08/10/2026
Six months.
I have been trying to find the right words for today, and the truth is, I’m not sure there are any.
How has it already been six months? And at the same time, for so many people, I imagine it feels like no time has passed at all.
Six months ago, Tumbler Ridge experienced something none of us could ever have imagined. Something that changed families, friends, a school and an entire community forever.
Today, more than anything, I just want to remember the people we lost. Not as a number. Not as victims of a terrible tragedy. By their names.
Abel Mwansa — 12 years old
Ezekiel Schofield — 13 years old
Kylie Smith — 12 years old
Zoey Benoit — 12 years old
Ticaria Lampert — 12 years old
Shannda Aviugana-Durand — 39 years old
Emmett Jacobs — 11 years old
Jennifer Jacobs — 39 years old
It is especially difficult to look at those ages.
Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen.
Children who should be growing up. Going to school. Driving their parents crazy some days and making them laugh the next. Thinking about birthdays, summer holidays, friendships and all the things they wanted to be someday.
And Shannda and Jennifer, two women with families, friends, people who loved them and lives that should have had so many more chapters.
There really aren't words big enough for that kind of loss.
And we haven't forgotten Maya and Page, who were injured that day. I hope they continue to feel the love of this community surrounding them as they heal, in all the ways healing is needed after something like this.
My heart is also with the parents, siblings, grandparents, extended families and friends who wake up every morning and have to somehow keep going. With the classmates who see an empty desk or instinctively think of something they want to tell their friend. With the teachers and school staff. With our first responders and everyone who ran toward something no one should ever have to see. And with all those who may still be struggling quietly.
Six months doesn't make any of that disappear.
Grief doesn't work that way.
There will be good days and terrible days. There will be laughter followed by guilt for laughing. There will be songs, photographs, places and ordinary little moments that suddenly bring everything rushing back.
I hope we continue to give one another permission to feel all of it.
I have thought a lot about the words Tumbler Ridge Strong over these past six months.
Strength isn't pretending this didn't break us.
It did.
Our community's heart was broken that day.
But maybe strength is what we have done with that broken heart since.
It is the meals dropped at someone's door. The phone calls and hugs. The people who showed up without being asked. The people who sat together when there was absolutely nothing they could say to make things better.
It is checking in again — weeks and months later — after the rest of the world has moved on.
And maybe most importantly, it is remembering.
So today, six months later, I hope we stop for a moment.
Say their names.
Remember that behind every name was a person who was deeply loved.
Abel.
Ezekiel.
Kylie.
Zoey.
Ticaria.
Shannda.
Emmett.
Jennifer.
And hold Maya and Page a little closer in our thoughts as they continue forward.
Our hearts are still broken.
But they are still beating.
And I hope they will always beat a little louder for the eight beautiful lives Tumbler Ridge will never forget. ❤️
