NB Minister of Public Safety Robert Trevors Says Laying Charges Against Sackville Bus Company "Inappropriate"

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NB Minister of Public Safety Says Laying Charges Against Sackville Bus Company "Inappropriate"

(Bathurst, NB - January 5, 2010) - The following is a statement from Isabelle Hains of Bathurst, NB in response to a letter received late today from New Brunswick Public Safety Minister, Robert Trevors, regarding the failure to lay charges against Prestige Bus Service of Sackville. (See original correspondence below).

"As we suspected, there will be no charges laid by the New Brunswick Department of Public Safety in the Sackville Prestige Bus Service incident where 60 children from Marshview Middle School were driven to Halifax on two separate charter buses with bald tires in late November, 2010.

Citing "precedent" the Minister of Public Safety, Robert Trevors, has declined to lay charges because Nova Scotia has already laid charges in the incident. According to Minister Trevors, proper procedures and policies were followed and the investigating officers "concluded that further charges for the same violations would be without precedent, and inappropriate."

We'll tell you what's inappropriate: it's inappropriate that three years after the Boys in Red tragedy, students in the province of New Brunswick are still being transported in buses with bald tires in winter and the crime goes unpunished.

Nobody at the Department of Education paid a price for this incident either as employees there also followed proper "policy", according to the Minister of Education, Jody Carr. To quote: "I am satisfied that appropriate policies were followed by District 2 and Marshview Middle School to ensure student safety while on an out-of-province field trip," Carr said on December 3.

We say that any time childrens' lives are endangered by unsafe transportation practices and policies of the Department of Education that precedents MUST be set to prevent it from happening again. In 2009, Brice Noel, a volunteer coach / bus driver from Jacquet River was charged and fined $172 by the Department of Public Safety for failing to keep a log of his pre-trip inspection. We assumed that the actions of Prestige Bus Service of Sackville warranted similar, if not more severe treatment, given the number of buses and children involved.

Apparently, the Boys in Red tragedy wasn't enough to set precedent. Almost three years to the day and the people with the power and authority to improve student transportation safety haven't learned a thing. Prestige Bus Services and the senior administrators at District 2 didn't even get a slap on the wrist. Laws, policies, rules and regulations can be violated and nobody is held accountable. It's shameful and borders on criminal endangerment because the message is clear: in New Brunswick, it's all right to transport children in winter on buses with bald tires.

Meantime, we are still waiting for word from the Minister of Education, Jody Carr, regarding his proposed student transportation stakeholders "committee" which was raised in our December 1, 2010 meeting in Fredericton. With the 3rd anniversary of the Boys in Red Tragedy just days away, we believe the Minister of Education must show good faith and strike the committee with a view to dealing with the concerns and issues of safe student transportation without any further delay."


Isabelle Hains

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