For the past six months, Elysia Dempsey, Community Recovery Manager for the District of Tumbler Ridge, has been working as Community Recovery Manager for the District of Tumbler Ridge. At the October 5 council meeting, she presented the fruits of her labour to council.
The purpose of the community recovery plan is to build out a coordinated framework for short, medium, and long-term recovery following the February 10 tragedy.
That tragedy created unprecedented circumstances for Tumbler Ridge and required a coordinated, long-term approach to community recovery.
The District of Tumbler Ridge was able to secure funding through the Ministry of Emergency Management to hire Dempsey to help create the plan.
As part of her job, she met with people directly impacted: families, teachers, students, emergency services, and other key community stakeholders. There was a community survey, participation at the Community Recovery Table, coordination of the Funders Table; and the Youth Programming Committee.
In total, there were five surveys, three small group sessions and over 100 interviews. “This plan was built on community feedback and community engagement,” says Dempsey. “This is a living document, so it is not meant to be static. The recommendations in here may change or evolve over time, particularly as the community’s priorities change and needs change.
The Recovery Plan highlights six strategic recovery priorities. (Note: most of what follows is pulled directly from the plan; consider it as one long quote.)
Priority 1: People, Health, and Psychosocial Well-Being
The goal of this priority is to ensure residents have access to ongoing, confidential, effective and appropriate mental health, grief, loss and psychosocial services.
According to the plan, impacted families, youth, community members, educators and first responders expressed the value of counseling, trusted relationships and healing and wellness support. They further stated concern that temporary services or rotating providers would disappear before the needs of the community were met. The community is seeking dependable, stable healthcare, including after-hours and emergency access. Educators asked for dedicated, consistent support for staff to be ongoing. First responders emphasized consideration should be given to the fact that recovery is unique and unpredictable, and each person may need something different to aid in their recovery.
While access to services is important, respondents also voiced concerns around stigma and lack of privacy in a small rural community. “Further harm is caused when people have to repeat their experiences or stories to new providers.”
The Recovery Plan call for dedicated long-term mental health professionals to remain available in the community for as long as needed. Sessions dedicated to grief and bereavement programming, Psychological First Aid (PFA) training and resilience-based life preservation training and awareness that are customized for children and youth. A further need exists for increasing community skills building focusing on first aid training. Trainings should include trauma-informed communication skills and targeted mental health supports directed to marginalized or underserved populations.
Priority 2: Children, Youth and Education
Here, the goal is to support children and youth to recover through connection, recreation, trusted supports, skills development, education and meaningful opportunities to participate in the future of their community.
Youth described trusted counselors, Safer Schools Liaisons, therapy dogs and familiar adults as important sources of safety and connection, and expressed concern about losing them, says the plan. “More than half of youth respondents identified sports and recreation as activities they enjoyed and linked them to wellbeing and social connection. Impacted family and general community respondents also highlighted the value of youth sports and asked for sustained investment in young people.”
Young people wanted more to do throughout the year, particularly in winter: indoor gathering and recreation spaces, a wider choice of activities including: sports, arts, music, theater, and technology. They also asked for training, volunteering, and paid work opportunities including exploring and advancing their future career opportunities. Respondents requested a larger teen centre with increased days of operation and longer evening and weekend hours, and free or low-cost activities in the community.
Youth identified peer judgment, social anxiety and insufficient numbers for team sports as barriers. Youth also identified greater attention and programming are needed for young people outside organized sport, those being home schooled, students who had left the community and LGBTQ2S+ youth.
Priority 3: Community Connection, Safety, Inclusion and Social Recovery
The goal is to strengthen community connection, belonging, safety and trust by creating inclusive opportunities for residents to reconnect, participate in everyday community life and address sources of division, exclusion and isolation.”
Residents repeatedly named community events such as barbecues, Canada Day, Ribfest, FIFA watch parties, recreation, and informal gatherings as helpful. This was due to the sense of existing community connections and a desire to reestablish ordinary life. The Healing Space, group art and other shared activities also provided comfort and wellness that extended beyond just clinical mental health support. Businesses and non-profits supported informal gathering places by offering space, services and activities to support recovery. These experiences demonstrate the value of building relationships and local goodwill from those initiatives currently helping people.
Community members acknowledged that they are all at difference paces in their recovery. Some asked for continued opportunities to grieve, while others wanted activities and public messaging that were not continually centered on the tragedy. Youth described isolation, fear of judgment and gaps for those outside organized activities.
Educators wanted privacy when off duty and opportunities for reconnection. Many respondents from all sectors described hostility toward LGBTQ2S+ residents, a need for meaningful inclusion and building back safety and trust.
General community feedback also identified seniors’ mobility and transportation barriers in accessing recovery services and supports.
Priority 4: Resilient Organizations, First Responders and Community Leadership
The goal is to ensure first responders, frontline workers, and community leadership and their organizations have capacity before, during and after response to regroup and recover. Ensure they are provided the knowledge, skill and resources to sustain their personal and professional wellness.
First responders described a strong professional culture and the value of routine, drills, counseling, team debriefs and peer support. They also asked to be recognized as community members impacted by the tragedy, not just as emergency professionals. Confidentiality, discretion and flexible access to support are ongoing concerns.
Priority 5: Communication, Engagement and Service Navigation
The goal is to ensure residents understand what recovery supports are available, and how to access them. Ensure residents know what and how decisions are being made and what progress is taking place.
Community respondents described information gaps that allowed rumours to spread, particularly about school, memorial planning, and recovery investments. They asked for regular, plain-language updates and to hear the outcomes of surveys and consultations.
Impacted families emphasized that knowing a service exists does not necessarily explain what it offers or how to access it. They requested clearer communication and continued outreach as needs change.
Businesses and non-profits asked for recurring stakeholder updates and recognizable community information boards that could help them direct residents to events, volunteering and supports. Educators wanted centralized, transparent information and consultation before decisions were made. Youth similarly asked to be heard in school planning, including considerations for future students. Youth and impacted family respondents also expressed frustration with outside commentary shaping decisions about experiences they had lived.
These findings support the need for the development of a Recovery Communications Plan, that includes dedicated capacity to develop and manage the plan and actions within it. The plan should address the need for a dedicated recovery resource page, plain-language newsletters, service and referral mapping, and consistent information across print, community notice board distribution and digital channels.
Priority 6: Infrastructure, Memorialization, Preparedness and Future Resilience
The goal is to apply recovery investments to create spaces, systems, and infrastructure that support both healing and Tumbler Ridge’s future resilience planning.
Community and impacted family feedback supported a family-led memorial and commemoration process. There is further discussions required on the permanent memorial site including location, structure, and type of memorial.
There was an emphasis on ensuring privacy and protection from public view. Some wanted a memorial people could choose to visit rather than one that was always publicly visible. The importance of acknowledging the educator who died with the students were expressed. These differences call for delicate dialogue rather than an assumed shared design or location. Discussions around a permanent memorial can take time and need to go at the pace that impacted families are comfortable with. This is to allow for defusing, healing, and processing the trauma of those impacted.
Each of these priorities came with a list of recommendations. To see the list of recommendations, the plan is currently available in the agenda for the October 5 meeting, which can be found on the district website: districtoftumblerridge.ca.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
