Vancouver high school honours journalist Michelle Lang, who was killed in Afghanistan
Credit to Author: Kevin Griffin| Date: Fri, 08 Nov 2019 00:45:05 +0000
The aunt of journalist Michelle Lang, who was killed 10 years ago in Afghanistan, said losing a family member to war is so upsetting she can’t forget what happened to her niece even for a moment.
Catherine Lang said she carries her niece’s death with her every day with the rest of Michelle’s family and friends.
“It comes with the sense that life is ever so fragile,” she said. “And that we’re obliged to be vigilant in preserving it.”
Michelle Lang was a Calgary Herald reporter on a six-week assignment in Afghanistan when she went out with Canadian troops on Dec. 30, 2009. A roadside bomb called an improvised explosive device went off as the light armoured vehicle she was riding in passed by, killing her and four Canadian soldiers.
Calgary Herald reporter Michelle Lang who was killed in Afghanistan.
Lang was 34 and engaged to be married.
Catherine Lang spoke Thursday at a Remembrance Day event at Magee Secondary School in Kerrisdale on the city’s west side. Michelle Lang graduated from Magee in 1993.
During the ceremony, a plaque remembering Lang was unveiled. It will be permanently installed among the other plaques honouring Magee students who have died while fighting in wars.
The plaque reads: “Afghanistan Conflict / 2001-2011 / Michelle Justine Lang / Journalist.”
Also in attendance at Magee were Art and Sandra Lang, Michelle’s father and mother; Jody Wilson-Raybould, MP for Vancouver Granville, also attended.
Michelle Lang grew up in Kerrisdale, attending nearby Maple Grove elementary. After Magee, she went to Simon Fraser University where she started writing for the student newspaper.
She got her first reporting job at the Prince George Free Press and went on to several other newspapers in Western Canada, including the Regina Leader-Post.
Her aunt recalled that Michelle got the agriculture beat in Regina even though she knew nothing about farming.
“She had to learn quickly and did,” Catherine Lang said to about 500 students in the school’s theatre-like auditorium. “She won the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation Award in 2002. A colleague called her ‘the best Saskatchewan farm girl Kerrisdale ever produced.’ ”
In 2009, she won a National Newspaper Award for beat reporting while at the Calgary Herald.
Art and Sandra, parents of Michelle Lang, a Calgary Herald reporter killed in Afghanistan in 2009.
Catherine Lang said it was difficult for Michelle to go to Afghanistan and leave her fiancé behind. But she was completely dedicated to journalism that could make a difference in people’s lives.
“Michelle wanted to go to Afghanistan to tell the story of ordinary Afghan people and how the war was affecting them,” Catherine said.
“She loved to learn and wanted to see that women and girls were able to get an education after five years of brutal Taliban rule.
“If she could write about those people and their stories, maybe Canadians would pay attention, maybe Canadians would care more and better understand why we were there fighting that long and messy war.”
Catherine Lang said the consequences of war are inescapable for her family.
“We lost a loved one, Canada lost a fine journalist, her fiancé lost his future wife,” she said. “We’ll never know the children she might have brought into the world.
“But she died doing what she loved. I hope you will honour and remember her. She was one of you.”
After the ceremony, a group of Michelle’s Magee classmates met and remembered her at a reception.
Sarah Noble was one of her closest friends. Michelle had chosen her to be her maid of honour at her wedding, which was planned for the summer of 2010.
Noble described Michelle as “kind, inquisitive, intelligent,” and someone with the kind of energy that made you want to be around her.
It was in grades 11 and 12, Noble said, that Michelle’s interest in writing started to become apparent.
“She was never very studious until she absolutely had to be,” Noble said. “I would say she blossomed late in high school. She was so determined.”
Lionel Grannis said Michelle was always up for an adventure.
“If there ever was something going down, she wanted in at ground level and she was in until the very end,” he said.
An estimated 40,000 Canadian troops served in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2014, although Canada’s combat role ended in 2011. A total of 159 soldiers were killed as well as seven civilians, including Lang.
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