Ex-principal unaware of so many failed swim tests

Only about half the students on 2017 wilderness canoe trip had the requisite skills to attend

The former principal of the school attended by a student who drowned on an Algonquin Park canoe trip says he was unaware many of the participants had failed a swim test that was a prerequisite for going on the wilderness adventure.

Monday Gala was testifying at the criminal negligence trial of Nicholas Mills, a teacher at C.W. Jefferys Collegiate, in northwest Toronto.

Mills organized and led the July 2017 wilderness canoe trip where 15-year-old Jeremiah Perry drowned.

Two weeks before the Algonquin trip, Perry, his brother and about three dozen students went to Sparrow Lake Camp to learn canoe skills and to take the qualifying swim test.

About half, including Perry, required life jackets and received an automatic fail.

The prosecution contends Mills engaged in a course of conduct leading up to, and including the trip, that directly caused the teen’s death. That includes allowing non-swimmers to go on the trip, and keeping the swim test results from the students, their parents, other trip leaders and Gala.

Perry was in Big Trout Lake without a life jacket when he drowned.

On Thursday, under questioning by Crown attorney Jenny Rodopolous, Gala said Mills did not disclose the swim test results prior to the students heading north, but nor did he, himself, make any inquiries about it.

“Why not?” the prosecutor asked. “When I look at what happened now, one can not help to recognize a need for a question like that, right?” Gala replied.

A month before the trip, the superintendent’s office sent Gala an email raising concerns about the swimming abilities of students.

As a result, the itinerary was changed to say students would have additional opportunities to take lessons and pass. Nevertheless, the bottom line did not change and students who didn’t pass weren’t supposed to go.

After the tragedy, Gala said he asked Mills about the swim test results. His answer seemed “convoluted,” he testified via Zoom from his office.

Gala told court he had no phys-ed or wilderness experience himself, and that he trusted Mills’ extensive experience for organizing and implementing the REACH program, targeting youth with low academic standing, mental health behavioural issues and lower-economic status.

The defence is expected to cross examine Gala on Friday when the judge-alone trial resumes.