The man running a firefighter training course where one student died will be in court next month to answer to a charge of criminal negligence causing death.
Terry Harrison will be facing the charge following an unusual legal step – a private prosecution of the matter, which began after a police investigation concluded that no charges should be laid.
In February 2015, Harrison was training 12 prospective firefighters in ice rescues on the Saugeen River. One of the students, Adam Brunt, became trapped under fast-flowing ice and was killed.
Hanover police and Ontario’s Ministry of Labour concluded that no charges should be laid.
A coroner’s inquest into the deaths of Brunt and Gary Kendall – who died in 2010 after getting trapped under an ice floe during rescue training – was held last year. Jurors concluded that both deaths were accidental, but ruled that the rescue exercises were inherently dangerous and should be stopped until a way is found to make them safer.
That wasn’t enough for T.J. Thompson, who was also training under Harrison on the day Brunt died and believes his death could have been prevented.
Thompson says the conditions that day were too dangerous for anyone to be out on the water. She says the trainees were given “no equipment at all” while the trainer had a personal flotation device and a knife.
“I just felt that the criminal aspect of what happened … wasn’t being addressed,” she says.
“There’s been a huge wrong done here.”
Seeking justice, Thompson pursued a private prosecution. She convinced a justice of the peace that a criminal charge should be laid against Harrison, which is the charge he will be facing when he appears in Walkerton court in January.
“I’m excited to have a fact-finding process, because we need that,” Thompson says.
“There are a lot of firefighters and future firefighters who continue to be at risk.”
CTV News contacted Harrison, who said he had not been served with a summons and didn’t want to comment on the matter.
With reporting by Max Wark
