The recent mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, has reverberated across Canada, stirring painful memories in communities like Taber, Alberta, which endured its own school shooting tragedy in 1999. Dale Lang, whose 17-year-old son Jason was fatally shot at W. R. Myers High School, has emerged as a voice of solace and reflection, offering prayers and sharing his family's path to healing.
A Father's Perspective on Shared Pain
"We've gone through the same thing, so we're aware of the pain that the people out there are feeling," Lang stated. "We also know that the community will have to pull together to get through this, and we know how difficult that is." His words carry the weight of experience, as he emphasized that such events irrevocably alter lives. "It certainly changes your life. Even to this day, I think occasionally of what my life might have been like had Jason lived, and how that would have changed our family."
The Role of Forgiveness in Healing
For Lang, a retired pastor, healing came not merely from the passage of time but through a profound act of forgiveness. "We were in a situation which was unthinkable when our son was killed, and thankfully, God gave us the grace to be able to forgive the boy who shot our son — and that was a pretty impactful thing," he explained. "It changed our lives. It brought us into a place where we could begin to heal. And it did that for our community, too."
Remarkably, Lang began to forgive the shooter shortly after the tragedy. By the memorial service a few days later, he had already extended forgiveness, and even the day after Jason's death, during a press conference, he expressed empathy for the perpetrator. "I began to realize that this was a real tragedy, that the boy who did this shooting had to be in a very terrible place to do it," Lang recalled. "I felt bad for him, and I said that at the press conference. I said, 'A lot of things need to change. We have to learn how to respect and care for each other.'"
Community Resilience and Ongoing Impact
Lang noted that while the Taber community has healed over time, the memories persist, especially when new tragedies occur. "Eventually time goes on and people move on to other things," he said. "It's not a thing that's impacting our town a lot today, although when stories like this come up, people are reminded." He added that former students from the 1999 shooting often experience anxiety when similar events make headlines, highlighting the lasting emotional scars.
Offering prayers for those affected by the Tumbler Ridge shooting, Lang emphasized the importance of collective support. "Our prayers are with those folks, and praying that they can find a way through this disaster. Nine lives have been lost, and that's going to impact a lot of people for the rest of their lives," he said. His message underscores the necessity of community cohesion in navigating such profound losses.
