Canadians killed in terrorist attack identified
Pregnant teacher, first-time volunteer caught in Burkina Faso gunfire on Sunday
One of the Canadian victims of a terror attack in the capital of Burkina Faso was a pregnant newlywed who was living in the country while finishing a doctorate at the University of Cambridge in England. Tammy Jane Mackay Chen, 34, was one of two Canadians killed in the attack on a restaurant Sunday night in Ouagoudou that authorities in the African nation are treating as a terrorist incident.
She was killed along with her husband, Mehsen Fenaiche, who is a Senegalese citizen and a Muslim, said the man’s brother, Naim Fenaiche.
The couple were married last month in Ouagadougou. On her Facebook account, Chen identified herself Tammy Chen Fenaiche.
The other Canadian victim was identified as Bilel Diffalah, who had been volunteering since November 2016 as a hygiene and biosecurity adviser with a local organization known as the Interprofessional Poultry Organization, said the Montreal-based Centre for International Studies and Cooperation.
Chen’s death was confirmed by her grandmother, Doris Mackay.
“She was going to have my first great grandchild, a grandson. She was six months (pregnant),” Mackay told the Star.
Eighteen people were killed late Sunday when suspected Islamic extremists opened fire at a popular Turkish restaurant in Ouagadougou, the capital.
“It is with very great sorrow that I can confirm the deaths of two Canadians in yesterday’s attack in Burkina Faso,” Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Monday.
“The heartfelt condolences of our government go out to the loved ones of those targeted and the victims of this tragic attack. Canadian consular officials are working hard to provide assistance to their loved ones.”
A native of Montreal, Chen studied education at McGill University and then at Queen’s University. She worked as a French teacher at Toronto’s Glen Ames Senior Public School and Swansea Junior Public School, according to her resume posted to the University of Cambridge’s Center of Development Studies website. But it was at Queen’s University that she developed a passion for development work.
Centre for International Studies and Cooperation said it had made contact with all but one of its 28 Canadian volunteers in the country after hearing of the Sunday attack. Authorities confirmed Monday afternoon that Diffalah was among the dead.
“Bilel was a very dedicated volunteer. He was respected both by his colleagues and by the partner organization with whom he was working. In our experience, he had always shown exemplary behaviour as a Canadian volunteering overseas,” Fatimata Lankoande, the co-ordinator of the volunteer program, which was run by Uniterra, said in a statement.
Diffalah had been a veterinarian in his native Algeria. He had been in Canada for five years, had obtained a certificate in food science systems from the University of Guelph and had worked in the agri-food industry in Canada.
This was his first experience volunteering overseas, said France-Isabelle Langlois, a spokesperson for the development organization.
“He said he wanted to make a difference and that’s why he wanted to go to Burkina Faso,” the organization said in a written statement.