National Kindness Week takes on different meaning after Tumbler Ridge shooting

Governor General David Johnston invests Rabbi Reuven Bulka of Ottawa into the Order of Canada to during a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Wednesday, May 7, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA — Parliamentarians from all parties came together Wednesday to mark National Kindness Week — but the message is taking on a different meaning after the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.

National Kindness Week, which runs from Feb. 15 to 21, honours a movement started by the late Ottawa Rabbi Reuven Bulka, who encouraged small acts of kindness that can have lasting impacts. The rabbi had long pushed for the adoption of a National Kindness Week.

Interim NDP leader Don Davies said there’s a “cruel irony” and “profound symmetry” to marking the Kindness Week just hours after a senseless tragedy, but the week’s message is a reminder of the importance of empathy.

“At a time when the world feels increasingly defined by division, conflict and even hatred. This shared commitment matters. It reminds us that in moments of tension and uncertainty, what people need the most isn’t sharper rhetoric or tougher posturing but more kindness and gentleness,” Davies said.

“A single act of kindness may not transform the world, but for someone who needs it, it may mean the world.”

Ontario Conservative MP Michael Barrett said it’s difficult to deliver an uplifting message after the tragedy in B.C., but people should be thinking of doing small acts of kindness every day, especially today.

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MPs who spoke at the event offered condolences to B.C. Conservative Bob Zimmer and the constituents of his riding, which includes Tumbler Ridge.

“We love the people in our communities. I love Bob Zimmer, and God, what he’s going through as the member of Parliament for Tumbler Ridge right now, I can’t begin to express how stricken we all are by this,” Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said.

The bill to establish National Kindness Week became law on June 3, 2021, just weeks before Bulka’s death.

Barrett sponsored the bill in the House and said it was a priority to work with the other partiers to pass the legislation quickly.

“Now everyone has lots of legislative priorities, but at the time Rabbi Bulka was quite unwell. And we thought that if we can’t get unanimous consent to recognize Kindness Week as in recognition of a very good man, a great man, and his efforts and his intention, what could we get unanimous consent on? And we did,” Barrett said.

Giovanna Mingarelli championed the Kindness Week movement after Bulka’s death. Now serving as an Ontario Liberal MP, she said that embodying the spirit of the week doesn’t require grand gestures, just a simple act of kindness.

“It’s checking in on a neighbour. It’s volunteering at a food bank. It’s showing patience, compassion and respect in moments when it would be easier not to sometimes,” she said.

Some of the divisions that drive people apart and act less kind to one another is rooted in politics. This irony was not lost on Davies who said that kindness and empathy aren’t normally displayed in House of Commons debate.

“I also think that this proximity is profound, because perhaps there’s no better place to start practising these values than as leaders in our national discourse,” Davies said. “In challenging times, kindness can and will ground us, connect us, and point toward the kind of Canada that I know that all of our citizens want to build together.”

While most comments Canadians see in the news from politicians involve partisan jabs and mudslinging, May stressed that this display of coming together is more reflective of how the MPs actually are.

“Unfortunately, citizens of this country, neighbours and friends, you see the worst of us. Because question period is what media cover, and that’s a display of pure stupidity every single day and meanness,” May said.

“It shouldn’t be like that. And I want Canadians to know this is the real us.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 11, 2026.

David Baxter, The Canadian Press