Belgian Canadians are in touch with family members in the country that is beginning to ‘return to normal’ after the sucide bombings in Brussels, 13 days ago.
Yesterday, the first of three flights took off from Zaventum airport, under tight security. Normally the airport handles 600 flights a day but reconstruction and security measures will come first as the airport rebuilds .
There was also a huge gathering in Brussel’s Place de la Bourse yesterday to remember those who died. 32 people were killed, and over 300 injured, 62 of them critically, when three nail bombs exploded during the morning of March 22, 2016.
“It’s still a little bit of, I guess, disbelief at what happened there, sadness at what happened there, and again, outrage”
Two bombs were detonated in the airport at 7:58 am. Just over an hour later, another was set off in a metro car as the train was pulling out of the Maalbeek station, which is not far from the European Commission headquarters.
Andre van der Heyden, vice president and COO of the Belgian Canadian Business Chamber, says Belgian Canadians were feeling a mix of outrage and fear for loved-ones back home, as well as for some of the members who were in Belgium at the time,
ListenAndre van der Heyden said, one of the members of the chamber was actually at the airport during the attack, about 100 metres away from the blast. She has now returned to Toronto but he says “she’s still, obviously, coping with the duress and the stress of it all.”
“It’s still a little bit of, I guess, disbelief at what happened there, sadness at what happened there, and again, outrage” he says.
He says there’s a lot of solidarity within the membership of the community here in Canada, and a lot of solidarity with their compatriots back home.
“We will rise above this, we are resilient, and we will go on”
The Centre Francophone de Toronto has established a ‘Help-Line’ for Belgians in Canada who may be having problems dealing with the trauma of the events in their homeland.
But van der Heyden says “the overwhelming spirit is we must move beyond this and we cannot let this change who we are fundamentally. We will rise above this, we are resilient, and we will go on,” He says many people are united in their determination that “the goals that these perpetrators sought to achieve will not be achieved.”
When asked about the security concerns, the demands that more must be done before entering airports, van der Heyden, acknowledging he is not a security expert, says it’s about the balance between security and accessibility. “If we start putting the metal detectors before you enter the building, you’ve got a concentration of soft targets outside”.
Andre van der Heyden quoted Toronto Mayor John Tory, who in addressing a vigil at City Hall on the evening of the attacks, said “these individuals represent no one but themselves”. Andre van der Heyden says “It is important, that not only Belgians, but citizens worldwide, that it be the moderates that speak up, and that we rise as one and say… you’re not going to succeed in making us afraid.”
Brussels is a major international centre. NATO is based here as well the headquarters for 2300 foreign companies. As the capital of the 28-member European Union, it is a home to 5000 diplomats, 15,000 lobbyists and 1500 members of the international press. .
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