Canada’s School Shooting Drills from Russian mom perspective

 In Canada, school shooting drills mix police-led safety training with lessons on empathy, mental health, and community trust. The perspective of a Russian mom living in Canada, and also – her daughter experiences—hiding from “attackers,” memorizing safety acronyms, and chatting with donut-carrying officers. With strict gun laws but rare tragedies, the focus is on readiness, prevention, and keeping schools safe without losing their humanity.

 “We have enough unbalanced teenagers here.” A mom from Canada — on school anti-terror drills

School shootings or terrorist attacks are terrible tragedies that, sadly, have become part of our reality. Blogger for MEL Yekaterina Mukhina has been living in Canada for more than 5 years, and her children go to a regular Canadian school. And there, they regularly hold preventive “anti-shooting” drills. She tells what that is.

Police, coffee, and donuts

When I drive up to the school, I see 3 police cars. Instinctive check-check: license in place, everyone buckled up, insurance paid, license plate not falling off. All this had been violated before — guilty! The main thing — speed. When other rules are overlooked, in the school zone it’s strictly 30 km/h. Go over by 2 km — sirens behind you. Go too slow — suspicious driving, reason for a check. Around schools, patrol cars are constantly driving, often undercover police cars. An experienced eye will tell them by certain models, heavily tinted windows, and protruding antennas.

Today the police are like peacocks in the local garden: fluffing their feathers, showing off their uniforms and stories. Police straight from the movies — with donuts and coffee — smiling and joking. This is part of a program from the police department: free breakfasts for schoolchildren, where sometimes RCMP — Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the federal police of Canada — drop by. You can ask the police anything, they really are friendly and, most importantly, inspire trust.

After the morning breakfast and informal talk with the authorities, my daughter Alya and her classmates gather in the gym. Police and teachers explain how to act in case of a shooting: not only how to hide or evacuate, but also about preventing such incidents.

Students are taught to be attentive to each other: to notice alarming behavior in classmates, to tell teachers if something seems suspicious, and to care for their own mental health.

There are enough unbalanced teenagers here. Such kids are spotted by teachers and sent to school psychologists.

There are also programs to strengthen mental health, where students learn to deal with stress and emotions, as well as programs to develop empathy — here children are told how to understand others’ feelings and avoid aggression.

But the main problem in our province — there is a catastrophic shortage of psychiatric clinics — lunatic house, as they are called in everyday speech. Psychologists often give only general advice, and to get to a psychiatrist, who could assess mental condition and, if necessary, prescribe medication, the wait is 8 months.

The talk with students takes place in a semi-formal setting. Instead of monotonously explaining the material, teachers ask questions, involve them in dialogue, show memorable slides. It’s proven that questions that make students think develop critical thinking and help them remember the material. After studying 4 years under strict Russian rules, Alya found her favorite rule in Canadian school: there is no wrong answer. The main thing — don’t be afraid to give your answer, because everyone’s personal opinion is respected.

At home, Alya authoritatively shares what she remembered from the police lesson:

• 17% of shooters had mental disorders;
  
• 78% previously had suicidal thoughts or attempts;
  
• 98% experienced serious emotional or physical trauma.
  

Alert, lie down, act clearly

After the police lecture comes the most interesting part — skill practice. Alya and her friends learn to hide quickly and act together. “One person’s wrong behavior can increase the scale of the tragedy,” explains the officer.

The rules here are similar to Russian ones, but there’s also much new. Students, for example, are taught to hide in any part of the room not visible from the glass door or outside the building (depending on where the shooter is): under desks, by the wall, behind furniture, or in the spaces between windows.

It’s important to turn off the light so the classroom looks empty, close the blinds, and barricade the door from the inside. All doors in the school lock, and only teachers have keys to open them from outside. In non-standard rooms, like the library or tech class, there may be special shelters. Locking doors slows the shooter’s progress and helps police respond faster.

In Canada, police arrive at the school within 3 minutes of an alarm.

The main rule — don’t draw attention: sit quietly, don’t leave hiding. Even if someone shouts that it’s safe, don’t believe it: the shooter could have accomplices outside.

