Flags flown at half-mast throughout country after attack in small British Columbia town of Tumbler Ridge
A visibly shaken Mark Carney has promised Canadians they will make it through the aftermath of a mass shooting in a small western town, in which an assailant killed nine people and then themselves in one of the deadliest such attacks in the country’s history.
“It’s obviously a very difficult day for the nation,” said the Canadian prime minister on Wednesday, who at one point looked close to tears. “This morning, parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers in Tumbler Ridge will wake up without someone they love.”
Speaking to journalists a day after the shooting that included an attack on a high school, Carney added: “We will get through this. We will learn from this. But right now, it’s a time to come together, as Canadians always do in these situations, these terrible situations, to support each other, to mourn together and to grow together.”
Carney, who had already suspended plans to travel to Germany for the high-level Munich security conference, said he had ordered flags on all government buildings be flown at half-mast for the next seven days. At parliament in Ottawa, Carney and other parties planned to stand for a moment of silence.
