VANCOUVER — Premier David Eby says the B.C. government will demolish Tumbler Ridge Secondary School and rebuild it on a different site “as soon as possible,” after students have spent months learning in modular classrooms following a mass shooting that killed five students and an educational assistant..Eby made the announcement Thursday, confirming long-standing plans to replace the school rather than repair or reopen the existing building where the February shooting occurred. Students have been attending classes in temporary modular units set up on the grounds of Tumbler Ridge Elementary School since shortly after the tragedy.The February 10 shooting unfolded when 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar killed his mother and 11-year-old half-brother at their home before driving to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, where he fatally shot five students and one education assistant and injured dozens of others.The premier had promised immediately after the shooting that no student would be forced to return to the site. School District No. 59 later stated it did not expect students to return to the current high-school location.The existing school, a low brick building constructed in the early 1980s, has remained closed. Temporary single-wide and double-wide portables were delivered in mid-February to provide interim space while longer-term plans were developed..The announcement comes amid broader scrutiny of the NDP government’s record on school infrastructure.In 2022 the province deferred several previously announced or promised school projects — including a new Mission Senior Secondary, an NDP 2020 election commitment, and seismic upgrades at three Vancouver schools — citing pandemic recovery costs.Facing the highest deficit in more than a decade and plummeting polling numbers for Eby, he 2026 budget introduced what the BC NDP is calling a “re-pacing” of some capital spending to control costs, resulting in cancelled contracts for several health-care projects as well.The province has not released a detailed cost estimate or construction schedule for the new Tumbler Ridge school.
