‘Don’t forget about us’: Months after the Vaughan condo murders, residents say they feel abandoned

Thestar.com
March 3, 2023

Jack Rozdilsky vividly remembers the night one of Ontario’s worst mass shootings took place on his doorstep.

He recalled as an “army” of police officers descended upon the Bellaria Residences in Vaughan last December, as sirens blared and tactical teams scoured multiple floors in the high-end condo complex to track down the gunman and victims. Meanwhile, hundreds of terrified residents took shelter in their homes and outside the building, too scared to move, waiting to hear which of their neighbours had been killed or injured.

Days after, the police and media attention had moved on. The residents -- some too scared to use the elevator or linger in the lobby -- simply couldn’t.

“After the shooting, we were exposed to media outside our doors, and crime scene clean up and forensic and homicide investigators,” said Rozdilsky. “But where was the army of social, mental and recovery victim support victims in the aftermath? This second army never showed up. Maybe it doesn’t exist, but maybe it needs to exist,” he said.

Rozdilsky said in the days and months that have followed the mass shooting, residents of the building have felt forgotten. He questions why violence of this scale didn’t trigger a massive provincial response for social and mental supports for bystanders -- and if such a mechanism even exists.

“Who do we have in the province who can help a community, and hundreds of people cope with a mass shooting and mass casualty event … taking place in their home?” said Rozdilsky, also an expert in disaster and emergency management at York University.

It took 11 days after the Dec. 18 shooting for York Region Victim Services to arrive to offer support to the residents of the building.

They held at least two community meetings to support the grieving families and neighbours. But while the sessions were helpful, said Rozdilsky, they came too late for residents traumatized and seeking help in the immediate aftermath.

Jack Rozdilsky says the system failed to provide support to those in the building who are still coping in the aftermath.

He contrasts the response with shooting incidents in the U.S. -- such as recently in Monterey Park, Calif., and Michigan State University -- where almost immediately the local communities had resources available online and in-person supports available for victims looking for help.

Following the Vaughan massacre, the response was led by Victim Services of York Region.

With only 11 full-time staff and just six full-time crisis councillors, executive director Gillian Freeman said the agency had no choice but to prioritize those immediately impacted in the shooting.

“There were five homicides and one person injured, so we had all hands-on deck providing support to family and next of kin,” she said.

“Our focus in this incident was on the primary and secondary victims. I feel poorly that our response was 11 days delayed, but that was the best we could do with the resources we had,” adding that multiple days of services were provided.

“We were not equipped to handle a mass shooting,” she said, adding that the organization gets on average 40 new referrals a day.

Rozdilsky said it shouldn’t have been left to a local victim services group to address the complex needs in the aftermath of one of Ontario’s worst mass killings. The province should have a mechanism in place, he said.

The province didn’t answer specific questions about why there is no provincewide emergency response in a situation like a mass shooting, or why such a process has not yet been enacted for such incidents.

“We are investing in community services that support survivors, as well as in programming that strives to prevent violence,” said a spokesperson for the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services in a statement to the Star, with details of programs which offer direct supports to survivors.

The MCSS also provides some funding to regional agencies, including York Victim Services.

Freeman said the organization is a charitable non-profit and, like other victim services agencies, also raises money through donations and grants.

Unlike in other jurisdictions, York Victim Services doesn’t receive funds from the regional government -- a gap Freeman said she has been discussing with the regional government in recent weeks.

If the agency had more resources it could serve the community faster, she said, noting that her agency has far fewer staff than in Peel and Durham regions, and a budget about a quarter the size of Toronto’s victim services organization.

In Toronto, a program exists specifically to support the broader community. The Community Crisis Response Program started in 2007 and is designed to “support communities to heal and recover from violent traumatic incidents,” said Denise Andrea Campbell, the city’s executive director of social development.

Campbell said a shooting at a building is exactly the kind of incident which would trigger an immediate response from CCRP.

“This program is activated 12-72 hours after a violent incident occurs,” said Campbell and involves community development officers to go into the community and work with residents and service providers to assess the impact of the incident on the community and what services are needed.

They could potentially organize police debriefs, healing sessions, set up a memorial, or engage residents outside the community and work on prevention.

On average, the CCRP responds to 675 incidents per year which include: shootings, shots fired, stabbings and assaults.

Campbell said one example is the 2012 Danzig Street mass shooting, which killed two and injured 24 at a crowded block party.

This program worked with many community partners to organize debriefs and offer supports including the creation of a youth space and, more recently, a 10-year memorial.

Campbell said the program is funded by the city of Toronto under the city’s community safety and well-being plan called SafeTO and is poised to grow in coming years from 10 staff members to 24.

Back in York, Rozdilsky’s advocacy is trying to keep the attention on Vaughan’s victims and survivors -- and asking what more could have been done to support them.

“How is a mass shooting treated in this province? Is it equal to other disasters like a flood where there is provincial and federal assistance?” he said. “If one of the worst mass shootings in Ontario doesn’t trigger a provincial response, then what does?”

Last month, following Rozdilsky’s deputation at York Region asking for more support, the city of Vaughan held a community meeting between emergency and police officials and residents of the condo towers. More than 75 people showed up. Some asked questions, others thanked law enforcement, while others discussed the difficulty in accessing mental health supports.

Rozdilsky said there was one resonating sentiment many residents shared that evening: “Don’t forget about us.”