REGINA -- Tina Drummond lives in Wilkie, Sask. but was born and raised in Nova Scotia, close to where the weekend mass shooting took place.
She’s driven the roads where some of the 16 crime scenes are dispersed and still has family members who live there.
“It really is one of the most beautiful places on earth, to me anyways,” she said. “It’s just difficult to imagine such a thing happening there.”
She said it’s hard being so far away from home during such a devastating time.
“First reaction is thinking ‘I have family in that area’ so you’re thinking ‘Oh my god, who’s involved?’” she said. “I know people all along that area.”
“I feel fortunate that my family wasn’t affected directly, but you’re thinking of all those families that have been impacted.”
A connected community
Drummond explained Nova Scotia as a “tight-knit community.”
To show her support, she hung a Nova Scotia flag outside her home and turned her Christmas lights back.
“Being from a small place, everybody knew who you were,” she said. “Everybody looked out for everybody. Everybody’s interconnected.”
Those connections are linked with the shooting
“I have a friend whose son’s teacher was lost. Another friend of mine knew the police officer,” she said. “All these little connections, and everybody’s just devastated that I’ve talked to at home.”
Drummond’s sister was also a dental client of the suspect.
“She’s just been kind of in shock that she knew this man. As a client, she said she just can’t fathom somebody doing something like that, and that it was someone she knew,” she said. “She’s pretty shaken up.”
Drummond said watching this on television and seeing the footage and photos from her home province has been shocking.
“When I saw the imagine on the TV, both my husband and I were just like ‘we’ve been through there,’” she said.
She said when COVID-19 restrictions are lifted and travel is permitted again, she plans to take a trip back home to see her friends and family, and to create new memories to override the ones now in her mind because of this tragedy.
Provincial support
Throughout Saskatchewan, many people have been showing support for Nova Scotia.
At the Legislative Building, Nova Scotia’s provincial flag is hung at half-mast, as are the Saskatchewan flags.
Premier Scott Moe tweeted his condolences over the weekend.
At the RCMP Depot, flags are also at half-mast.
Saskatchewan RCMP shared its thoughts on Twitter as well, specifically paying tribute to Const. Heidi Stevenson, a victim of the shooting
As of Monday evening, police have confirmed 18 victims have died from the shooting.
