Festival du Voyageur denies responsibility for boy’s injuries during school trip, wants lawsuit tossed

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This article was published 17/11/2023 (659 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Festival du Voyageur is fighting a lawsuit over the collapse of a platform at Fort Gibraltar that badly injured a boy on a school field trip, arguing in court papers filed this week the case should be tossed out.

Grade 5 students from St. John’s-Ravenscourt School were visiting the popular Fort Gibraltar historic site and museum in Whittier Park on May 31, when they heard a cracking noise before two sections of the platform that ran along the fort’s walls collapsed and sent 28 people crashing to the ground from a distance of approximately six metres.

Officials said at the time that 17 children and one adult from the school suffered varying degrees of injury and were taken to the Health Sciences Centre.

The parents of one of the injured children filed a lawsuit in early August against the non-profit Festival du Voyageur, which operates the fort, and the City of Winnipeg, which owns the land, alleging the two institutions were negligent and breached their duties.

The injured boy, whose parents are represented by Troy Harwood-Jones and Andrew Derwin of PKF Lawyers, required surgery to fix fractures in his right wrist and left hip, the August court filings claim.

“Except as expressly… admitted, the defendant, the Festival du Voyageur Inc. denies the allegations made by the plaintiff in the statement of claim and denies that the plaintiff is entitled to the relief claimed… or any relief at all,” reads Festival’s statement of defence, filed in Court of King’s Bench on its behalf by John Martens and Alexandre Mireault of MLT Aikins LLP on Wednesday.

The statement of defence requests the court turf the lawsuit and award costs.

In the new legal filing, Festival denies that the walkway was last repaired in 2004 and last inspected in 2006, as alleged in the lawsuit.

“(Festival) denies that it created a dangerous hazard in its construction of the fort,” read the court papers. “(Festival) denies that it knew or ought to have known that the walkway was unsafe as alleged.”

A city spokesman told the Free Press in June the last confirmed city building inspection was done in 2006, following repairs to the walkway in 2004.

The statement of claim also argues Festival has no knowledge of the extent of the injuries allegedly suffered by the boy and therefore denies them.

The non-profit francophone organization denied in the filing that it should be considered an occupier of the facility under the provincial Occupiers’ Liability Act, and if it were to be considered one, it denies that it was negligent or in breach of any duty of care.

The festival instead says in the filing that in its use of the fort it took reasonable care and effort to ensure the space was safe for visitors, including following reasonable inspection and maintenance protocols in co-operation with the city. As a result, it’s argued, Festival satisfied any duty of care owed to the boy.

Nothing Festival did or did not do caused any loss or damage that could be legally compensated, the filing argues. If the boy did suffer any loss or damages, it was as a result of the actions of parties other than Festival, or his own negligence by failing to exercise reasonable care in the circumstances, the filings claim.

The city has not filed a statement of defence. On Nov. 1, Harwood-Jones and Derwin filed a requisition asking the court to find against the City of Winnipeg in default, arguing it had failed to file a defence within the required time frame.

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The new legal filing comes after the province gave a $50,000 grant to Festival du Voyageur last Thursday, to temporarily secure the site, which has been closed since the collapse.

Festival announced in early October it planned to tear down the Winnipeg historical replica fort’s walls and walkways in the wake of the May 31 incident, ahead of the organization’s namesake festival that celebrates Franco-Manitoban heritage and the history of the fur trade in February.

The provincial cash will go toward the $100,000 bill to demolish the walls and to erect a temporary, 2.4-metre wooden fence around the site, said Festival executive director Breanne Lavallée-Heckert last week.

She would not comment directly on the incident at the time, citing the legal process, but said the safety and security of the festival and its attendees is top of mind to the organization.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Erik Pindera
Reporter

Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020.  Read more about Erik.

Every piece of reporting Erik produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.