If the shooter tries to enter through a window, it’s important to crouch below his level and be ready to resist, using the advantage of numbers, especially in high school, where teens can be stronger than adults. Risky, but better than everyone trying to run out of the class or jump out the window under fire.

But in general, children are taught not to attack — except as a last resort. Still, sometimes adults take that step, shielding students with their bodies.

So there is no perfect strategy. Much depends on the layout, equipment, and readiness of the school.

Teachers are also trained. For example, they are taught to use codes when reporting via the school radio or loudspeaker — so police can better identify the shooter and locate him.

In some schools, following the U.S. example, there’s the ALICE program (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate). On the school radio or directly to dispatch, clear descriptions are given. Instead of “Shooter in the building,” say: “Armed white male in jeans and red shirt at the library.” Then teachers decide whether to evacuate the class, barricade, or counter the shooter.

Alya instantly memorizes the acronym, similar to her name, and makes her own version: A-L-YA: Alert, Lie down, Act clearly (don’t judge her for the spelling mistake in Russian — 4 years in Canadian school gradually erode it). Her brother jokes: “Attack, Catch, Tattle.”

Despite all students knowing the saying Snitches get stitches, it’s precisely thanks to tattling that incidents can be prevented. Although there are “distortions.”

Alya tells how once the school went on alert: classmates told teachers someone brought a Nerf gun. Just a plastic toy blaster! Police were called instantly, the school was cordoned off, students evacuated to a safe place outside. Of course, there was no real danger, but our kids learned: better to be the boy who cried wolf than risk a life.

By the way, schools don’t allow wearing jewelry with sharp spikes or clothing with images of weapons or blood.

Alya — a fan of Kurt Cobain, our “neighbor” from Seattle — has her favorite tote bag where he holds a gun to his mouth. It was reason enough to call her parents in for a preventive talk.

Alya jokes that this tote is a vigilance test for school administration, a pass to an audience with the principal… or the school psychologist.

For Alya, mass-shooting drills are both a game and an important team skill. And of course, free donuts, the chance to flaunt statistics, and to casually chat with police officers.

Bulletproof shelters under the desk

In Canada — a peace-loving country, where from childhood everyone is trained in “thank you — please” — school shootings are rare. This is connected with stricter gun regulation than in the USA: automatic and semi-automatic weapons are banned, short-barreled pistols banned for sale, as well as grenade launchers. Also banned are butterfly knives and switchblades. Incredibly, in the USA the right to own such weapons is protected by the well-known Second Amendment to the Constitution.

It is proven that the number of crimes rises sharply when the population has free access to weapons.

After another mass shooting in Canada, a ban was introduced on the use of military-style semi-automatic weapons, and owners were obliged to surrender them to authorities. Law-abiding Canadians voluntarily handed them in for disposal. Of course, weapons can still be used — the rule remains that if you enter private property, the owner has full right to shoot the trespasser.

In Canada’s history there have been several high-profile cases. The largest mass killing in Canada occurred in 2020 in Nova Scotia, lasting two days and claiming 22 lives. The criminal, dressed in an RCMP uniform, moved through towns killing people and setting houses on fire. Before that, the worst was the Montreal Massacre — the killing of 14 women in the École Polytechnique in 1989.

According to the latest data, all Canadian shooters were men.

Experts link this to the fact that men find it harder (and more shameful) to express feelings, so they express them through aggression. So students here are taught how important it is to express emotions, and they understand why there are so many programs for developing empathy and strengthening mental health.

Following the examples of the USA and Japan, additional safety measures are being implemented in Canadian schools. Some companies have begun producing backpacks with protective panels that can be used as shields. In some schools, bulletproof shelters are installed under desks, or portable protective structures are used, which can be quickly deployed in case of threat. These measures are expensive, but justified. A school is a place where children and teachers should feel safe.

By the way, in Canada there’s a magic phrase: “I don’t feel safe.” If you say it, it’s an automatic signal for action. Police can come to check the situation, and school psychologists or social workers start offering support. Of course, resourceful Alya, with her Russian mentality, notes that next time she’ll say: “I don’t feel safe because of the math test.”