Saskatchewan’s children’s advocate Corey O’Soup will investigate the tragic death of a 5-year-old boy who died while attending École Dundonald School.
The kindergarten student was found at a nearby pond after recess on Monday morning and later pronounced dead in hospital.
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“It is important that parents and children continue to have comfort in knowing that our schools are a place for children and youth to learn and grow,” O’Soup said in a press release sent out on Wednesday.
“As the advocate for the children of this province, it is critical to ensure that we know what happened in this case.”
The independent investigation will seek to uncover what led to the death and make recommendations to prevent it from happening again.
“It will be important to examine the context regarding the services provided to this child. Our investigation will also examine and inform any gaps in policies, procedures and practice,” O’Soup said.
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The Saskatoon Public Schools division’s director of education, Barry MacDougall, asked the advocate’s office to conduct the investigation.
“This is an extraordinary tragedy, which I believe requires an extraordinary response,” MacDougall said in a press release.
“In order to do everything we can to appropriately examine the circumstances of our student’s death, our organization has requested this independent review of our pertinent operations. We must learn from this tragedy so it never happens again.”
MacDougall said the school division’s internal investigation continues and the office of the chief coroner will also complete its own.
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