Father of 1999 Taber school shooting victim on Tumbler Ridge: ‘A very helpless feeling’

The 1999 Taber school shooting claimed the life of Jason Lang, whose father Dale is sharing his wisdom and words of healing in light of the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.

On an ordinary April day in 1999 in a small agricultural community in the heart of Alberta’s southern Bible Belt, a gunman entered W.R. Myers High School in Taber — killing one student before a gym teacher managed to tackle him down.

The student who lost his life was Jason Lang. His friend Shane Christmas, also 17, was blasted in the stomach but survived.

It was the first fatal school shooting in Canada in a quarter of a century — and came eight days after the massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., where 12 students and one teacher were killed.

Now, 27 years later, Dale Lang, Jason’s father, is speaking out after another tragic school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C. has shaken Canada.

He says the shooting that took his son’s life will never fade from his memory.

“Even though I would say that God has healed us over the time, we still think about it sometimes and we still live in a place where you know you’ve lost somebody and you can’t get them back.”

Jason’s legacy has continued in several ways, including a scholarship in his name, which has helped countless students.

“We have had, over the years, a number of students who have contacted us to say thank you, to say they remember Jason, they know what happened. So, there’s kind of a legacy going on and hopefully it’s a positive thing that helps people remember things can go wrong and we have to watch out for each other.”