The Canadian flag at half-mast at the legislature in Victoria on Wednesday in honour of the victims of the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.CHAD HIPOLITO/The Canadian Press
It is impossible to comprehend what happened in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., on Tuesday. Even with some information confirmed, an inability to grasp what has transpired remains. Nine people dead, most of them children, most of them found in the high school library.
It is impossible to stomach, to contemplate, to understand. It should be impossible.
Amid the horrors, we can take a moment to be grateful for the help of so many people, who generally labour without much recognition – the opposite, in fact.
Thank you.
To the teachers at Tumbler Ridge Secondary and Elementary schools, who kept their students as safe as they could, who let them know they were cared for and loved. Who barricaded doorways or came up with escape plans, and tried to keep their vulnerable charges calm, even as horrific images from elsewhere in the school arrived via their cellphones.
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To the students who looked after their classmates, especially their juniors like 12-year-old Quinn Campbell, who told The Globe and Mail “they were mostly trying to cheer me up since I was the youngest one in the room.”
To the RCMP officers from the tiny detachment who arrived within two minutes, racing into what was obviously a dangerous and devastating scene. And who will relive what they experienced for the rest of their lives.
To the local health care centre staff who had to deal with a catastrophic situation that would have been difficult in any circumstance – but in this case, with an added level of horror: in a community this small, they would know some, if not all, of the victims. And yet they were able to put personal worries aside to do their jobs. Triage, treatment, care. For kids.
“We’re one big family here in Tumbler Ridge,” as Mayor Darryl Krakowka told CBC’s The Current. These people were operating not just as this was happening to their town, but to their family – either by blood, choice or proximity.
To the CBC broadcasters who continued on radio and television for hours on Tuesday, who learned of the fatalities while on-air live, having to deal with their own emotions as they carried out their public broadcasting duties with such professionalism and care.
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To Trent Ernst, publisher and editor of the Tumbler RidgeLines newspaper (“news and stories about Tumbler Ridge, by and for the people of Tumbler Ridge”), who immediately drove over to the school Tuesday afternoon and did his first of many Facebook Lives. A dedicated reporter, he kept going – even as his daughter, a daycare worker, was sheltering in place. Even though as someone who had himself worked as a substitute teacher at the high school, he was reporting not about strangers, but people he knew. “This is really hitting me hard,” he said on one of several streams, which he continued on with nonetheless – in addition to fielding media requests from around the world. What a pro.
To the medical personnel who will travel to or have already arrived in Tumbler Ridge to help – physicians, nurses, grief counsellors.
To teachers and school administrators across the country, who are dealing with anxious students (and parents) in the wake of Tumbler Ridge, and who give students a safe place to learn and grow every day.
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To the politicians who promised to lead with a steady hand in the worst of times, beginning with Mayor Krakowka, who after telling the CBC “I know them all” – meaning the victims – showed his humanity along with his leadership, breaking down in tears – and taking many of us listening with him.
To B.C. Premier David Eby and Public Safety Minister and Solicitor General Nina Krieger, who in a hastily called nighttime news conference, asked Canadians to support the community. “Wrap these families with love,” said Mr. Eby. And to Prime Minister Mark Carney, who cancelled a trip to a security conference in Munich to be here at home, where he is needed, and ordered flags flown at half-mast for seven days. “To those families who have lost loved ones, this House mourns with you,” said Mr. Carney in the House of Commons. So does this country.
The list of helpers is going to get a lot longer – and the challenges more difficult, as details continue to emerge and we learn more about the people the town is mourning. Maybe it helps, even a little bit, to know that the country – the world – is sending love to this tiny place in the Rocky Mountain foothills. And to all those who are doing what they can to help in the face of this insurmountable tragedy.