How to Cope When Tragedy Strikes Your Hometown

How to deal when violence hits too close to home

Image courtesy of the Fredericton Police Force

Six years ago, our provinces’ version of a metropolitan, Moncton, New Brunswick, dealt with a terrible tragedy: A young man in army fatigues shot three Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers to death and proceeded to hold the city hostage by hiding in the woods. Eventually, he surrendered himself, but the damage had been done.

Fast forward two years and our small, picturesque city of Fredericton, New Brunswick experienced the worst shooting to ever hit our small province. A man shot and killed two city of Fredericton police officers and two civilians outside of an apartment building. Our small city was devastated.

The city of Moncton was there for us like a big brother, supporting us and knowing the pain and fear we all felt.

Drawing courtesy of Michael DeAdder (Halifax Herald)

Yesterday, the worst mass shooting in Canadian history happened in our sister province of Nova Scotia. A man donned a police officer uniform and used his refurbished police car to commit murder. The death toll is not yet confirmed by the RCMP because the shooter had traveled around rural areas, killing and maiming people, but reports say there were at…