Mark Carney and Governor-General Mary Simon attend a vigil for the victims of a mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., on Feb. 13.Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press
The mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., in February, in which a person with a history of mental illness killed two members of their family in their home and then went on to kill six more people and injure 27– most of them children – at a local high school, has been followed by an official silence in Canada.
Ottawa, the British Columbia government and the RCMP are saying little to nothing that could explain to Canadians what happened in that awful tragedy.
This information vacuum might explain why there have been no loud public calls for tighter gun control or changes to the mental-health care system, which is what normally happens after such events.
It’s a noticeable contrast with the aftermath of the 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia, which left 22 dead and quickly led the Liberal government under Justin Trudeau to introduce sweeping gun-control measures that were poorly conceived and executed.
Unlike then, the Carney government has not moved precipitously to announce new legislation or other measures in the wake of the Tumbler Ridge shootings.
The lack of a kneejerk reaction is welcome, to a degree, but it is not acceptable that information is being withheld that could launch an immediate public debate about the prevention of similar horrors in the future.
The crucial question may not be whether Canada needs more gun laws, but whether the ones in place have failed. A month after it happened, there are too many things the public still doesn’t know about what happened in Tumbler Ridge to answer even that basic question.
The RCMP made repeated calls to the shooter’s home over the years because of mental-health issues. On several occasions, the shooter, Jesse Van Rootselaar, was detained for involuntary treatment under B.C.’s Mental Health Act and then released.
At one point, the Mounties even seized legally owned guns from the home, something police can do in Canada without a warrant when they believe the weapons pose a risk. The guns were returned after the legal owner, the shooter’s mother, petitioned the court to get them back. According to a neighbour, the guns were returned a month before the tragedy.
On what basis were those guns returned? Without that information, no one can assess whether existing gun laws are strong enough to keep otherwise legal firearms out of households where they could pose a risk – either to someone in the home, or to the public – or whether the problem was that those laws were poorly implemented. (The Globe and Mail is part of a media consortium seeking access to court documents related to the Tumbler Ridge shooting.)
Opinion: Canadians deserve to know what guns were used in the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting
Canadians are also in the dark about what weapons were involved. The RCMP says a shotgun was used at the shooter’s home to kill their mother and half-brother, and that it and another weapon used at the school had never been seized.
Police have said they are not sure about the origins of that second weapon, used to inflict the most damage. We don’t know if it was legally owned by someone, whether it was a banned model under current gun laws or whether it had been modified illegally, such as by the addition of a large magazine.
The RCMP is refusing to provide more details but has not given a reason for doing so, other than the usual rationale of there being an ongoing investigation (one in which the shooter is dead). The Mounties need to provide a better justification than that for keeping these details hidden.
The fact the shooter was repeatedly apprehended under B.C.’s Mental Health Act and then released is also a concern. Privacy laws may limit what doctors can tell police, but the public deserves to know whether two systems so critical to public safety were communicating effectively. Was there any proper follow-up?
These critical facts should not wait to be revealed in a public inquiry held a year or more from now. We can all do without another rushed legislative reaction to a mass shooting, but Canadians need to know the truth about what happened in Tumbler Ridge – and the sooner the better.
Something went horribly wrong before that terrible day in Tumbler Ridge. Eight people were killed and dozens more lives were changed forever. Those families, and the rest of Canadians, deserve clarity on the events in Tumbler Ridge, as a first step to heading off another tragedy in the future.
Editor’s note: In a previous version of this article, the photo caption incorrectly identified Governor-General Mary Simon.