The Tumbler Ridge, B.C., shooting tragedy has raised questions about how safe the province’s schools are and what is being done to protect students and staff.
Schools across B.C. conduct regular drills for earthquakes, fire and lockdowns and the Ministry of Education recommends that schools have two lockdown drills per year.
However, one expert told Global News that the current messaging on how to respond during an active shooting incident may not be the most effective approach to the situation.
Chris Grollnek is a U.S.-based expert on active shooter threats.
He said that since the turn of the century, starting with Columbine High School, the response to mass shootings in schools has primarily focused on the wrong things.
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“Run, hide and fight,” he argues, is not a successful strategy.
“Hiding under a desk that’s not ballistic is doing nothing. And most of the active shooters that happen don’t go through doors. They shoot through them. So it’s time to take a look at hardening those doors.”
B.C.’s Ministry of Education has a manual on dealing with emergencies in B.C schools.
Like earthquakes, students are taught to take cover during a lockdown, but Grollnek questions if that is the best advice.
“The type of reality we’re using for active shooter drills, do they work?” he said.
“We don’t really know and the jury’s kind of out per se, however, I do know the majority of mental health professionals have signed many different petitions not to carry out this type of training because we’re scarring the children in a very low-probability event, but it has high-impact consequences.”
While mass school shootings are rare in Canada, since 1999, there have been more than 24 reported gun incidents at or around schools nationwide.
How to balance that risk with public safety is something officials say they’ll be taking a closer look at in the coming weeks.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
