Mr. Speaker, today, our thoughts are with the community of Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, where nine children have been killed and 25 others injured. Our thoughts are with the victims of this senseless and unspeakable violence at a high school.
I will make an exception today so that I can speak directly to the families and to British Columbians who are not all fortunate enough to speak French.
In the name of the Bloc Québécois and my own, I would like to offer my deepest condolences to the families of the nine children whose lives were taken, to the 25 families waiting and hoping for good news about their wounded children, and to the entire community of Tumbler Ridge.
On behalf of the Bloc Québécois, and I assume I can say this on behalf of the entire Quebec nation, I offer my condolences to the families of the nine victims and my solidarity to the families of the 25 injured, as well as to the entire Tumbler Ridge community.
Our hearts go out to the grieving families. Our hearts go out to the parents who are experiencing the worst imaginable cruelty and the worst possible injustice. There is no way to prepare for the grief of having one's child torn away, leaving lives forever changed. Our hearts also go out to the parents who are holding their breath as they wait for news about their children in the hospital. Our hearts go out to those who will be torn between the relief of bringing their own child home alive and profound empathy for the families who will come home without one of their own. Our hearts go out to all the students of Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, whose lives will be forever changed. Our hearts go out to the students who will always wonder why, always asking themselves, “Why us? Why them? Why not me? Why here? Why?” and who will never get an answer. Our hearts go out to all the residents who are dreading the moment when they learn the names of all the victims, knowing that in a community of barely 2,400 souls, they will inevitably be loved ones, grandchildren, neighbours and friends. An entire village is losing some of its children.
I want to thank law enforcement, health care workers, support staff and everyone deployed to Tumbler Ridge today to assist the children and the community. I want to thank them for being there today, and I want to thank those who will be staying for quite some time, as they must, long after the flags flying at half-mast have been raised again and after life, one way or another, resumes its course.
On behalf of the Bloc Québécois, I also want to reach out to the government. If it needs anything at all to help the grieving families, it can count on our full co-operation. Quebec has never felt closer to British Columbia than it does today. The hearts of every Quebecker with a child in school today go out to British Columbia. Today, all Quebeckers are reminded of Polytechnique, of the women who were taken from us and of the raw pain that never goes away.
Everyone is wondering today what kind of world we live in. So far, no motive has been identified. What motive could there be for picking up a gun and turning it on our children? Nothing can explain, much less justify, such an atrocity.
I will close with a side note. Our hearts go out to Tumbler Ridge, of course, but they are also big enough to embrace another small community, Kitigan Zibi, and the Anishinabe nation that also lost two children today. Their lives were taken by their own father, who then took his own life. It is important to remind our brothers and sisters in the Anishinabe nation that they are not suffering alone, that the Quebec nation stands with them and that, of course, the Parliament of Canada stands with them as well.
Today is a dark day. It will take courage, fellowship, solidarity, kindness and compassion to get through this ordeal. It will take some time, and it is going to take all of us to get through it.
We will remember.