High school gym named for drowned student

Youth who died in July in Algonquin Park was a pupil at C.W. Jeffreys

A North York high school has renamed its gymnasium and dedicated a plaque in memory of student Jeremiah Perry, the teen who last year drowned on a canoe trip to Algonquin Park.

Perry died last summer on a weeklong field trip with more than 30 other students of C.W. Jeffreys Collegiate Institute. On July 4, 2017, the 15-year-old slipped under the water while swimming with classmates in a backcountry lake in the wild Central Ontario park. His body was discovered the next day.

At a Friday dedication at the school, attended by staff, students and Perry’s family, his mother chocked on her words as she remembered her son.

“As you can imagine, this is very difficult for me,” Melissa Perry said. “We cannot properly let go until or unless we feel that Jeremiah has been properly honoured,” she said.

School principal B. Patrick Lee praised Perry for his calm demeanour, respectful attitude and his desire to help others.

In August 2017, the TDSB said Perry was one of 15 students on the trip who had failed required swim tests.

In May 2018, the TDSB introduced safety measures including rules that call for second swim tests on the location of the trip. Any student that fails that second test will be barred from water-related activities during the excursion, the TDSB said.

The OPP in July charged C.W. Jeffreys teacher Nicholas Mills with criminal negligence causing death. Mills, who had 20 years of experience and special training in outdoor recreation, was the school’s co-ordinator for the program that organized the trip. He has been a teacher in the province since 1998, according to the Ontario College of Teachers website, and is in good standing.

In July, TDSB spokesperson Ryan Bird said Mills had been on home assignment since Perry’s death.

Perry started at C.W. Jeffreys in October 2016 after immigrating to Canada from Guyana.

A science teacher, speaking to the Star after Perry’s death, described the teen as a “polite and loving boy” with “an indomitable spirit to learn.”