Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his “heart was breaking” for those affected by the “horrific” shooting at a primary school in Texas that killed 21 people on Tuesday.
“Students, parents, teachers, the whole community have changed their lives forever from this unimaginable event,” Trudeau told reporters in Vancouver on Tuesday.
“All of Canada is mourning our American friends on this terrible, terrible day.”
Officials say an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two adults while walking from classroom to classroom at Rob Elementary School in Uwalde, a heavily Latin American town about 135 kilometers west of San Antonio. The shooter was later killed by police.
“As a parent, I will have to go home to my children, including my eight-year-old, and talk to them again about the unexplained school shootings we saw in the United States,” Trudeau said.
He mentioned that he himself was a teacher and that he thought about the trauma that students, parents and teachers must experience in Texas at the moment.
In response to news of the attack, NDP leader Jagmit Singh took to Twitter on Tuesday to say he was heartbroken as “so many”.
“Children deserve more than thoughts and prayers. They deserve protection and safety. They deserve life, “he tweeted.
Marco Mendicino, the Minister of Public Security, called it “the kind of news that just stops us from being cool”.
Speaking in Halifax on Wednesday, he told the press that when this type of tragedy happens, he thinks how important “the work we do as parliamentarians” is.
“I think of the young people we are here to represent and defend,” he said.
“The harsh reality of the issue is that there are no words to convey enough of the pain, grief and devastation that families and this community are experiencing this morning.
Quebec bloc leader Yves-Francois Blanche said Wednesday morning that his thoughts were with the families affected by the Texas tragedy.
“The arms trade – disgusting when it comes to smuggling – and the protection of many personal privileges should no longer be used as collateral for heartbreaking scenes,” he wrote in French on Twitter.
Tuesday’s attack marks the deadliest school shooting in the United States since the Sandy Hook massacre in Newtown, Connecticut in December 2012, which killed 20 children and six adults, and has resumed calls for greater gun control in the country. .
The shooting comes just 10 days after a gunman in a bulletproof vest killed 10 black shoppers and supermarket workers in Buffalo, New York, in what authorities have since considered a racist attack.
Speaking from the White House on Tuesday, just hours after the Uwalde shooting, US President Joe Biden called for new restrictions on firearms.
“I’m tired and tired of it,” he said. “We have to act. And don’t tell me we can’t influence this carnage.”
Although calls for greater gun control in the United States have surfaced many times since the country suffered mass shootings after mass shootings, these campaigns have made little progress so far.
After this latest mass shooting, Trudeau reiterated Canada’s efforts to control access to weapons.
“As a government in recent years, we have stepped up significantly in defense of Canadians,” he said. “Only recently have we further tightened the background requirements for the purchase of firearms in Canada. Last year, we banned military-style assault weapons, which are now illegal to buy, sell or use anywhere in Canada. And we are committed to moving forward, doing even more. ”
Mendicino added that Canadians must remember that these tragedies can and do happen here.
“We still have a lot of work to do here in Canada,” he said. “We are not immune to the type of gun violence, which has unfortunately affected many communities here.”
- CTV News Channel will have a special coverage of the tragedy in Texas, hosted live by Merella Fernandez from Uwalde at 19:00 ET on Wednesday, May 25.
With files from the Associated Press
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