The Dark Side of Canada’s Transgender Embrace

It is a tragic, but familiar story. Jesse Strang was an 18-year-old man living in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia. The quiet teenager was a loner at school and deeply troubled. Living with his mother and sibling, it appears the family struggled. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police were called to the house on multiple occasions over the years for mental health checks, removing guns in one instance. However, the guns were returned to the owner.

Six years ago, Jesse decided he was transgender and began to try to transition to female. He changed his surname to “Van Rootselaar.” He dropped out of school four years ago.

This is where the story went dark, as it has happened so many times. The warning signs scream at us, but we don’t know how to stop it.

In the early afternoon of February 10, Jesse murdered his mother, Jennifer, and step-brother, Emmet. He then took a rifle and handgun to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School. Walking through the school, Jesse murdered five children and one teacher, injuring 25 others before turning the gun on himself. Most of the victims were 12 to 13 years old, just beginning their lives.

The nation is in shock. It is the worst mass shooting in 30 years. Only the tragedies at Ecole Polytechnique in 1989 and the Nova Scotia mass shooting in 2020 overshadow it. Political leaders offered heartfelt support for the victims’ families and Tumbler Ridge. Many Canadians are looking for ways to help. When children are killed by pure evil, people respond. These tragedies grab our attention and shock us out of our self-obsessed world.

But this mass shooting is different.

The initial reports, including the emergency alert, identified “a woman in a dress” as the perpetrator. Later, the media identified Jesse as a “gunperson in a dress.” rcmp Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald identified Jesse as an 18-year-old woman. The rcmp said it “identified the suspect as they chose to be identified in public and social media,” and explained that “Jesse was born as a biological male.” They are still unclear on his motive.

This sort of political correctness is a shameful and outrageous affront to the reality of the tragedy. Jesse Strang was an 18-year-old man, and he murdered children in cold blood. He murdered his own family. Jesse was mentally troubled, and six years of transgenderism only made that troubled mind worse. During this descent, Jesse opened his mind to the machinations of pure evil. That is the truth. Saying anything less only hides the real cause of this tragedy.

This is not an isolated incident. There has been an epidemic of trans mass shooters over the past eight years:

• Robin Westmann, Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota (2024)
• Aiden Hale, Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee (2023)
• Anderson Lee Aldrich (nonbinary), Club Q in Colorado Springs, Colorado (2022)
• Devon Erickson and Alec McKinney, stem School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado (2019)
• Snochia Moseley, Aberdeen, Maryland (2018)

The Internet and media are already awash with endless articles “debunking” the connection between violence and transgenderism. It’s true that non-transgender people have committed the most mass shootings, but that does not dismiss the obvious pattern of evidence.

How many children have to die before we are willing to face the truth?

The truth is, transgenderism is only one factor in the vortex destroying Canadian children and families. Divorce, parentless children, promiscuity, alcohol abuse, legalized marijuana, psychedelic drugs, video games, social media, hormone blockers and depression all form a whirlwind of destruction that has hollowed out the soul of our nation. The late educator and philanthropist Herbert W. Armstrong wrote, “The foundational bulwark of any healthy, stable and permanent society is the family unit.”

This is a deep spiritual sickness. “Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment” (Isaiah 1:5-6). This spiritual sickness is the result of indulging in lifestyles that oppose God’s law outlined in the Bible.

Our leaders lack the courage and righteousness to confront these national problems. Instead, they are leading the nation further down the path to perdition.

Canada has wholeheartedly embraced transgenderism. In 2023, former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared Canada an international safe haven for 2SLGBYQI+ people, organizing a special humanitarian initiative to resettle transgender people in the country.

The 2021 census was the first time the government had accurate statistics on the transgender community. “According to the 2021 Census, 1 in 300 people in Canada aged 15 or older living in private households were transgender or nonbinary (0.33 percent),” reported the Vanier Institute. “That’s nearly 101,000 people, of whom 4 in 10 (41 percent) are nonbinary, 31 percent are transgender women, and 28 percent are transgender men. … Approximately 1 in 250 couples included at least one transgender or nonbinary person.” It is a small community that holds a lot of political influence.

The Canadian medical establishment and provincial and federal governments all aggressively push “gender-affirming care.” Doctors, psychologists and teachers are all directed to support a young person in affirming their gender choice. Schools are allowed to affirm gender without telling parents. Social transitioning is common, where the student will use a different name, wear different clothes, and act as the opposite gender at school but not at home. Social transitioning is usually the first stage before medical transition.

When a youth transitions, it can cause family contention. The government believes it is a Charter right for a youth to have affirming care, and legislation like the ban on conversion therapy not only outlines that particular method, it criminalizes all professional counsel that is not affirming.

Most hormone blockers and other drugs used for transitioning are covered by provincial health insurance. Provinces often partially pay for surgical transition. Hundreds of teenage girls under 18 have had their breasts surgically removed.

In the aggressive policy for affirming care, little thought is given to the ramifications of young people having their dysphoria confirmed against physical reality, the effect of body-altering drugs, or life-changing surgeries.

“These dangerous and experimental gender-affirming practices, based not on science, but on critical social justice ideology, have caused far too much harm to minors,” writes James Pew at the McDonald Laurier Institute. The evidence shows how dangerous “gender affirming care” actually is.

But most of all, no thought is given to the spiritual ramifications of embracing this lifestyle.

There is a real spirit world. God has given us His Bible, the instruction manual on how to live and how to have a happy family life. Jesus Christ said, “[T]hy word is truth,” and “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (John 17:17; Matthew 4:4). It is our responsibility to change and obey God’s inspired truth! Obedience brings blessings; disobedience brings curses. Regardless of what we think is “my truth,” God’s Word is the truth.

There is also an evil spiritual force. God’s adversary, Satan the devil, actively works to destroy God’s purpose and mankind. Satan has deceived the entire world and is the god of this world! (Revelation 12:9; 2 Corinthians 4:4). When we embrace lifestyles that are contrary to God’s law, it gives Satan greater access to influence our minds (Ephesians 2:2). God describes human nature as wicked and evil (Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 8:7). The more sin we indulge in, the more emotionally unstable we are, the more Satan can broadcast evil into our mind.

This is why men like Jesse Strang, over the years, become consumed by evil. The unhappiness and hardship of a broken family; the escape through video games, drugs and violence; the hopelessness leading to more and more extreme choices. The mind-altering hormone blockers and gender confusion only open the mind more to Satan. Always looking for a solution for the spiritual emptiness inside us, but never finding it. Children and teenagers need guidance and protection; when left alone, they become prey for the devil. We have seen this pattern of evil play out over and over again.

It is time we address the root cause. It is time we turn to the truth. The only way to be healed of individual or national sickness is repentance toward God. We must turn to obeying God’s laws! How many disasters will it take until we realize we need guidance from God’s Word? The political correctness and aggressive acceptance of godless lifestyles make our children, our families and our communities vulnerable.

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). The devil was in Tumbler Ridge! And this type of violence will only get worse unless we turn to God in humble repentance! No amount of gun control legislation, increased police presence, or psychological help programs can turn the tide of our national sickness unless each individual says enough is enough and turns to the truth.

Many people are praying for the families in Tumbler Ridge. We do need prayer. We do need healing. So let us also remember this: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).

Read more about how family, and the attack against it, is so important in our free booklet Redefining Family.