There are moments when words are inadequate.

What happened in Tumbler Ridge is a tragedy. Lives were lost. Families were shattered. A small community is now carrying a soul-crushing grief that will live long after the headlines fade. That is where our attention should begin, and where it should remain.

Yet almost immediately, the tragedy was pulled into the public domain and repackaged. Not to support the grieving or help a traumatized community heal, but to advance ideological positions and turn suffering into rage farming.

That is not reflection. It is exploitation! Full stop! The shooter has been identified as a transgender individual with severe mental health challenges. Those facts have been selectively seized upon by some to promote ideological claims that have nothing to do with the lives lost in Tumbler Ridge. It is opportunism.

To be clear, this tragedy is not “about trans people.” Just as acts of violence are not “about” race, religion, or sexuality simply because a perpetrator belongs to a particular group. Violence is not explained by identity labels, and grief is not eased by scapegoating.