VANCOUVER — Some residents of Tumbler Ridge are questioning the government's plan to demolish and rebuild Tumbler Ridge Secondary School following February’s mass shooting, describing the approach as largely "symbolic" and arguing that resources would be better directed toward direct, long-term support for victims, families and mental health services.The provincial government and Ottawa announced June 18 a $200-million partnership — $100 million from each — to fund a new secondary school on a different site and modernize the local health centre..The current Tumbler Ridge Secondary School was constructed in 1982 during the town’s development as a planned resource community. It serves roughly 160 to 190 students in Grades 7 through 12 — the only public secondary school for a community of approximately 2,000 residents.Students have already transitioned, or are in the final stages of moving, into a modular classroom campus following the tragic mass shooting.Initial temporary facilities began arriving in mid-February 2026, with larger modular classrooms installed in recent weeks and additional units for administrative and common space planned for fall 2026. The BC government has insisted there will be no interruption to schooling, though students and staff will rely on these temporary facilities for the multi-year period until a permanent replacement is completed.The decision to raze the existing building was first outlined May 7. The province has not released a detailed cost breakdown separating the school from the health-centre modernization, nor a firm completion date for the new school. Officials have said they will work to expedite construction. Similar large-scale public capital projects in British Columbia have frequently faced multi-year delays and significant cost increases in recent years..While some parents have voiced support for a new school as a path to healing and a fresh start, other residents argue the scale of the project and the focus on infrastructure merit closer scrutiny given the small student population and competing community needs.In a May 12 open letter to Premier Eby, MLAs and school district officials, Tumbler Ridge resident Helen Scott urged reconsideration of the demolition.“The building itself is not responsible for what happened,” Scott wrote. “Evil and violence came from an individual’s actions, not from concrete walls or classrooms. If we teach children that healing comes from destroying physical places tied to painful memories, we may unintentionally reinforce fear and avoidance rather than resilience and recovery.”Scott proposed instead a protected long-term trust fund for directly affected students, staff and families to cover mental health treatment, education, career training, housing and other needs for years to come — assistance she said would likely cost far less than demolition and new construction while providing more tangible, lasting help.“Children deserve honesty, strength, guidance, opportunity, and long-term support — not simply another building,” she wrote, calling for broader consultation with trauma specialists, psychologists, educators, parents, taxpayers, local First Nations and students before irreversible action.Other community members have raised similar concerns about process and priorities..One resident, in a public statement posted to Facebook, questioned whether the demolition decision had been effectively predetermined before meaningful input, comparing it to what they described as the BC NDP government’s pattern of advancing major decisions with limited debate or consultation.“Given the amount of public money involved, what role did outside consultants, contractors, corporations, and government advisors play in recommending demolition over other options?” the resident asked. “When hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars are involved, asking questions should not be viewed as controversial. It should be expected.”Another statement circulating locally, titled “The School Didn’t Fail Tumbler Ridge. The System Did,” criticized the absence of parallel concrete commitments to victims and mental health alongside the infrastructure announcement..“Spending $200 million on buildings will not fix mental health issues or make the trauma go away,” the statement said. “Healing comes from supporting people, not simply constructing new buildings.”It noted that by the time a new school opens, many current students will likely have graduated, and pointed to the experience of most U.S. schools affected by mass shootings since Columbine, where the focus remained on supporting people and improving safety rather than removing the physical site.“I am not opposed to a new school,” the writer added. “However, I would urge the residents of Tumbler Ridge not to support demolition until governments provide hard numbers and binding commitments for the victims, families, staff, students, and community.”Several major capital projects under the current government have faced delays or been re-paced. In the February 2026 budget, the NDP government announced it was slowing the pace — or "re-pacing" as they called it — of projects including hospital redevelopments and a University of Victoria student housing expansion, now slated for completion in 2034. Critics have pointed to more than $17 billion in cumulative cost overruns and significant schedule delays across capital projects during the NDP’s time in office. Recent school expansion projects have, specifically, carried substantial and escalating price tags.For example, classroom additions at Tamanawis Secondary in Surrey were announced at approximately $52 to 56.5 million for only 23 classrooms.Demolition of the Tumbler Ridge Secondary School is expected to proceed quickly unless reconsidered.The suspect, 18-year-old former student Jessie Van Rootselaar, had a documented history of serious mental health struggles, multiple prior police interactions related to mental health and hospitalizations under the Mental Health Act, according to RCMP statements.He killed his mother and half-brother at home before the school attack, in which six people were killed and 27 others injured. The suspect died by suicide.
