Dave Mills has been spending a lot more time at this Napanee Barber Shop and Men’s club over the past six months. That’s because his home is far too quiet since the loss of his 15-year-old son Garrett last May.
“You know, we’re almost six and a half months since the accident occurred,” Mills said. “And even though the event itself seems distant, our memory of Garrett is still fresh, it seems like he was with us just a week ago.”
A memorial for Garrett Mills is still in place at the Napanee park where a soccer goal fell and crushed his head and killed him instantly.
On Wednesday, Dave Mills and his wife Gwen were invited to Queen’s Park for the first reading of a new legislation named ‘Garrett’s Legacy’.
“This was our way of taking something that was absolutely horrible and try to glean something out of it that’s good,” the grieving father said of the proposed legislation.
If passed, Garrett’s Legacy would make it mandatory for municipalities to anchor soccer posts to the ground, to prevent accidents like the one that killed Garrett, from happening.
The Yukon is the only province or territory in Canada with this type of legislation and only four states in the U.S. have something similar in place. The bill will go for a second reading on Dec. 7, and already has the support of both the Liberals and PCs.
“Any bill that is co-signed by two or more parties I think it just suggests to the government that this is a good thing to do,” Kingston and the Islands MPP, Sophie Kiwala said. “This is something we really need to be looking at.”
As for the name of the Bill — Garrett’s Legacy — it’s quite fitting given one of the last conversations the 15-year-old had with his father.
“Garrett actually asked us what a legacy was. Just out of the blue. We did our best to explain and give him the definition of a legacy — he thought about that for a second and said ‘when I go I want to leave a legacy.’”
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