Peel Regional Police say nearly 200 charges have been laid following an investigation into a series of commercial break-and-enters in Mississauga.

In a statement, police said the searches resulted in the arrest of two young offenders and the recovery of more than $50,000 worth of stolen property.

More than 35 incidents were reported between November 2025 and January 2026, with businesses across the city targeted.

Investigators allege multiple vehicles were used during the offences, including a silver 2007 Acura RDX and a 2009 Hyundai Elantra.

Officers executed four search warrants on Feb. 10 at three Mississauga homes and one vehicle.

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Items seized included jackets, shoes, perfumes and cosmetic products.

“Break and enters have a real and lasting impact on residents and local businesses, and no one should feel unsafe in their own community,” said Deputy Chief Marc Andrews in a statement.

2:48
Arrested Western University students were making bombs, firearms, police allege

The first accused faces 83 charges, including break-and-enter offences, disguise with intent, possession of break-and-enter tools and mischief over $5,000. The second accused faces 71 similar charges.

Police say both young offenders were held for bail hearings.

A third young offender has been identified and is wanted in connection with the investigation. They are facing 36 charges.

In total, the three accused face 190 charges.

Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, the identities of the young persons cannot be released.

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

An Indian man charged with orchestrating an unsuccessful alleged Indian government-backed plot to kill a Sikh separatist in New York City pleaded guilty on Friday to three criminal charges, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan said.

Nikhil Gupta, 54, pleaded guilty to murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carry a maximum combined sentence of 40 years in prison, the spokesperson said.

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Gupta entered his plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn in Manhattan federal court.

Lawyers for Gupta were not immediately available for comment. Gupta has been jailed in Brooklyn since his June 2024 extradition to the United States from the Czech Republic, where he had been arrested a year earlier. He had pleaded not guilty immediately after his extradition.

U.S. prosecutors accused Gupta of plotting with an Indian government official to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a U.S. resident and dual U.S.-Canadian citizen who advocated for a sovereign Sikh state in northern India.

India’s government has dissociated itself from any plot against Pannun, saying it was against government policy.

The discovery of alleged assassination plots against Sikh separatists in the United States and Canada has tested relations with India, which has also denied involvement in such plots.

The deadly mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., has sparked questions about Canada’s firearm seizure regulations and so-called “red flag” laws that allow the removal of guns in a case of mental health concerns.

The RCMP has provided few details so far about the firearms used in the shooting and how the shooter, identified by RCMP as 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, acquired them.

Officials said Wednesday that firearms were seized from the family home “a couple of years ago” but were later returned after a successful court petition to get them back.

It is not yet clear if those firearms included the ones used in Tuesday’s shooting, which RCMP confirmed were a long gun and a modified handgun.

“Police have attended that residence in the past, approximately a couple years ago, where firearms were seized under the Criminal Code,” Dep. Comm. Dwayne McDonald, the B.C. RCMP commanding officer, said in a media briefing.

“I can say that at a later point in time, the lawful owner of those firearms petitioned for those firearms to be returned, and they were.”

2:14
Tumbler Ridge shooting: 5 teens, teacher dead as RCMP identify shooter

McDonald added that the shooter had a firearms licence that expired “I believe” in 2024 and did not have any firearms currently registered. He also said the shooter had a history of mental health issues and was known to police.

“Police had attended that residence on multiple occasions over the past several years, dealing with concerns of mental health with respect to our suspect,” he said.

“I can say that on different occasions the suspect was apprehended for assessment and follow-up” under B.C.’s Mental Health Act, he added, and had been taken to hospital “in some circumstances.”

B.C. Premier David Eby told reporters Wednesday evening he had “a lot of questions” when asked about the seizure and return of firearms from the home.

“I know the people of Tumbler Ridge have a lot of questions. I’m sure the families have a lot of questions,” he said.

Section 117.04 of the Criminal Code allows for the seizure of firearms by a peace officer, even without a warrant, if there are “reasonable grounds” to believe a person poses a safety risk to themselves or others by possessing those firearms.

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If any firearms, weapons or firearms licences are seized, a judge will have to review the evidence behind the seizure at a hearing within 30 days. The judge will then determine whether the items should be forfeited or destroyed, or issue a prohibition order that forbids the person in question from possession for up to five years.

The previous Liberal government in 2023 passed Bill C-21, which updated Canada’s “red flag” laws to allow anyone — including civilians, such as a family member — to apply to a court for an emergency prohibition order if there is a safety concern. The applicant must prove with evidence that a person poses a risk to themself or anyone else.

