‘Don’t forget him’: Côte Saint-Luc names green space after Alexandre Look, Montrealer killed in Israel on Oct. 7

Alexandre Look Place: that’s the new name of a green space in Montreal’s Côte Saint-Luc.

It carries the name in memory of the 33-year-old Montrealer, Alexandre Look, who attended the Nova music festival in southern Israel, where he was killed on Oct. 7, 2023 by Hamas militants.

The City held a naming ceremony on Monday evening to honour Look and his legacy. 

His parents Alain and Raquel were on hand for the ceremony. They were overcome with emotion after reading the plaque written about their son.

“It means everything because you my son was a hero that night, he fought for his convictions, he was brave,” Raquel Look said. “This honour right here, where he grew up, where he spent his childhood, where our best memories are — to honour him this way and that we don’t forget him is so important.”

He was among the over 300 people that were killed in the attack at the festival.

Raquel says she was told her son protected others, as the bomb shelter he was seeking refuge in was under attack. Using his body as a shield to save others, it is said that Look helped save eight people.

“He was just immediately coming to the front, he thought that he can do everything, he never was scared from anything,” said Look’s friend Itay Maor. “He was actually start talking with them in Arabic and unfortunately, he was the first that got killed.”

During speeches at the ceremony, Look was repeatedly named a hero, with some saying they wished he hadn’t been so brave and taken shelter.

“I’m upset at him. I always told him, don’t play hero,” said friend, Shay Benhamou. “I hope the world knows what kind of person he was — the most unselfish person I’ve ever met in my whole life,” he added.

“It’s indescribable — losing your child unexpectedly, violently,” Raquel said. “It’s part of you. You know that you’ll never be the same again.”

Look grew up in Côte Saint-Luc and the space in his name is located at the end of Kildare Road near Bialik High School, where he spent his teenage years. 

#WATCH: Côte Saint-Luc unveils a green space named after Alexandre Look, the Montrealer that was killed in Israel on Oct. 7.

READ: https://t.co/cklmpe1qu8 pic.twitter.com/F5APs9dsfu

— CityNews Montreal (@CityNewsMTL) September 10, 2024

“It’s important for everyone to remember what happened on Oct. 7th, to remember Alex, and also to remember all the other people that were killed, and what continues to happen to this day with anti-Semitism going on in Canada and around the world, and that Alex was at a concert for peace,” said Mitchell Brownstein, mayor of Côte Saint-Luc.

“Every morning that I come here, before I go to the [synagogue], I just come here and I look at the space and I’m very honoured,” said his father, Alain.

Raquel says the space is perfectly located, between the school and the synagogue.

“There will be young couples getting married over there in the synagogue, we will welcome babies and have bar mitzvahs and over there we have Jewish education and wisdom,” she said. “I can’t think of a better place because Oct. 7th was meant to destroy us, but this is how we win.”

This all comes just over 11 months since his death and what would have been his 34th birthday on Tuesday.

“Since all his friends did come in, we’re going to celebrate his life,” Raquel said, adding that she is hosting a party. “We’re going to all be together, we’re going to get through it together.”