form a united front and try to remember the things that make France so great – liberty, equality, fraternity.”
She plans to watch the developments in Paris with bated breath as the investigation continues but said she has plans to return to Paris.
“I plan to go there soon. I plan to sit right down there at that same cafe, at that same Cambodian restaurant,” she said.
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