Mount Royal graduate Chrissy Archibald killed in London terror attack

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Former Calgarian Christine Archibald, 30, has been identified as the Canadian killed alongside six other people in Saturday night’s terrorist attack in London.

Archibald, of Castlegar, B.C., got her degree in social work from Calgary’s Mount Royal University in 2015 before working at a local homeless shelter.

The attack began around 10 p.m. local time, when three men drove a van into a crowd of pedestrians on London Bridge. The attackers then ran down a set of stairs into a marketplace, where they stabbed people in several restaurants.

Messages posted on Facebook by the brother and sister of Archibald’s fiance, identified as Tyler Ferguson, said the couple were on London Bridge when Archibald was struck and killed by a van.

Archibald died in her fiancé’s arms.

“I can’t breathe. You hear these things so often but it doesn’t seem real. Last night in London my baby brother lost the love of his life on the London Bridge. In a split second his entire life was ripped away from him,” Cassie Ferguson Rowe, Ferguson’s sister posted on Facebook.

Archibald’s family asks people to honour her memory by making the community a better place.

“Volunteer your time and labour or donate to a homeless shelter,” the family said in a statement. “Tell them Chrissy sent you.”

Archibald worked at the Alpha House Society before moving to Europe to be with her fiance.

“The employees of Alpha House are devastated to learn of our recent colleague’s passing in London this weekend. Chrissy was a bright light to many, and her generosity, kind spirit and huge heart for her work in responding to issues of addictions and homelessness at the centre inspired us all. We grieve the loss of our dear friend and colleague, and will remember her as a talented social worker, workmate and exceptional human being,” read a statement on Alpha House’s Facebook page.

“Chrissy is in our hearts and will remain there,” it read.

Peter Choate, associate professor of social work at Mount Royal, said Archibald was a “bright light” gone too soon.

“She found a population that she resonated with and enjoyed working with. I had a look at her evaluations tonight and they speak about a woman who found her place, reached out to the clients at Alpha House and showed them dignity, who worked with them if they were willing to get sober at this point or not,” Choate said at a news conference Sunday night.

“The evaluations speak of a young woman who was able to take the best of what social work is about and show people how it’s done. She’s a loss to her family, she’s a loss to her fiance and she’s a loss to the profession of social work,” he said.

Another of Archibald’s former professors spoke to Postmedia via Facebook messenger.

Yasmin Dean, who teaches social work at the university, said: “Today, we are reminded that violence toward some means violence toward all. Every victim is always a son, a daughter, a partner, a wife, a husband, a mother, a father, a friend, an aunt, an uncle, a cousin, a neighbour — a human being.

“Today, the Mount Royal University social work program grieves for alumna, Christine Archibald. Christine — we send our love,” said Dean.

The Canadian government and diplomats in London are advising travellers to avoid the affected areas, as well as to be vigilant in the wake of the attack.

Travellers from London arriving at the Calgary International Airport on Sunday afternoon said everything seemed normal at the airports and they didn’t notice any increased security.

“We came out of our hotel this morning, we thought we’d go down on time and see what it’s like. In the airport, I never saw an armed police officer or anything like that at all and the security was as usual,” said one couple from Bedfordshire, a town about 50 kilometres north of London.

“We’ve lived through the IRA, we’ve lived through this. We just get on with it,” said a British couple who now live in Red Deer.

Other passengers also echoed the familiar British way of continuing to “keep calm and carry on.”

— With files from the Vancouver Sun