The community of Tumbler Ridge will get a new secondary school at a different site from the one where six people were killed in February’s mass shooting.
British Columbia and the federal government said they will jointly fund the removal of Tumbler Ridge Secondary School and the construction of a new building.
The Peace River South School Board said it wants to “ensure the current school is removed quickly and in a trauma-informed way.”
Premier David Eby said the decision comes after the school board consulted with survivors, families and community members.
“The direction of the community is clear. They wanted to go with a new school on a new site,” he said.
Eby said he hopes that plans for the new school will be ready by the end of the year.
“I suspect that we will be able to pull people together very quickly to respond and get this project built as quickly as possible for the kids of Tumbler Ridge,” he said.
In the meantime, he said the portable classrooms that have been used since shortly after the shooting will be replaced by larger, modular classrooms that can fit up to 30 students each.
The school board said students will move into the new units later this month. It said five additional modular units will be installed by next fall to be used as an administrative and common space.
“As details move forward regarding the future of the school, our focus remains on supporting students, families, staff, and the broader community through this process and ensuring there continues to be a safe and supportive learning environment for local children,” said Tumbler Ridge Mayor Daryl Krakowka in a statement.
It’s not yet clear how much the removal of the old school and the construction of a new building would cost. Eby said federal and provincial funding for the project won’t come out of funding for other communities or projects.
RCMP have said 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar shot her mother and 11-year-old half brother at a home in the small northeastern B.C. community on Feb. 10, before killing five children and a teacher’s aide at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School.
Dozens more were injured, including a 12-year-old girl who remains in hospital.
Police said Van Rootselaar died at the school of a self-inflicted wound.
Eby said on April 22 that the RCMP’s investigation into the shootings was in its final stages.
A coroner’s inquest is expected to begin once the initial investigation is complete.
Eby said he wants to know more about the guns used in the shooting and the role of OpenAI, including the conversations the suspect had with ChatGPT ahead of the shooting.
“If, for some reason, the police investigation or the coroner’s inquest is not able to get these answers for British Columbians, of course. we would move to public inquiry to get those answers,” said Eby.
OpenAI has said employees raised concerns about Van Rootselaar’s interactions with its ChatGPT chatbot as early as last June. The company said the account was banned but it decided not to refer those concerns to law enforcement.
OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman has since apologized, and the company said it has updated its safety policies.
