Investigation into teacher’s death unlikely to be made public

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This article was published 09/01/2017 (3205 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s been almost eight months since teacher Darcee Gosselin died on a school field trip on one of the hottest days of 2016.

The 40-year-old John Taylor Collegiate teacher, known to her students as “Goz” and “Mama G,” collapsed and died May 5 while supervising a trip to Spruce Woods Provincial Park and the Spirit Sands.

Her death while carrying out her duties as a teacher on a school-sanctioned field trip appears to be unprecedented in Manitoba in recent decades.

Yet almost nothing has been said publicly about Gosselin’s death, how and why it occurred — or, crucially, whether anything can be done to prevent another death of a teacher or student.

An aide to Growth, Enterprise and Trade Minister Cliff Cullen said recently Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) has not completed its investigation.

But Darren Thomas, risk manager for the Manitoba School Boards Association, said the government labour agency likely won’t make its report public.

“WSH wouldn’t make that public unless called to an inquiry and only then, if instructed to do so, (which is) unlikely in my opinion,” said Thomas.

It’s unclear whether the Pallister government will release details about Gosselin’s death.

The temperature was 34 C, a record for May 5 in the Carberry area, but the humidex was below 40, which was a guideline used by St. James-Assiniboia School Division. The division interviewed other adults on the trip, but reported at the time that police had not talked to either the chaperones or the students.

Manitoba Teachers’ Society president Norm Gould said last May the union would await a report on whether the weather played any role in Gosselin’s death. He said Dec. 21 that, “We have not been in touch with, or interviewed by, the school, division or department (of education) about this case.”

The Manitoba School Board Association’s extensive safety guidelines and policies make little reference to hot-weather activities. The rules primarily cover gym classes and events such as track and field meets.

Two tragedies that happened before Gosselin’s death, in which children died on school field trips, were treated differently.

The drowning of five-year-old Joshua Harder 14 years ago in a municipal pool on a school outing led to a three-week inquest.

When 13-year-old Kelsey Brewster died after a fall on a school ski trip in March 2015, educators, safety experts, ski hill operators and others spent much of the summer revising the rules for schools and ski hills. Police interviewed all the adults involved and the other students who went on the ski trip.

Harder’s death led to an inquest and a massive overhaul of school swim regulations.

That includes strict policies on the ratio of adults to children in the water, supervision criteria, appropriate depth for each child and the need for adults to be in the water and within arm’s reach of children. Now, a student could be an Olympic swimmer and a member of the high school band on an out-of-town trip; if the motel pool did not have lifeguards, she would not be allowed to use it.

Gosselin’s parents and siblings have not wanted to talk publicly about her death.

Her parents “have been going through a very difficult time,” said Darcee’s sister-in-law, Lana Gosselin. She and her husband Kelly went to Spruce Woods several weeks after Darcee’s death; the family believes Gosselin was on the Spirit Sands and not in the woods when she collapsed.

“The sand is knee-thick. There’s no shade in there,” said Lana Gosselin.

She said no one in authority has told Darcee Gosselin’s parents much about the investigation. “We’re struggling with that.”

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca