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Accimaps is used to visualize multiple contributing factors across events, highlighting common administrative issues such as undefined risk tolerance, risk creep, insufficient oversight, and concerns around parental consent. Preventative lessons are synthesized to guide school or board-level outdoor education policy and practice.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/outdoor-education-fatalities-in-canada-a-comparative-case-study/597004/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/outdoor-education-fatalities-in-canada-a-comparative-case-study/597004.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Danger Angel","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-22","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":81},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What case forms the starting point of this study?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The study begins with an Ontario criminal negligence case involving a supervising teacher charged after a 15-year-old student drowned during a remote canoe trip in Algonquin Park.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Which common administrative risk factors are identified across the fatalities?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Across the three events, the study identifies undefined risk tolerance, risk creep, lack of oversight, and issues related to parental consent as contributory administrative factors.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How does the article propose the findings can be used?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Conclusions are framed as preventative lessons that can inform outdoor education policy and practice at the school or board level.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},597004,1792209652,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":81,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},962090769052,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc","Outdoor Education Fatalities in Canada: A Comparative Case Study  \nJeff Jackson1, Simon Priest, & Stephan Ritchie2 1Algonquin College, 2 Laurentian University  \nAbstract  \nThe recent criminal negligence case against an Ontario teacher in the death of a student identified pertinent outdoor education administration and policy issues. This comparative case study examined this case and two additional high profile Canadian outdoor education fatalities, identifying common factors and issues. Using Accimaps to illustrate the multiple contributing factors for each event, the case studies all exhibited contributory administrative factors of undefined risk tolerance, risk creep, lack of oversight, and issues regarding parental consent. Conclusions were drawn as preventative lessons that can inform school or board-level outdoor education policy and practice.  \nKeywords: outdoor education, risk management, risk, risk play, case study, safety, Canada  \nIntroduction and Literature Review  \nThe recent criminal negligence case against an Ontario teacher in the death of a student identified pertinent outdoor education (OE) administration and policy issues. In July 2017, a 15 year-old student drowned while swimming with his classmates at a remote canoe trip campsite in Algonquin Park. The trip was part of an at-risk student credit course endorsed by C. W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute and the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) OE program. The supervising teacher was charged with criminal negligence causing death, and upon trial was acquitted (R. v. Mills, 2021). This tragic death, and the court proceedings that followed, pointed towards (but did not explore) fundamental unresolved administrative and policy issues in OE in Ontario and Canada.  \nWe believe this to be the first such instance of criminal negligence charges against a Canadian teacher essentially for errors made in the line of teaching. This is not, however, the first such instance of a fatality occurring during an OE outing. An environmental scan found 43 student deaths and two adult supervisor deaths related specifically to Canadian school OE activities over the last 100 years (Ritchie et al., in review).  \nLittle has been written on OE administration and policy in this journal or elsewhere. OE itself has received modest academic attention in Canada, primarily around conceptual or philosophical approaches (Asfeldt et al., 2013; Asfeldt et al., 2021; Henderson & Potter, 2001; Passmore, 1972) or measuring student or program outcomes (Breunig et al., 2014; Purc-Stephenson et al., 2019; Ritchie et al., 2015). OE in Canada is cross-disciplinary and wide ranging, covering many areas from environment and ecology to physical education, Indigenous land-based learning, geography, leadership, and “pinnacle” experiences such as wilderness expeditions (Borland, 2011; Henderson & Potter, 2001; Purc-Stephenson et al., 2019). As such, OE falls under several policy umbrellas, yet lacks specific Ministry level direction1. Aside from occasional broad government policy goals, such as the Ontario Ministry of Education’s (2009) framework that mandated to “enrich and complement students’ classroom learning by organizing  \n1 Aside from provincial curriculum outlines, such as Alberta’s Junior High Environmental and Outdoor Education Course, or Saskatchewan’s Physical Education 20 and 30 curriculum that includes Land-based learning.  \nout-of-classroom experiences and activities”(p. 17), OE policy is a school board-level or school-specific function (Borland, 2014). Tied to these local level OE decisions are anxieties around perceived risk and student safety issues (Heshka, 2006).  \nThe fatality of a minor while involved in any school activity is widely considered by society to be unacceptable (Brookes, 2018; Cloutier, 2003; Heshka, 2006; Ritchie et al., in review). Beyond the grief of the family and school staff involved, the implications of such tragedies often reverberate far beyond those directly involv","cbCaisxaWTyjCMh3","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaisxaWTyjCMh3","pdf",491695,14,"English","# Abstract\n# Introduction and Literature Review\n## Ontario criminal negligence case and contextual background\n## Prior fatality prevalence and research gaps in Canada\n## Cross-disciplinary nature of Canadian outdoor education policy\n## Societal implications and methodological grounding from Australia","[{\"question\":\"What case forms the starting point of this study?\",\"answer\":\"The study begins with an Ontario criminal negligence case involving a supervising teacher charged after a 15-year-old student drowned during a remote canoe trip in Algonquin Park.\"},{\"question\":\"Which common administrative risk factors are identified across the fatalities?\",\"answer\":\"Across the three events, the study identifies undefined risk tolerance, risk creep, lack of oversight, and issues related to parental consent as contributory administrative factors.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the article propose the findings can be used?\",\"answer\":\"Conclusions are framed as preventative lessons that can inform outdoor education policy and practice at the school or board level.\"}]","Outdoor Education Fatalities in Canada - A Comparative Case Study | PDF",1792084185,35]