Parents sue city, Festival du Voyageur for son’s ongoing injuries, distress after Fort Gibraltar collapse Boy requires further surgery, is at risk of permanent disability, lawyer says By: Erik Pindera Posted: 2:58 PM CDT Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023 Last Modified: 6:02 PM CDT Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023 Updates

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The parents of a child who required surgery to repair broken bones suffered in the dramatic collapse of the elevated platform at Fort Gibraltar during a spring field trip are suing the City of Winnipeg and Festival du Voyageur for damages.

Students from St. John’s-Ravenscourt School had gone to 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 collapsed and sent 28 people crashing to the ground from a distance of approximately six metres (more than 19 feet).

The field trip was for 10- and 11-year-old Grade 5 students from the private academy.

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, which declared a code orange — a disaster occurring outside the hospital.

The statement of claim alleges the injured child fell about six metres to the ground from the “highly dangerous trap” and had to be rushed by ambulance to the Children’s Hospital, where it was discovered he had fractures in his right wrist and his left hip before he underwent surgery.

He will need to undergo further surgery, according to the court documents, and is at risk of permanent disability.

In addition to the physical injuries, the claim alleges the injured child suffered psychological trauma, mental suffering, anxiety, a loss of enjoyment, a low and depressed mood, a fear of heights and various expenses.

Festival du Voyageur built the site, which is a replica of two earlier forts of the same name, in 1978 on city-owned land. It has been used regularly for public and private events in the time since, but has remained closed as officials investigate the cause of the collapse, cancelling school trips and private events such as weddings.

Troy Harwood-Jones and Andrew Derwin of legal firm PKF Lawyers filed the civil claim on behalf of the parents of one of the injured students on Aug. 11, alleging the city and Festival du Voyageur were negligent and breached their duties.

“The actions and inactions of the defendants demonstrate reckless disregard for the safety or lives of others,” the claim says. “Given the grossly negligent conduct of the defendants, punitive damages are necessary.”

“It is possible that he will not be able to make a full recovery and will have at least a limp for the rest of his life.”–Troy Harwood-Jones, lawyer

Harwood-Jones said the boy’s injuries are “quite serious.”

“He’s being monitored by the doctors, and while we’re hoping for a full recovery, it is possible that he will not be able to make a full recovery and will have at least a limp for the rest of his life,” the lawyer said by phone Tuesday afternoon.

Neither the city, which owns and leases out the land the fort sits on, and Festival du Voyageur Inc., which operates the site on St. Joseph Street in St. Boniface, have filed statements of defence.

The city has been served notice of the lawsuit, spokesman Kalen Qually said, but would not comment further. Festival du Voyageur did not return requests for comment and has repeatedly refused to comment on the collapse in the past.

The elevated walkway, which runs along the inside edge of the fort’s wood picket palisade, was last repaired in 2004 and last inspected in 2006, the court papers allege.

Festival du Voyageur’s 2016-2017 annual report briefly indicated “structural repairs” were made to the palisade in that fiscal year, but photos and videos of the work showed that the beam that snapped on May 31 was not one that had been replaced.

As the city is not required to conduct periodic inspections of the integrity of structures, municipal officials previously indicated the last inspection was in 2006, when a specific building permit required one.

The lawsuit alleges the city failed in its duty to the injured child by failing to properly oversee construction of the fort and its walkway, failing to impose and ensure compliance with reasonable and appropriate standards on Festival du Voyageur, and by allowing Festival du Voyageur to direct the public to use the walkway, when it knew or ought to have known it was unsafe.

The claim accuses Festival du Voyageur of breaching its duty by creating a “dangerous hazard” in its construction of the fort and walkway, as well as letting the public use the platform when it knew or should have known the platform wasn’t safe.

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The legal papers say the defendants failed to maintain Fort Gibraltar in a proper state of repair, failed to take reasonable steps to repair it and failed to properly conduct inspections, among other allegations.

It is alleged the platform was in such a state that created a “highly dangerous trap,” which the city and Festival du Voyageur failed to warn the public about.

The court documents accuse the defendants of being negligent, including by failing to ensure proper safety standards were set and maintained, among other alleged failures.

The claim asks for the amount of damages to be determined at trial. Harwood-Jones said it’s too early to know how much money his clients will seek if the case gets to a courtroom, as they don’t yet know the extent of the damage and injuries.

He said, for example, the parents will closely monitor his performance in school this year. Their hope, however, is that the city and Festival du Voyageur decide to settle.

“We are not anxious to go to trial, we are hoping that the city and the Festival du Voyageur do the right thing and take care of the family, who only want to secure their child’s future by ensuring he has the resources to live as full a life as possible,” he said.

Harwood-Jones added that his firm has not been approached by other parents of children injured in the incident.

After the May collapse, the city directed Festival to hire a professional engineer to do an assessment to determine unsafe conditions at the Fort Gibraltar site and provide documentation for repairs, which would require building permits and inspections, a city spokesman said previously.

It’s not clear whether that report has been completed.

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.

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