Windsor-Essex residents react to Paris attacks

By Mark Brown

The terrorist attacks that struck Paris on Nov. 13 sent shock waves throughout the world, including those in Windsor-Essex who speak French or have come in close proximity to where the attacks took place.
Like millions throughout the world, Windsor-Essex residents have been following the coverage of the attacks that killed at least 130 people. Others with local ties were traveling while locations throughout the City of Light were under siege.
Peter Pelisek is a digital media professional born and raised in Windsor-Essex. Pelisek was returning home to Vancouver after a three month work stay in Mumbai, India and had a lengthy layover in London, England. The attacks were unfolding when he arrived at Heathrow Airport, just over 300 miles from Paris.
“I had just gotten through security and I was on my way to Terminal 2,” said Pelisek, 40. “I saw a TV turned to the news and it was about the terrorist attacks.”
Pelisek said he could tell something was up when he continued looking around the terminal.

“The only thing I noticed was increased security at Heathrow,” said Pelisek. “There were soldiers walking around. Otherwise everything seemed fairly calm and business as usual.”
Pelisek was able to leave London after a five-hour layover and fly back to Canada to be reunited with his family.
Closer to home, members of Windsor-Essex’s Francophone community paid close attention to the events in Paris, including those at Seasons Retirement Community in Belle River.
“I don’t like it,” said Marcel Byrne, 66, of Belle River, who grew up in a rural Essex County household where French was the first language. Byrne was keeping up on the tragedy in Paris through newspapers and the television networks.
“It makes me feel sad to see what’s happened,” said Byrne, scanning a newspaper that featured the word “horror” in the banner headline.
According to Statistics Canada’s analysis of the 2011 census, roughly 35,000 people in Windsor-Essex identify as bilingual, many of them with ties to French Canada or France. Lakeshore is home to many of them.
Windsor-Essex residents continue to remember the victims of the attacks in Paris. Flags fly at half-staff at many locations across the county, including Windsor City Hall.