Following Tuesday’s mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., local MP Bob Zimmer says the community is full of “tough individuals” but that anyone who needs help should know mental health support is available after a tragedy that’s “tough to process.”
Eight people were killed in the tight-knit community of about 2,500 people, including five students and a teacher at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, as well as two others at a nearby residence. Roughly 25 others were injured.
The shooter also died from what RCMP believe was a self-inflicted injury.
Messages of support have poured in from across the globe since the tragedy, including from Canadian and other world leaders. Zimmer spoke with Global News on Thursday from Tumbler Ridge.
“There’s been countless offers from across the country to help and there’s been so many that it’s just difficult to manage all that information. You’re talking about a little community of about 2,500 people, and all of a sudden the whole, it seems, world is saying, ‘How can we help?’” said Zimmer, who is the Conservative MP for Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies.
“It’s very personal at the same time and very difficult because it’s such a terrible and tragic event that’s tough to process.”
Flags are also being flown at half-mast, including at all federal government buildings for seven days.
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Mental health resources are being provided for community members, and BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver have sent a team of youth mental health supports.
Zimmer says Tumbler Ridge community members are resilient, and one of the challenges is to get them the help they may need.
“The difficulty, though, is sometimes we can be tough individuals, especially in a place like Tumbler Ridge. It’s … a rural place. And it’s just that kind of place where we’re used to being in a tougher environment,” says Zimmer.
“That’s the challenge is to get them to the help that they need, and first of all, understand that they need some help and just go talk and work some of this stuff out. It’ll help.”
Zimmer also said he is co-ordinating with B.C. Premier David Eby, as well as Prime Minister Mark Carney, to ensure the community has enough long-term mental health supports.
Carney and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre confirmed they will travel to visit Tumbler Ridge on Friday and plan to attend a vigil honouring victims of the mass shooting.
“Just to make the effort to come out here is very much appreciated by I know myself, as a local leader, and all of us here in Tumbler Ridge,” said Zimmer.
Tumbler Ridge is also not unlike many other small communities in Canada, where “everybody knows everybody,” which Zimmer says makes this tragedy something that the whole town feels together.
“It’s such a small, tight-knit community, and Tumbler Ridge isn’t a place that you even drive by on the highway going from here to there. It’s a place you have to deliberately go. So people that are here, they all want to be here, and they’re all sort of part of the same community. The mayor is the owner of the local grocery store. Everybody knows everybody,” says Zimmer.
“So it’s just a little bit more personal that these people that you were, you know, even more close to than you would perhaps be if you’re in a big city, it’s even more sort of gut-wrenching and tearing that these individuals are so close to you and now they’re lost.”
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