0:53
Canada’s firearms legislation: Proposed handgun bill to include ‘red flag laws,’ Mendicino says

That order, if issued by a judge, directs the removal of the person’s firearms, firearm licence and any other weapons for up to 30 days. A hearing may also be set to determine if a longer-term prohibition of up to five years should be issued.

An application can also be made for an emergency limitations on access order, which would direct a person living with someone under a prohibition order to store their firearms in another location for up to 30 days. A longer-term order may also be considered in these cases.

Firearms may also be seized if police determine firearms are being improperly stored, or if an unlicensed member of a household has access to a gun safe in the home, among “so many other factors,” lawyers and firearms instructors told Global News.

“If there’s a continued safety concern, the police can intervene once again,” said Rob Dhanu, a defence lawyer and former federal Crown prosecutor based in Abbotsford, B.C.

“It’s all about balancing … public safety concerns with the individual rights of Canadian citizens.”

Prohibition orders can be appealed under the Criminal Code, which requires a hearing where the person must prove there is no longer a danger posed by themself or someone else in the home.

In a mental health scenario, the firearms may be returned if “you can prove that … the individual is now medicated properly and there haven’t been any incidents or events for the last couple of years,” said Dan Jones, who chairs the justice studies program at NorQuest College in Edmonton and is a retired 25-year veteran of the Edmonton Police Service.

“The other one would be potentially if the person who owned the firearms and the person who had the issues around mental health … no longer lived at that address. That’s another way to get them back…. So it’s dependent upon the situation. Every situation is going to have a little bit of a difference, but also they’re going to have some similarities when it comes to ensuring the safety of the individual, to people in the home, and people in public.”

10:32
Mass shootings and mental health stigma

However, lawyers say judges are very cautious when it comes to mental health cases because it can be difficult to predict how people will behave in the future.

“In my experience, it’s very rare for somebody to get the firearms back, regardless of where they were seized,” said Jerry Steele, a Vancouver-based defence lawyer who has experience arguing weapons cases.

“Particularly in youth cases, it’s very, very rare to see those firearms return.”

B.C. MLA Elenore Sturko, an independent who previously served as an RCMP officer, told reporters Thursday she has questions about why the firearms were returned to the home of the Tumbler Ridge shooter.

“It is someone’s legal right to make an application to have those firearms returned,” she said. “So for what reason they were returned, what arguments were made, who those firearms belong to and whether or not they were the firearms used in the commission of this horrible attack, those are questions that need to be answered.”

Sturko added that the confirmation of multiple mental health interventions by police may require B.C. Attorney General Nikki Sharma to seek changes to the Criminal Code, particularly Section 117.04.

“If this is a law that needs changing and we need to toughen up the ability for someone who potentially poses a risk to have firearms returned to their home, she needs to go to Ottawa and have this law toughened up,” she said.

Jones, however, said it’s difficult to see where the law could be strengthened further.

“You can never 100 per cent say something is not going to go wrong, and I think that’s [true] in any situation where there are firearms in a home,” he said.

“There is always potential, right? Because firearms are firearms. And that is why we have strict firearms laws.”

— with files from Global’s Jillian Piper and Rumina Daya

It was almost six years ago that Tammy Oliver-McCurdie lost her younger sister, brother-in-law and 17-year-old niece in Nova Scotia, all of them victims of the deadliest mass shooting in modern Canadian history.

Oliver-McCurdie says that when she heard about the school shooting Tuesday in northeastern British Columbia, she recalled the agony she felt when she learned a man disguised as a Mountie had fatally shot the entire family and 19 other people on April 18-19, 2020.

“This is very difficult for our family as this brings back many emotions,” Oliver-McCurdie said in a statement that focused on offering support to the people of Tumbler Ridge, B.C., where eight people — mostly children — were killed by an armed 18-year-old who police say took her own life.

“I cannot describe the amount of pain we are all feeling for you,” Oliver-McCurdie, a resident of Red Deer, Alta., said in the statement. “What I would say to you is, hold your loved ones tight and allow yourself to lean on those healing people who surround you — family, friends, community, church.”

1:47
Portapique Community Centre reopens 4 years after Canada’s worst modern-day mass shooting

Oliver-McCurdie also offered some advice on how to cope with a devastating loss that is also the subject of international scrutiny.

Her sister, Jolene Oliver, her brother-in-law, Aaron Tuck, and her niece, Emily Tuck, were among the first victims killed by the Nova Scotia shooter on April 18, 2020.

“Give yourself a quiet space to process, as the noise can be daunting,” she said. “And seek help early from victim services, counselling and those close to you.”

Oliver-McCurdie also said B.C. authorities should remember that the psychological fallout from this type of tragedy will extend far beyond the province’s borders. She recalled that after the murders in Nova Scotia, she and other relatives in Alberta struggled to cope.

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“The distance was tough,” Oliver-McCurdie said in an interview Wednesday. “It took a long time for us to get supports in place.”

Still, she said many of the victims’ families in Nova Scotia have kept in touch over the years, which she said has provided her with an important source of strength.

“Our Nova Scotian family has been very important to us …. And we support each other to this day.”

Serena Lewis, a longtime social worker in Nova Scotia, says that in the immediate aftermath of such a traumatic event, those directly affected remain in a state of shock and disbelief.

“Grief is the hard work that’s coming later,” said Lewis, who in 2020 was the province’s grief and bereavement coordinator in the northern region where the mass shooting started.

“There’s a lot happening for Tumbler Ridge right now, and we need to be super respectful of that,” she said.

Lewis, who still lives in Nova Scotia’s Colchester County, said this early stage is when well-meaning people typically come forward to offer support, which usually means “keeping the casseroles coming.”

“But it’s after the funerals when the quietness comes,” Lewis said. “That’s when the grief really settles into loss. Right now, we’re just trying to … make sense of what happened.”

2:34
Tumbler Ridge residents mourn mass shooting victims

That’s why those who want to offer help must pace themselves and focus on treating the bereaved with the utmost respect, she said. For people living outside of Tumbler Ridge, that could mean reaching out in a very personal but low-key way.

In the days after the killings in Nova Scotia, Lewis recalled receiving letters of condolence and packages from people in B.C., which she brought to Portapique, N.S., the tiny seaside community where the killer began his 13-hour rampage.

Lewis said this type of gesture reminded her of when drivers pull over to let a funeral procession pass.

“So these are the times when our country can start to feel a little smaller and a little more connected,” Lewis said. “I think we have to really be willing to pull the car over and say, ‘What is it that you would like? Can I bring a casserole?”’

Earlier this week, Lewis said she sent an email to the mayor of Tumbler Ridge to let him know she was thinking about his small community more than 4,000 kilometres from the Atlantic coastline.

1:32
Tumbler Ridge school victims identified

In Ottawa, the member of Parliament for the Nova Scotia riding of Cumberland—Colchester, Alana Hirtle, said she spent most of Wednesday in tears, listening as party leaders in the House of Commons paid tribute to the victims in Tumbler Ridge.

Hirtle was among a group of volunteers who worked to build a community centre in Portapique after the mass shooting. When it opened in 2024, Premier Tim Houston said it represented the “community’s journey of healing and harmony.”

“I don’t know how the folks in Tumbler Ridge feel, but I can appreciate where they are — the shock, the horror, the overwhelming sorrow,” Hirtle said in an interview.

“I remember before Portapique being very smug and saying, ‘Things like that never happen in Nova Scotia. It doesn’t happen in Canada.’”

Hirtle said it will be important for Canadians to reach out to the people in Tumbler Ridge and to listen when the community says what it needs.

“I would say to that community, to those individuals and families: be gentle with yourself. You’re going to feel a lot of emotions. Grief is not linear,” the MP said.

“Over the next period of time — days, weeks, months — nothing’s going to make sense. And grief will rear its head at every weird and surreal opportunity. And you’ll wake up some days and you’ll forget what has happened.”

— With files from Sarah Ritchie in Ottawa

The mother of a 12-year-old girl killed in the school shooting in Tumbler Ridge says her family is struggling to comprehend the loss as the small northern B.C. community mourns the victims.

Sarah Lampert spoke to reporters Thursday about her daughter, Ticaria, who was among eight people killed in the attack that also left the shooter dead and dozens injured.

“We now have to figure out how to live life without her, and there’s nothing and no one that can fill that gap,” Lampert said. “Our family is shattered, and it is going to take immense amounts of time to get through this.”

Lampert, a single mother of eight children, described her household as deeply interconnected. “I’m a single mom and every single one of us matter in my family. Our truth is that we have learned to become a functioning cell together. Every one of us mattered. Her absence in our family is not going to go unnoticed,” she said, fighting back tears.

2:30
Questions about how shooter had access to guns

Lampert described her daughter as a larger-than-life presence in their home. “She was a blazing light in the darkness. If you didn’t see her, you definitely heard her,” she said, adding that her daughter “just wanted to bring sunshine to everyone and everything she ever touched.”

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“She loved her family fiercely … her friends were her everything,” her mother said.

Lampert said everyday routines now serve as painful reminders of her daughter’s absence.

“Simple things like going and getting in the van and turning around and not having a full head count is going to be hard. Everything is hard right now.”

Ticaria, known to family and friends as Tiki, is being remembered as a vibrant and loving child.

“Ticaria (Tiki) was such a loving, courageous, humorous, one-of-a-kind kiddo and her life was cut short at only 12 years of age,” reads a GoFundMe page set up by a Tumbler Ridge resident to support the family with funeral expenses.

The page says Lampert “could use some help with funeral costs to lay her baby girl to rest the way Tiki deserves,” adding that Ticaria “left behind seven other siblings and a mother who loved her so much.”

Lampert thanked the community and addressed her loved ones. “To my family and my friends and everybody else, just know that I am going to get there. We are going to get there,” she said.

“This has been the hardest pill to swallow. I still am in disbelief. To accept that my daughter is gone is impossible. I don’t know what else to say. Thank you everyone.”

A community vigil is scheduled for Friday. Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to attend as residents gather to honour the victims.

–with files from Amy Judd and Uday Rana

2:02
How traumatized will teens be by the Tumbler Ridge tragedy?

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In early February, a joint operation by Alberta Sheriffs, Calgary Police Service and the provincial government conducted more thorough inspections of commercial vehicles at the Airdrie, Alta., vehicle inspection station north of Calgary.

Insp. BJ Bjornson with Alberta Sheriffs says plenty of vehicles were dealt with.

“We had 20 of the 23 vehicles not pass the actual inspection qualification process,” explained Bjornson. “Five of which were able to (be) fixed locally on site, whereas the other 15 weren’t able to be fixed locally and had to remain on site, and placed permanently out of service until that could be removed in a safer manner.”

Alberta Sheriffs operate more than 40 vehicle inspection stations and mobile inspection stations across the province. On any given day, officers perform upwards of 40 commercial inspections each day for a total of more than 15,000 taking place in 2025, resulting in more than 4,000 vehicles being removed from Alberta roadways.

“We actually have two levels of inspections we’re looking for. Our level two inspection would qualify as similar to what a driver would do for their inspection,” Bjornson noted.

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“On that specific day we conducted a level one inspection where we do that preliminary inspection on the outside of the vehicle, but then we get underneath the vehicle and we start looking at the components.”

1:55
Alberta Sheriffs Police Service aims to decrease rural wait times

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When issues are found, Alberta Sheriffs primarily focus on education, but can escalate if necessary.

“Depending on what the infraction is, or the deviation or defect that we find, it could be anything from a fine that is nominal in nature, or it could be anything up to a long duration to have that vehicle seized,” said Bjornson.

“That impacts the drivers, that impacts the carriers, which is why we focus more on the collaborative approach with our industry partners.”

At Heavy Wrenching Diesel, co-owner Joseph Saoud tells Global News choosing not to stay on top of servicing their equipment can result in serious repercussions.

“When the truck is not operating, they’re losing money. The guys who are set up for success are doing preventative maintenance rather than waiting for it to blow,” Saoud remarked.

“These are killing machines if they’re not being paid attention to.”

And it’s not just the drivers or carriers that can face consequences.

“If there’s any proof that a shop has recently looked at it, and allowed it to leave, or worse yet passed the safety inspection with that damage? They will come here and fine us, remove licensing,” said Saoud.

“So there are consequences to bending the rules.”

Saoud says he’s heard of potential bad actors within the industry, but says the province is good at nipping problems in the bud before the grow into an issue.

“I don’t know how they get away with it, but they do,” notes Saoud. “But they don’t last long, it’s just dangerous while they’re in operation, and DOT (Department of Transportation) does a pretty good job of finding them and catching them.”

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Some Saskatchewan Polytechnic students say they are taken aback after being told their program will be moved to another city next school year.

On Jan. 29, students enrolled in the electronic systems engineering technology (ESET) program received an email stating that their two-year program would relocate from Saskatoon to Regina this fall.

“It feels disrespectful in a way. I feel like I’m not being viewed as a person, but I’m being viewed as a number,” said Krei Carlson, a first-year student in the ESET program.

Transferring the two-year program to a location over 250 km away would affect around 15 current first-year students.

For Alex Leowen, a first-year ESET student who has two children aged 6 and 8, relocating is not an option and would require him to withdraw from the school.

“I can choose to abandon my education or abandon my family for a year. So for me, it’s a deal breaker,” said Leowen.

The situation is similar for Carlson, who currently lives in Saskatoon with her parents and did not anticipate having to move when she first applied to the program.

“I’m not going to have a support system over there. I don’t know anybody in Regina,” said Carlson.

First-year ESET student Timothy Carlow is also having trouble digesting the news that he would have to move across the province to finish the program, especially after he just moved to Saskatoon from British Columbia.

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Carlow says he settled down in the Bridge City after a workplace injury to undergo retraining and support his fiancée.

“The idea of me having to leave her again and move to Regina is going to have a huge impact on our personal relationship,” he said.

“What we were told is that all options were looked at here in Saskatoon, and there was no place to put us anywhere in the city, so the only option would be for us to go to Regina at that point. Which we find kind of hard to believe,” said Carlow.

“We obviously felt kind of blindsided by this.”

In the emailed letter sent to students, Brenda Suru, dean of the school’s faculty of technology and skilled trades, said relocating the ESET program is to allow the school to operate “more efficiently,” adding that it will “create space for new innovation-focused centers that will enhance learning opportunities for future students.”

The school is also not accepting any first-year students for that program for the next school year, according to the letter.

Carlow says students requested to speak with faculty immediately after receiving the email informing them of the move, but that they faced difficulty in doing so.

“It wasn’t until we reached out to the student association that we were able to get a meeting set within 24 hours of that talk with them,” he said.

Saskatchewan Polytechnic declined Global News’s interview request and did not provide an exact reason for the relocation, out of “respect for employees.”

Instead, the school provided a statement from last week on employee layoffs due to funding gaps, adding that “comprehensive supports are available to ensure students receive the guidance and resources they need during this transition.”

Global News has obtained a communication sent to the school’s students’ association by the program’s vice dean, stating the move is due to a deficit caused by cuts to international student enrolment.

“This decline, combined with other issues involving provincial government funding, translated into a significant impact on the institution’s finances, with a deficit occurring this academic year, and projected for another two years,” the communication reads.

The communication also states that students who began their program under the previous curriculum will complete the same curriculum, and there is no minimum number of students required to run the ESET program.

“If some choose to pursue other options and not move to Regina, the program will still be delivered to a smaller cohort,” said the communication.

Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Advanced Education told Global News in a statement that post-secondary institutions operate autonomously and make their own staffing and programming decisions.

“These operational matters are not directed by the Government of Saskatchewan or the Ministry of Advanced Education,” the ministry said.

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Montreal’s public health department says the proportion of young people who have experienced some form of violence — whether physical, sexual, or psychological — in their romantic relationships is on the rise.

As well, eight per cent of Montreal high school students aged 14 or older have reported at least one forced sexual encounter in their lifetime. That figure is higher than in two previous surveys, when the average stood both times at five per cent.

The percentage is higher for girls than for boys. In the most recent survey, conducted during the 2022-23 academic year, 12 per cent of girls reported at least one experience of sexual violence; four per cent of boys did.

The data is from the third edition of a survey on the health of high schoolers, for which more than 70,000 students across Quebec aged 14 and older were polled. Previous surveys were conducted in the 2010-11 academic year and the 2016-2017 year.

Results specifically from for Montreal were taken from 5,800 students from 92 schools between October 2022 and May 2023.

“We have seen an upward trend since 2010-11, which was the first edition of the survey,” said Salomé Lemieux, a research officer at the health department and author of the report.

“The figure of eight per cent is still worrying because … it refers to forced sexual relations, whether by a young person or an adult.”

In Montreal, 38 per cent of young people who had been in a romantic relationship report having been a victim of one or more forms of violence (physical, psychological, or sexual) from their partner. In 2010-11, the figure reported was 31 per cent.

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“This is also an upward trend since 2010-11, but it can be explained by various factors, such as the fact that technology is now increasingly present in our daily lives,” Lemieux said in an interview.

“Young people have new places where they experience violence: For example, digital surveillance, young people monitoring their social networks, or geolocation for the purpose of controlling the other person are phenomena that we are now seeing a little more,” she said.

As for why the numbers are rising, Lemieux points to the #MeToo movement, which has encouraged victims to speak out since it began in 2017 and has made it easier for young people to recognize and feel more comfortable talking about sexual violence.

