Tumbler Ridge Shooting: Alberta Mental Health Lines See Surge in Calls

CALGARY, AB — Six days after the Tumbler Ridge school shooting claimed nine lives, Alberta crisis support services are fielding a wave of calls from Calgarians and communities across the province grappling with the fallout.

The February 10 tragedy in northeastern British Columbia — Canada's deadliest school shooting since 1989 — has sent shockwaves far beyond Tumbler Ridge. Education assistant Shannda Aviugana-Durand, 39, and five students aged 12 to 13 were killed when 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar opened fire at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School before dying by suicide. Van Rootselaar had earlier killed her mother and half-brother at home. Twenty-seven others were injured.

Mental Health Lines Brace for Long Tail

Alberta 211 and Health Link 811 — already stretched thin after three years of expanded funding — are now fielding questions about trauma support, youth counselling referrals, and how to talk to kids about violence. Alberta 211's budget doubled to over $15 million across three years in 2022. Health Link 811 added Indigenous-specific support in Calgary and Edmonton last June and is piloting AI-driven triage tools launched in March 2024.

Kids Help Phone, which operates nationally, logged over 22 million interactions since 2020. The service received $7.5 million in federal funding over three years starting in 2024. Texting volumes spike 18% around back-to-school periods — a pattern counsellors expect to see again as Alberta students return from reading week.

The Sharing Gap

Meanwhile, Calgarians trying to share news about the shooting or mental health resources on Facebook and Instagram hit a wall. Meta removed all Canadian news content in August 2023 in response to Bill C-18, Canada's Online News Act, which forces platforms to pay publishers. That's 11 million fewer views of journalism per day nationwide.

Google cut a deal: $100 million annually to Canadian newsrooms in exchange for an exemption. Meta walked. The result: crisis updates and support info don't circulate on the province's most-used social platforms.

What This Means for Calgary

If your kid's school sent a letter home about the shooting, or if your teen seems quieter than usual, the lines are open. Alberta 211 connects to local services. Health Link 811 offers 24/7 nurse triage and mental health navigation. Kids Help Phone runs text and phone support around the clock.

But finding and sharing that information? That's harder when the platforms Calgarians use most don't carry local news anymore.