Reach out to support one another, university audience hears

About 400 University of Calgary students, faculty, and staff, along with members of the community and news media, attended a brief gathering at Mac Hall Tuesday afternoon to begin a journey of grief and healing. The gathering followed news earlier Tuesday of the deaths of five young people in a stabbing tragedy at a Brentwood home.

Following are selections of the remarks offered by university and community leaders who spoke:

University of Calgary President Elizabeth Cannon: “Today is still unfolding. We are still coming to grips with this tragedy and what transpired this morning. We don’t know all the details yet, and we don’t know the full impact on our University of Calgary community. But what we do know is that this was unprecedented in our community of Calgary. It is absolutely tragic in the sense that young people in the prime of their lives had their lives cut short when they had so many aspirations for their future. I can tell you that we have had messages and calls from across this country. We are not alone. Many are standing by us, offering their support, offering their condolences, and sharing in our pain as a community – our sister institutions from coast to coast, Premier Hancock, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and many others. On behalf of our community, and on behalf of our chancellor, Jim Dinning, I want to offer our community’s heartfelt condolences to the families of those we lost today.”  

Sarah Akierman, president, Graduate Students’ Association: “It is great sadness to hear about the losses in our community. There is mixed emotions and a lot of confusion that we are all feeling at this time. Sadly, some of that won’t go away. We appreciate the outreach and the support that has come from the city and our partners and our thoughts are with our community, their families and their friends.”

Raphael Jacob, president, Students’ Union: “It’s awkward to reach out to people. But as advice from me to every single one of you, and to all the students at the U of C, don’t be afraid to reach out and talk to someone. Maybe that’s a counsellor, maybe it’s a relative, maybe it’s a friend, maybe it’s your spiritual adviser. Whoever it is – if in any way you have been affected by this, please take the time to reach out and talk to people.”

Kelly Johnson, chaplain, Faith and Spirituality Centre: “Just a little over an hour ago I needed to go to a school close by to pick up my 10-year-old daughter and I explained that I needed to come here to share with my community. And she said, but Daddy what can you say? And what can you say? At a time like this it is very difficult. But as has been talked about already, it’s very important to share our love and share our support. There is much to offer.”

Margaret Propp, chaplain, Faith and Spirituality Centre: “We come together in shock, disbelief and helplessness of the events that took place this morning. We come together as a community, to show our unity for comfort for those families who have received the news of the death of their loved ones. We come together to stand for peace and compassion rather than judgment and blame. We come together to ask for comfort for all affected by this cruelty and senselessness.”

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi: “We’ve lost five young people, five good young people, who did nothing wrong, who like all of us had dreams and hopes and were building their lives. Today we come together and we mourn those five lives lost. We mourn that additional one life plunged into darkness. It’s going to be tough for us as a community to come together. But I want to thank you all for coming here today. It’s important that we are together at this time. And we’re going to get through it. We’re going to get through it because that’s what we do as a community, we look after one another.”

 

SU Wellness Centre provides counselling in person or over the phone.