The British Columbia government is taking legal action against OpenAI, alleging the company played a role in the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting that claimed the lives of eight victims and injured dozens more.
The province has hired lawyers in B.C., as well as in California where the artificial intelligence firm is based, in an effort to seek compensation for the government to offset expenses incurred due to the tragedy, Attorney General Niki Sharma said during a July 7 press conference.
This includes providing financial support for the construction of a new school in Tumbler Ridge, to replace the facility where one of the worst mass shootings in Canada’s history occurred earlier this year.
Jesse Van Rootselaar opened fire at the northeastern B.C. school on Feb. 10 after the 18-year-old killed his mother and 11-year-old half-brother in their home. The shooting killed five students and a teacher’s aide, and injured 27 others at the local high school, which serves students in Grades 7 through 12.
Van Rootselaar was also found dead at the scene with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, bringing the final death toll to nine.
“The events of Feb. 10 will forever remain a dark chapter in our province’s history,” Sharma told reporters. “Nothing can undo what happened. But the steps I’m outlining today are about seeking accountability and justice. Justice for the families who lost loved ones.”
That accountability comes in the form of making OpenAI take responsibility for its failures, Sharma said, noting that the B.C. government is not alone in launching a lawsuit against the American tech firm.
Van Rootselaar’s use of ChatGPT before the mass murder is now the subject of multiple lawsuits against the chatbot’s creator, OpenAI, and company founder Sam Altman.
OpenAI has confirmed that an account associated with Van Rootselaar was banned last year. The company has said it considered alerting the Canadian authorities about the troubling interactions that breached its policies, but decided against it.
An apology letter signed by Altman was published in the Tumbler Ridge newspaper on April 24. Altman said in the message he was “deeply sorry” for the company’s failure to notify the police about the shooter’s account.
Sharma said the province’s lawsuit will strive to ensure accountability for both the company and its “decision-makers” while also ensuring B.C. residents do not have to shoulder any financial burden caused by the tragedy.
“As a government, we need to support the families to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Sharma added.
She said any legal action the B.C. government takes will remain separate from litigation launched by family members. Seven families of victims who were killed or injured in the mass shooting have filed lawsuits in California and are expected to seek more than US$1 billion in damages.
Litigation History
The B.C. government has previously taken legal action in cases involving alleged corporate misconduct.
The province was the first to sue tobacco manufacturers decades ago, seeking damages to recover the province’s past and future health-care costs attributable to tobacco-related diseases caused by the manufacturers’ alleged misconduct.
B.C. is set to receive more than $3.6 billion over the course of 18 years from the historic $32.5 billion pan-Canadian agreement, which will allocate the remaining $28.8 billion among other provincial and territorial governments, individual smokers affected, and a medical research foundation. The province received its initial upfront payment of $936 million in 2025.
The province also filed a Canada-wide class-action lawsuit in 2018 targeting more than 40 entities, including pharmaceutical manufacturers, major generic drug makers, retail pharmacies, wholesale distributors, and corporate consultancies in an effort to recover public health-care expenses related to the opioid crisis. The lawsuit has successfully cleared all pre-trial hurdles and a trial date has been set for February 2028.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
