Mark Carney

And some of you go back to quiet houses. Some of you go back to empty rooms. Please know that you're not alone. When you wake up tomorrow and the world feels impossible, know that millions of Canadians are with you.

When the cameras leave and the quiet sets in, know that we still will be here. And know that we shall need you too. Because Canada is a community that relies on each other's grace. And may that grace bless us all.

Families in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, woke to a different world.

Parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, began this day as their first day on earth without someone they love dearly.

What happened has left our nation in shock and all of us in mourning.

Parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers, in Tumbler Ridge will wake up without someone they love.

The nation mourns with you.

Canada stands by you.

On the advice of the Clerk of the Poverty Council and Heritage Canada, I've asked that the flags in the Peace Tower here and across all government buildings be flown at half-mast for the next seven days.

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.

Our principal goes throughout the halls and she's saying, people close your doors, lockdown, stuff like that.

I thought it was a secure and hold and something like that at first.

But once things started circulating, we realised how serious it really was.

So we all barricaded up the doors with some iron tables and sat in that room for around two hours.

I was on my phone with my mother the entire time.

It's hard to know what to say on a night like tonight.

It's the kind of thing that feels like it happens in other places and not close to home in a way that this feels for so many British Columbians and Canadians.

Let me be direct.