Dear Friends,

February 10, 2026, will be forever remembered as the day a small town in British Columbia became a household name: Tumbler Ridge. Prior to Tuesday, most of us had never heard of the small mining community in the northeast foothills of the Rocky Mountains, nestled in the confluence of the Murray River and Flatbed Creek. The idyllic nature of the place was upset, turned on its side, broken open by grief, a grief that cannot be expressed in words. We can only imagine, oh God, the pain. If the mountains could shout, if the Flatbed Creek could bellow, if the Murray River could roar, if the birds of the air could be still for the pain, the loss.

In a small town, everybody knows everybody who knows everybody. Tightly knit, connected, relations to each other shaped by geography, mining and community. And on Tuesday, a horrific act of violence was inflicted on the most innocent of all, their children. Oh God, the pain. And with television crews held at bay to respect privacy, the grief would begin to be knit together with love, a shoulder to lean on, an ear to listen, a hand on the back, standing and keeping vigil.

While the mountains may not have shaken, nor the creek bellow, nor the river roar, nor the birds of the air stilled, the legislature would be still. Government leaders were shaken. A mayor would weep. Our prime minister and opposition leader would come together. Pastors would swing into action, counsellors too, to hold and keep, sway and pray amid pain and disbelief.

Canadians from coast to coast to coast have been stirred too, to be quiet, to weep for the poor families, to honour first responders, teachers and town officials. And in moments such as this, we in the Church gather to pray, reach out, connect, encourage and remember. We pray for all who have died: Abel Mwansa, Ezekiel Schofield, Zoey Benoit, Ticaria Lampert, Jennifer Jacobs, Emmett Jacobs, Kylie Smith and Shannda Aviugana-Durand. We pray for those in hospital in critical care and for the doctors and nurses tending to their wounds. And we pray for the one who caused such pain.

Liberal MP Natalie Provost, a survivor of the 1989 Ecole Polytechnique massacre, expressed her devastation upon hearing the news of what took place in Tumbler Ridge. She was asked by a CTV interviewer what she would say to survivors. One day, one day they will be OK. It might be long. It might be tough, but they will be OK.

We have a part to play in bringing healing, in being agents of change, advocates for safety and gun control, and in promoting mental and spiritual health. We pray that Tumbler Ridge does not become just one more in a long list of mass shootings that have taken place in Canada Mayerthorpe 2005, Concordia University 1992, Dawson College 2014, Parliament Hill 2014, Moncton 2014, La Loche 2016, Quebec City 2017, Portapique 2020 but that something good will emerge from this moment.

For today we remember, Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Yours in Christ,

The Right Reverend Andrew Asbil
Bishop of Toronto

P.S. The 40 days of Lent begin on Wednesday. If you have not yet chosen a study program for the season, consider joining me in Dr. Sylvia Keesmaat's free online course, "The Way of the Cross and a Crucified People: On the Ground in Palestine,” on the six Sunday evenings in Lent. You can register online. I am looking forward to it very much.

The post Letter to the Diocese from Bishop Andrew appeared first on The Diocese of Toronto.