MONTREAL – Lilian Escomel was born and raised in the south of France.
While his family and friends still live there, he studies at Université de Montréal.
He panicked when he heard about the attacks in Paris; his friends and family are all safe, but he said it still hurts to be so far away.
“It’s frustrating. You want to sing with your people, you want to have one minute of silence with your people,” he said.
“It’s these moments where you need to be reunited with everyone because you feel all alone.”
To open their arms to Escomel and other French students, Université de Montréal organized an assembly to commemorate Paris and the victims of the deadly attacks.
Around 1,000 people gathered in the school’s courtyard.
The mood was sombre as students and staff hugged and held hands.
Organizers said the purpose was to show solidarity.
“It was organized to show support to all victims, families and communities from France, Lebanon as well, on campus and abroad,” said Nicolas Lavallée, Secretary General of the university’s student association.
Including HEC Montréal and École Polytechnique, 7,500 French students are registered at Université de Montréal this year.
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UQAM has 2,200 French students, McGill University has about 1,700 and over 1,100 are registered at Concordia University.
Some of the universities have responded to the tragedy by boosting services for traumatized students.
“We sent a message to our students offering them help from our counselling services,” said Louise Beliveau, Vice-Rector of student affairs and studies.
“Our international student office also is offering to help if they need anything, like to go abroad to visit family and things like that.”
The school believes it’s important to show students they are not alone.
“The mood is pretty low, it was harsh but what is sure is that everyone looks ahead,” said Lavallée.
“There’s this mood of being ahead and looking for a future, a better future.”
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