(Saint-Georges and Lac-Mégantic) “For me, everything in life is beautiful. Life is beautiful, you just have to see it,” says Mégane Turcotte with a broad smile. The 27-year-old young woman met in Saint-Georges de Beauce has not always seen life that way. His mother, Diane Bizier, died at Musi-Café on July 5, 2013.
It was a “very, very dark” Mégane who entered CEGEP the following fall. “I didn’t see the point of living knowing that anything could happen to anyone, at any time. I started to consume, I no longer went to my classes. »
PHOTO PROVIDED BY FAMILY
Megane Turcotte and her mother Diane Bizier
At 18, she dropped out of CEGEP, then met a man. “It had been a year since the tragedy happened, I thought it was the really wonderful thing that was to happen next. But no, it was another tragedy. From this controlling relationship, marked by denigration and violence, it will take years for her to extricate herself.
For years I felt like the world was spinning without me, like I was stuck at 17. When I woke up, I was 23 years old.
Megane Turcotte
After breaking up, moving and changing jobs, she went back to school in computer support and plans to pursue video game programming.
“All the trials we encounter in life, we are able to face them and overcome them. That, I firmly believe in. »
At the beginning of June, Mégane learned that deadly love, the book she wrote about her toxic four-year relationship, had been accepted by a publisher, Les Éditions de l’Apothéose. Publication is expected in the fall.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Tristan Lecours was 15 when his mother, Marie-Noëlle Faucher, died at the Musi-Café. Having become a specialized educator, he returned to work at the Polyvalente Montignac in Lac-Mégantic, where he himself completed his secondary studies.
Inspired from the versatile
Tristan Lecours was 15 when his mother, Marie-Noëlle Faucher, died at Musi-Café. He moved to his aunt’s in Lac-Drolet, about twenty kilometers away, but continued to frequent Lac-Mégantic, his high school and his hockey team. “Most of my friends were playing, so we got together. It sure helped me a lot, I took refuge a little in there. »
After high school, he spent a year in Finland, then enrolled at Cégep de Sherbrooke in special education.
“I have always liked helping people and after the tragedy, a special education teacher from the school helped and inspired me with his approach,” explained Mr. Lecours, who we met at his home in Lac-Mégantic. He was able to say “to this person that she had made a huge difference”, since for three years he has himself been a specialist educator at the Polyvalente Montignac.
The disappearance of his mother, at the age of 36, showed him the importance of not postponing everything until retirement.
If my mother had done that, she would never have lived! For me, it was a huge learning. My mother was someone who enjoyed life a lot. Without neglecting my responsibilities, I have to have fun, to be happy.
Tristan Lecours
For all young people
The rolling bomb that exploded on July 5, 2013 left 27 orphans in its wake. And they weren’t the only young people affected.
The majority of primary (71%) and secondary (64%) students were exposed to derailment (fear for their life or that of a loved one, evacuation, etc.), and “this seems to have had harmful consequences on several aspects of [leur] psychological health”, noted the Public Health of Estrie in a survey carried out in 2017, four years after the tragedy1.
Just because you haven’t lost a loved one doesn’t mean you can’t empathize. We are a city where everyone knows each other, so I think everyone was affected differently.
Alysun Paradise
Ten years later, in the halls of the Cégep, “it’s not a subject that comes up frequently”, notes however this outgoing president of the General Student Association of the Lac-Mégantic campus, who was 9 years old at the time of the events. .
PHOTO PROVIDED BY ALYSUN PARADISE
Alysun Paradis, outgoing president of the General Student Association of the Lac-Mégantic campus (cégep Beauce-Appalaches), received the Lieutenant Governor’s Youth Medal for her commitment. She was 9 years old at the time of the events.
“Since it’s been 10 years, most people have been able to move on. Yes, there was an explosion, but we are rebuilding ourselves. »
After the 2017 investigation, a social worker dedicated to young people was added to the local team dedicated to the recovery of Mégantic and a “youth citizen participation committee” was set up. He was particularly involved in the skateboard park project (skate park) and roller track (pump track) inaugurated in 2021 in the Fatima district.
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PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
The skateboard park (skate park) and the roller track (pump track), a project in which young people from Lac-Mégantic have been very involved.
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PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
The skateboard park (skate park) and the roller track (pump track), a project in which young people from Lac-Mégantic have been very involved.
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In January 2020, 72% of students at Polyvalente Montignac considered their mental health to be excellent or very good and only 8% declared it fair or poor, shows a survey of 753 young people from this establishment.
In my opinion, the portrait just before the pandemic was still very positive. It has deteriorated a bit, probably with the pandemic, as in all our schools.
The DD Mélissa Généreux, medical advisor to the public health department of the CIUSSS de l’Estrie-CHUS.
In January 2023, theSurvey on the psychological health of 12-25 year olds surveyed students from four regions of Quebec, including Estrie. And the young people of Montignac were as numerous to declare themselves to be in very good or excellent mental health (54%) as those of all secondary schools (51%), show the data provided by the DD Generous.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
From left to right, Marie-Claude Maillet, community organizer in the Lac-Mégantic outreach team, Andréa Benjamin-Boucher, psychoeducator at the Public Health Department of the CIUSSS de l’Estrie–CHUS, and Dr.D Mélissa Généreux, medical advisor to the public health department of the CIUSSS de l’Estrie-CHUS.
In Montignac, symptoms of moderate to severe anxiety or depression were even less common (31%) than overall (38%).
Pupils in this high school were, however, more likely to have dark thoughts (29%) than the average (24%).
“It’s a lot, 29%, there is something to dig into, but which does not appear specific to Montignac”, specifies the DD Généreux, who observed the same phenomenon in other public schools in the Eastern Townships.
“Yes, we had a particular history, but it’s difficult to compare. Their story is colored by this, just as every young person has difficulties in their life that color their journey,” argues Marie-Claude Maillet, community organizer in the outreach team.
“Our approach is to reach out to young people and work with them to meet their needs. »