An inquest into the deaths of nine people in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., will examine how the mental health and public safety systems intersect.
Dr. Jatinder Baidwan - the province's chief coroner announced the inquest on Tuesday with a goal to prevent future deaths.
While a date for the inquest hasn't been set, Baidwan said it would also consider how guns were obtained by the killer.
Jesse Van Rootselaar shot dead her mother and 11-year-old half-brother at their home before killing five students, a teacher's aide and then herself at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School on Feb. 10.
Baidwan said the tragedy prompted widespread discussions about mental health and public safety, and a key part of the inquest will be looking at how people in crisis are identified and supported.
Baidwan later declined to say how gender diversity might come up in the inquest. "So, we will employ all the skills that we have to investigate the circumstances of what happened, and if gender diversity was an issue and comes up as an issue in those circumstances, then it will be examined."
-with files from Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press.
"As chief coroner, my mandate is to promote public safety and the findings and recommendations from this inquest will inform practice and support safety and well-being in communities across British Columbia and Canada," he said during the news conference at the provincial legislature.
The coroners service has a unique role in looking at the deaths openly and in a way that will maintain public confidence, Baidwan said.
"We are not a fault-finding process, which is a distinction from the justice system," he said. "We are an inquest, where we sort of try to get to the truth about things, and try to see whether we can improve and change what happens, so it never happens again."
B.C.'s Public Safety Minister Nina Krieger said the inquest is a "really crucial step" in getting answers.
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