Were eight individuals killed by a mentally disturbed teenage boy grappling with deep-seated delusions? Or was the perpetrator a young woman? Such a question would have seemed ridiculous to Canadians just a few years ago.
Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, a small community of 2,300 nestled in the Rocky Mountain foothills of Peace River region, became the scene of one of Canada’s most devastating mass shootings on Wednesday. Jesse Strang (Van Rootselaar), an 18-year-old who identifies as transgender, took the lives of his mother and 11-year-old stepbrother before proceeding to Tumbler Ridge High School. There, he fatally shot a teacher and five children (three 12-year-old girls, a 12-year-old boy, and a 13-year-old boy) and wounded more than 25 others before turning the gun on himself.
As the nation lowered flags in mourning, Canada attracted global attention not only for the tragedy but due to how it exposed the deep infiltration of transgender ideology within the country. When alerted to the active shooter at the high school, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) issued a public warning describing the suspect as “a female in a dress with dark hair.” (Notably, officers bravely entered the school immediately.)
In the hours following the incident, the RCMP chose to label the attacker as “the deceased gunperson” to avoid using male pronouns for the trans-identifying shooter. This unprecedented terminology quickly became newsworthy, appearing in outlets such as The Sun, The New York Post, Sky News, and GB News. When pressed, an RCMP representative explained, “We identify the suspect as they chose to be identified in public and in social media.” The Toronto Star ran a brief, misleading headline: “Police identify 18-year-old female Jesse Van Rootselaar as Tumbler Ridge school shooter.”
Many mainstream journalists in Canada initially avoided naming the attacker, leaving the story to independent media such as Juno News, whose reporters contacted family members in Tumbler Ridge and practiced the investigative reporting that once defined journalism. Jesse Strang was evidently a troubled youth who started “identifying” as a girl around 2023; his YouTube profile displayed “an anime-style figure overlaid on a transgender pride flag alongside an SKS rifle.” His mother, Jennifer, had previously acknowledged his behavioral struggles and expressed support for transgender rights on Instagram.
Once the undeniable facts emerged, much of the Canadian media shifted into a defensive posture. CityNews seemed to apply beauty filters to photos of Strang to make him appear more feminine. Canada’s public broadcaster, CBC, used female pronouns for him and mentioned that “the 18-year-old was assigned male at birth, but began transitioning to female about six years ago.” An LGBT activist suggested Strang was actually the “first victim” of the massacre’s outcome because he faced the “small mindset” prevalent in Tumbler Ridge. (Police interviewed regarding bullying claims stated there is no evidence Strang experienced harassment at school.)
Hours following the shooting, CBC published an extensive article featuring LGBT activists who refuted “false claims about trans people” and mass shootings; similar coverage appeared on CityNews Halifax. CTV highlighted the role mass shootings have played in spurring Canadian firearm law reforms over the years. Meanwhile, the BC Teacher’s Union quickly issued a statement condemning the “politicization” of Strang’s gender identity; as Tristin Hopper of the National Post remarked:
The attack was literally on a BC school, and the BCTF’s first impulse is to deflect attention from a system they’ve helped enable that systematically prioritizes the gender delusions of dangerous men over basic public safety. They’re telling you they’re prepared to accept much more collateral damage.
Despite claims to the contrary, transgender ideology’s institutionalization in Canadian law is undeniably intertwined with this incident.
Bill C-4 (2022) made it illegal for youths like Strang to receive counseling aimed at managing gender dysphoria and learning to accept their bodies; the Trudeau administration absurdly categorized such therapy as “conversion therapy.” Several commentators noted that the RCMP’s erroneous label of the shooter as “female” during the active situation exemplified political correctness prioritized over public safety.
Hopper highlighted that police “have issued missing persons alerts telling the public to watch for a ‘they/them,’ even when the individual is clearly male or female.” This elevates ideology above reality and diminishes law enforcement’s credibility.
Another serious issue is the media’s habit of calling a male perpetrator female. As Terry Newman, senior editor at the National Post, wrote, “Since Bill C-16 in 2017, crimes committed by a member of one sex can now be logged under another, skewing the data, and in the case of women, making one sex appear much more violent than they actually are. This is an injustice to women everywhere inside and outside this country. It’s also dangerous for the public.”
The relationship between transgender extremism and mass shootings is nuanced, as existing research indicates—but a noticeable rise in violence committed by trans-identifying individuals is evident.
Violence and aggressive rhetoric from trans activists directed at women’s rights proponents have become frequent. Last year, a trans-identifying gunman opened fire at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, killing two children. In 2023, a trans-identifying shooter took six lives at the Covenant School in Nashville. The attempted assassin of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh identifies as transgender, as does the individual who recently tried to break into Vice President JD Vance’s residence. The alleged assassin of Charlie Kirk had a trans-identifying boyfriend. The mainstream media, unsurprisingly, shows little interest in monitoring this extremism; they would likely respond differently if these offenders held right-wing associations.
The tragedy in Tumbler Ridge illuminated the reality of Canada’s transgender policies and dramatically revealed that once gender ideology is entrenched by the government, even fundamental facts become contested. The Telegraph and other international news sources referred to the perpetrator as male; meanwhile, much of the domestically funded press labeled Strang female. Were eight victims—all but one children—murdered by a mentally ill teenage boy with profound delusions on February 11? Or was the assailant a young woman? Such questions once would have seemed preposterous in Canada.
As Terry Newman remarked, “I can only hope that Canada becoming the laughing stock for the phrase ‘gun person’ will set us back on a course for reality.”
Original article: europeanconservative.com
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