“We can ask ourselves about these figures: Is this really an increase in cases, or could it also be an increase in reports of forced sexual relations?” Lemieux said.

She also noted the most recent data was collected toward the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, following a period of social isolation and when youth had reported a degradation of their interpersonal relationships. Other factors, such as low self-esteem, psychological distress, and problematic alcohol consumption, are associated with an increased risk of a young person experiencing violence or inflicting it on others.

The report indicates that intimate relationships marked by violence can have lasting negative impact on people’s mental, physical, and sexual health. Those who experience these situations are at increased risk of psychological distress, engaging in risky behaviours, and repeating the cycle of violence in their future relationships.

For the 2022-23 academic year, 43 per cent of young people in Montreal who had been in at least one romantic relationship in the past year reported having experienced or inflicted physical, psychological, or sexual violence. That figure has remained stable throughout the surveys.

“This is a fairly worrying figure, and we want to see an improvement in this situation. It’s extremely important,” Lemieux said.

The report mentions that in order to reduce violence in intimate relationships in the long term, it is essential to act early. It suggests interventions aimed at strengthening young people’s social skills.

“Ensuring that they know how to resolve conflicts in their friendships, for example. It’s important to start sending these messages early in childhood and to make sure that there are adults around, that there is a support network trained to know how to respond to (situations) and how to connect people to resources for help if they witness … violence in childhood or adolescence,” Lemieux said.

She emphasized the importance of talking about healthy, balanced relationships from an early age.

“And making sure they recognize violence if they experience it, and that they can ask for help as easily as possible,” Lemieux said.

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Following Tuesday’s mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., local MP Bob Zimmer says the community is full of “tough individuals” but that anyone who needs help should know mental health support is available after a tragedy that’s “tough to process.”

Eight people were killed in the tight-knit community of about 2,500 people, including five students and a teacher at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, as well as two others at a nearby residence. Roughly 25 others were injured.

The shooter also died from what RCMP believe was a self-inflicted injury.

Messages of support have poured in from across the globe since the tragedy, including from Canadian and other world leaders. Zimmer spoke with Global News on Thursday from Tumbler Ridge.

“There’s been countless offers from across the country to help and there’s been so many that it’s just difficult to manage all that information. You’re talking about a little community of about 2,500 people, and all of a sudden the whole, it seems, world is saying, ‘How can we help?’” said Zimmer, who is the Conservative MP for Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies.

“It’s very personal at the same time and very difficult because it’s such a terrible and tragic event that’s tough to process.”

4:20
How to talk to your kids about school shootings

Flags are also being flown at half-mast, including at all federal government buildings for seven days.

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Mental health resources are being provided for community members, and BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver have sent a team of youth mental health supports.

Zimmer says Tumbler Ridge community members are resilient, and one of the challenges is to get them the help they may need.

“The difficulty, though, is sometimes we can be tough individuals, especially in a place like Tumbler Ridge. It’s … a rural place. And it’s just that kind of place where we’re used to being in a tougher environment,” says Zimmer.

“That’s the challenge is to get them to the help that they need, and first of all, understand that they need some help and just go talk and work some of this stuff out. It’ll help.”

Zimmer also said he is co-ordinating with B.C. Premier David Eby, as well as Prime Minister Mark Carney, to ensure the community has enough long-term mental health supports.

2:27
Politicians united in grief for Tumbler Ridge shooting victims

Carney and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre confirmed they will travel to visit Tumbler Ridge on Friday and plan to attend a vigil honouring victims of the mass shooting.

“Just to make the effort to come out here is very much appreciated by I know myself, as a local leader, and all of us here in Tumbler Ridge,” said Zimmer.

“I just appreciated even the conversation with the prime minister and Pierre [Poilievre] over the last couple of days, which is very heartfelt and very sincere.”

Tumbler Ridge is also not unlike many other small communities in Canada, where “everybody knows everybody,” which Zimmer says makes this tragedy something that the whole town feels together.

“It’s such a small, tight-knit community, and Tumbler Ridge isn’t a place that you even drive by on the highway going from here to there. It’s a place you have to deliberately go. So people that are here, they all want to be here, and they’re all sort of part of the same community. The mayor is the owner of the local grocery store. Everybody knows everybody,” says Zimmer.

“So it’s just a little bit more personal that these people that you were, you know, even more close to than you would perhaps be if you’re in a big city, it’s even more sort of gut-wrenching and tearing that these individuals are so close to you and now they’re lost.”

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.