Demolition of a British Columbia high school that was the site of a deadly mass shooting earlier this year has begun.
School District 59 officials said in a notice last week the work to remove Tumbler Ridge Secondary School will continue throughout the summer and is expected to be completed in the fall.
Six people were killed when 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar opened fire at the northeastern B.C. school on Feb. 10. Before the school shooting, Rootselaar killed her mother and half-brother at their home. Rootselaar died at the school from a self-inflicted gunshot injury.
Premier David Eby announced in May that the school would be torn down, saying students can’t return to the school where such a devastating event happened.
School officials said “every effort is being made to carry out this work in a way that respects the significance of the site” and minimizes disruption to the school and broader communities.
They said most of the work to remove furniture and other moveable materials will take place inside the building and materials will be removed using covered trucks.
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Also, the building will be “carefully dismantled in stages,” rather than using more disruptive methods.
Furthermore, all building materials will be transported to regional landfills. The Tumbler Ridge landfill will not be used.
“While work continues at the existing school site, preparations for the upcoming school year are also well underway. Beginning later this month, the central complex for the Kodiak Campus will begin arriving on site,” officials said.
“This facility will include washrooms, offices, staff workspaces, counselling spaces, and a gathering area for students, and will be ready for the start of the school year.”
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Officials added planning for a new school is moving forward and, in the coming weeks, the school district and the Ministry of Infrastructure will begin the process of selecting an architect to develop design concepts for the new school.
“When consultation begins this fall, students, staff, families, and community members will have the opportunity to review these concepts and provide feedback — the first step in creating a school that reflects the needs and aspirations of the Tumbler Ridge community,” they said.
The school should stay. Use the new school funds for mental health healing where needed. What a waste of tax payers money
THIS IS DISGUSTING ! THE SCHOOL BUILDING DID NOTHING. DESTROY A PERFECTLY GOOD BUILDING BECAUSE OF AN EVENT THAT TOOK PLACE THERE ? ABSOLUTLEY RIDICULOUS, NOT TO MENTION A HUGE WASTE OF MONEY. MEMEROIES ? MOVE THE F/ K ON !!!
This has got to be the stupidest thing this govt has done! Could you imagine the costs if every building that had a mass shooting was torn down and rebuilt…. How about we point the blame where it’s deserved, at the people who poorly stored their firearms where children can have access to them.
So what if there’s another shooting at the new school? Will that be demolished too? This is so wrong. Build a new school but repurpose the old one.
TRUMP 2028, make Canada great again. Nobody here will.
False journalism continues to plague this country. When is the media going to be held accountable.
Waste of money. You are supposed to confront your fears to conquer them, not avoid them by tearing down a perfectly serviceable building. Avoidance fuels PTSD
This is a huge and unnecessary expense. What happened was terrible and the students should have any concerns addressed. Unfortunately bad things happen in life and we need to deal with them. I have heard very difficult stories of what my pàrents has to ensure during WW2. Not easy but it made them strong.
We are making this generation soft,weak and unable to handle stress. I guess that’s how societies become weak and fall over time.
Waist of tax payer dollars.
So wrong on so many levels.
Canada is a joke
haahaa, yeah that solves everything right Eby you’re an idiot
The leftists will do nothing to avoid acknowledging the root cause, including tearing down a school to make people forget.
They even shifted blame to that AI chat social media app, for not giving them a heads up on the guy who was talking violence on their platform. The blame is on the gender-disphoria industrial complex which pushes their madness on temporarily confused youth that need straightening out. Sue them instead, and leave the school intact.
They will do anything to wipe away the truth that a young man with a mental illness killed children because in the aftermath they bent over backwards to pander to the killer
What a waste, sure hope when the new one gets built there are no more killings , this could go on forever when does it stop…. repeat offenders at its worst
Demolishing a school is a terrible choice to do its terrible what happend but Demolishing a school that is worth probably millions doesn’t make any sense, use that money somewhere else for example hiring someone to talk to the people affected