Grieving with Tumbler Ridge
This is a dark week for Canada, as tragic images and videos flood through our phones. Canadians were left stunned and grieving after one of the biggest mass shootings in Canadian history occurred in Tumbler Ridge on February 10, 2026. No words can adequately speak to a tragedy like this that has changed the lives of so many families, the community of Tumbler Ridge, and Canada, forever. What does it mean to hold grief for the unthinkable?
It’s natural to search for words and answers, but sometimes trying to say something hopeful or insightful can be a way we protect ourselves from the immensity of the loss. It’s really normal to want the suffering to be less, to have hope, but we want to be careful of unconsciously trying to make the suffering smaller by offering premature positivity. Instead, our hope is to make space for this tragic reality to be what it is, to grieve along with Tumbler Ridge, trusting that grief needs space and when it gets that, healing can happen.
If it feels safe right now for you, take a moment to check in with yourself. Have you been following the news from Tumbler Ridge? How has it been impacting you? See if you can allow the reality of your experience, your thoughts, physical sensations and emotions arise. See what you notice, whether you find intense and clear emotions, anger, grief or sadness in your body, or whether you notice flatness or numbness. Our numbness too, has a wisdom in it: sometimes we simply can’t feel anything more, and it’s also okay to let that register: just stay with that and notice that that is how you come to this week. No matter how you are doing, know you are grieving alongside the victims, their families, the community of Tumbler Ridge and the rest of Canada, and sometimes togetherness in the grief—not making the grief less— is the gold thread that holds us in the dark.