British Columbia’s chief coroner has announced an inquest into last month’s mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge.

Dr. Jatinder Baidwan said Tuesday the inquest will look at the circumstances around the nine deaths in the small northern B.C. community. It will take a specific focus on mental health services in rural and remote communities, as well as questions around how the weapons used in the shooting were acquired and what role artificial intelligence played.

“Recognizing the questions and concerns being raised by the community across British Columbia and throughout the country, I’ve decided to call an inquest,” he said.

The Feb. 10 tragedy, where Jesse Van Rootselaar shot and killed eight people, most of them children, before killing herself, is one of the worst mass shootings in Canadian history. It’s sparked calls for a public inquiry from federal and provincial politicians, including Tumbler Ridge’s Conservative MLA Larry Neufeld.

Premier David Eby pledged to use ‘any tools available’ to find answers on how to prevent future shootings, but stopped short of calling a public inquiry. He said that decision would wait until after the police investigation had concluded.

However, Baidwan said the coroner’s inquest does not necessarily have to wait for the police investigation to conclude.

Once the coroner’s office has finished their own investigation, he says the inquiry will proceed as soon as possible and not be subject to the current backlog of inquests — though he did not provide an estimated timeline for this.

“As soon as all the information is available to hold an inquest, we will hold an inquest, and I promised that to the mayor of Tumbler Ridge,” he said.

Nina Krieger, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, didn’t rule out a potential public inquiry, but said B.C. will await the outcomes of the police investigation and coroner’s inquest before deciding whether one is needed.

“The premier has been clear that if additional questions remain unanswered, that we will use all tools at our disposal to provide those answers and measures of comfort for families in the community,” she said.

In a statement, Neufeld welcomed the coroner’s inquest, but said a public inquest was important to uncover any failures that led to this tragedy and hold systems accountable.

Claire Rattée, Conservative MLA and critic for mental health, said she’s continuing to push for a public inquiry as it would be broader in scope and potentially faster than a coroner’s inquest.

“So I think that public inquiry from both the provincial and federal level is necessary,” she said.

“My concern is that there needs to be clear commitment from the government.”

Green party MLA Jeremy Valeriote echoed support for both a coroner’s inquest and a public inquiry, saying an inquiry would be more comprehensive and should not wait potentially years for an inquest to be completed.

“It’s more comprehensive, it’s more thorough and it leaves no stone unturned,” he said.

“We can’t get to the end of this coroner’s inquest and have a lot of questions remaining, the government should be calling a public inquiry.”

Timeline for inquest currently unknown

Baidwan said he is in discussions to determine where the inquest will take place with Eby and the mayor of Tumbler Ridge.

“I expect it will last longer than our usual one to two weeks, but I don’t know how long it will last in total,” he said.

Jurors will examine potential systemic and procedural issues, and make non-binding recommendations to prevent similar incidents from happening again. Their role is to determine facts, not assign fault, according to the B.C. Coroners Service.

The chief coroner said he doesn’t have the power to compel OpenAI, an American firm, to participate in the inquest, but that most businesses will co-operate because it’s in their best interests. 

OpenAI has been criticized in the wake of the shooting for flagging and banning Van Rootselaar’s ChatGPT account last June, but choosing not to notify police, saying her account activity didn’t meet the threshold of an “imminent and credible risk” of serious physical harm.

Baidwan said the coroner’s service has a unique role in looking at the deaths openly and in a way that will maintain public confidence. The service functions independently of police and outside government ministries.