Defence argues drowned teen had ample supervision

‘Not uncommon’ for kids at Algonquin Park to swim without life-jackets

A veteran Ontario parks manager was asked at a Toronto high school teacher’s negligence trial Wednesday to comment on a variety of photographs appearing to show people young and old in an Algonquin Park lake not wearing life-jackets.

He was also asked, by the prosecution, to comment on a water-safety video that advises children and non-swimmers to always wear a personal flotation device when in or near the water and always ensure swimmers are supervised.

The Crown played the video as part of its case to establish that Nicholas Mills failed in his legal duty to prevent the July 2017 drowning death of 15-year-old Jeremiah Perry on a canoe trip in Algonquin Park.

Mills was the trip leader and Perry one of the 15 of 33 students on the trip who had failed a prerequisite swim test. Among other things, the prosecution cites as negligent Mills allowing Perry to enter the water without a life-jacket.

The defence argues that’s because Mills believed Perry could swim and that he had ample supervision that tragic evening. At the Big Trout Lake swim site were two adults, one of them Mills, watching him and a handful of other swimmers, while a certified lifeguard stood on shore. (The Crown says the lifeguard, who was 17, was too young and inexperienced and wasn’t properly informed about the swimming ability of the group.)

“How many of the countless youth who have swum at this site over generations did so with greater care shown by adults for their safety than was shown for Jeremiah on that day?” defence lawyer Phil Campbell wrote in his “summary of the defence position” that he handed to the judge Monday as the case got underway.

Prosecutor Anna Stanford showed the water safety video to Brent Stewart, who joined the hybrid trial via Zoom from his Silent Lake park office, near Bancroft. The 22-year park veteran was assistant park supervisor at Algonquin Park the summer Perry drowned.

After watching it, he agreed with Stanford that it was an accurate depiction of water-safety precautions that he and Ontario Parks endorse.

Under cross-examination, Stewart confirmed there are no on-duty lifeguards in Algonquin Park and that supervision is the responsibility of adults — as stated by warning signs dotting the vast wilderness area.

He also got Stewart to agree that park rangers have no mandate to order people to wear life-jackets, and that a series of images showed visitors at one of Algonquin Park’s 1,500 lakes not wearing flotation devices.

The trial in front of Superior Court Justice Maureen Forestell continues Thursday.