Mr. Speaker, the Taber tragedy cuts very close to my constituency and to me personally. I know a family whose daughter was just a few feet away from the shooting. Her life has been changed permanently. She is a girl who knew the disturbed boy who lashed out. She felt the fear and she heard the shots. She went to school that day expecting safety. She left the school in tears.
Her statement to other kids her age is revealing: “Maybe we need to be nicer. Then this might not have to happen”. It is wonderful to see how this tight knit community has banded together without blame, recriminations or fault finding, and the family of Jason Lang forgiving, even as it grieves.
From another friend who knew Jason well comes the following quote: “Jason was such a nice boy. He believed in God and he showed it. This was a young man who lived like a Christian”.
As Taber mourns, my friends who live there mourn. As Taber mourns, I personally mourn. As Taber mourns, every Canadian family mourns.