Tumbler Ridge in the remote Peace region of northeast British Columbia was once best known as a coal mining boom town that was built from scratch in the 1980s, then faced challenges from shifts in its economic fortunes.
Now it is grappling with the greatest tragedy in its 45-year history, which has put the tiny community under an international spotlight.
The community was trying to make sense of the "incomprehensible and devastating" events of Tuesday, when an 18-year-old shooter killed her mother and stepbrother before going to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School and gunning down a teacher and five pupils before killing herself.
"Our community is strong; we are family; we need to help each other," says Darryl Krakowka, mayor of the District of Tumbler Ridge, in a statement issued on Wednesday.
The community of a couple of thousand people did not even exist before 1981.
A history of the district on its website says that that's when mining corporations, the B.C. government and Japanese steel makers agreed to develop two mines.
In three years, the town was built, along with its infrastructure and two mines with projected output of eight million tonnes a year.
Upheaval followed with the turn of the century, and the closure of the two mines in 2000 and 2003.
"It seemed as though the town's heyday as a coal mining town had come and gone," the website says.
It says Tumbler Ridge pivoted to focus on attracting people to enjoy "affordable housing and superior lifestyle within a magnificent natural setting."
Coal mining returned with the opening of new mines, and in 2021, the town marked its 40th anniversary, noting that its "heart is beating stronger than ever."
That heart is now in need of healing.
"We are holding close everyone who is injured, grieving and affected," Krakowka's statement says, urging fellow townsfolk to "check in on one another and hold your loved ones close as we navigate this unimaginable loss together."
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jesse Boily
