Parent blames racism for allegations of bullying at teens’ trip

A woman who says her teenage son was filmed during an alleged bullying incident while on a camping trip near Norway House First Nation has alleged the situation has been blown out of proportion and blamed it on anti-Indigenous racism.

Meaghen Jones’ 16-year-old son was one of the students who went on a multi-day “truth and reconciliation” student exchange trip from Sept. 28 to Oct. 2. It connected students from Elm Creek School and Helen Betty Osborne Ininiw Education Resource Centre, a Frontier School Division nursery-to-Grade 12 school in Norway House, about 200 kilometres south of Thompson.

A parent, who talked to the Free Press Thursday, said Elm Creek boys had been spanked, slapped, “dry-humped” and threatened by students from the Norway House school, and that a video of the harassment had circulated throughout the school community.

Jones said she hasn’t seen the video, but her son was part of the group that was allegedly bullied.

Boys from both schools, who ranged in age from 14 to 17, were mixed together in two tents, Jones said.

She said her son had told her he was videoed while sharing a tent with the other students, and described it as brief “rough-housing.”

“When (my son) came home and told us, he had a great trip, we talked to him about it. He was extremely frustrated that it had been taped in the first place, without (his) knowledge,” Jones said Friday.

“The fact that they were, in his words, just kind of fooling around, it makes me wonder what the point of the video was.”

Jones said she was in contact with her son throughout the trip, and spoke to him about the incident when he came home because parents had raised concerns about campers’ conduct.

She said he quickly dismissed those concerns as inaccurate and influenced by anti-Indigenous racism.

“Personally, I believe that this is fuelled by racism,” she said. “I think that the kids that didn’t want to go made the time that they spent there awful, and the kids that went with an open mind and open heart, who were willing to learn the culture of other communities, had the time that they had.”

Jones said there’s talk the reciprocal camping trip by Norway House students to Elm Creek, which is planned for next month, may be cancelled.

She wonders why the unnamed parent reached out to the Free Press now, as opposed to in October when the trip ended or after it was reported to RCMP in February.

“We had just actually had a meeting in regards to itinerary, stuff like that, everything seemed fine, and then (Thursday), I read the article that the Winnipeg Free Press had published,” she said.

RCMP said the incident was reported to them on Feb. 14; to date no charges have been laid.

On Thursday, the Prairie Rose School Division and Frontier School Division acknowledged the incident but declined to comment because of the RCMP probe.

In January, Brian O’Leary, Manitoba’s deputy minister of education, and Michelle Dubik, deputy minister of families, sent a joint letter to the PRSD and Frontier trustee boards about mandatory reporting of child-protection and child-abuse protocol.

Elm Creek is about 75 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg. According to 2021 Stats Canada data, out of the 405 people in Elm Creek, 40 identified as Indigenous.

“Coming from a predominantly white community, being in Elm Creek which is white as well, we thought it’d be a great way to mingle kids,” Jones said. “Two completely different cultures, two completely different areas of the province.”

The parent who spoke with the Free Press Thursday said security was supposed to be present on the trip, but staff never showed up.

John Doherty, an educator with the School Liability Expert Group, a U.S. organization that works with schools, parents, and attorneys, said while it looked like both schools tried to put proper lodging and security measures in place, there should have been a better back-up plan when there was a lack of tents and security staff.

“They should have had a contingency plan.”

He said he hoped both schools have offered support to the students who were part of the incident, but said the exchange trip sounded like a “great cultural experience for students”

“I think taking a look at the planning and the implementation of the trip to see what can be done differently would be a good first step, instead of just outright cancelling it,” he said.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca