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'C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute' is a public secondary school in the Keele-Finch area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Contents

Shooting

Shooting timeline

Arrests

Consequences

School board reaction

Provincial, national and world reaction

Allegations of sexual abuse

See also

References

External links

Shooting

On May 23 2007, this school in North York was the site of a shooting. Jordan Manners, a Grade 9 student who turned 15 the week prior, was murdered.
The shooting was high-profile in Ontario and received national media attention as the first fatal school shooting (primary and secondary grades) in Toronto's history and the first in Canada since the W. R. Myers High School shooting in 1999.^[1][2] The case raised questions about the safety of Toronto's inner-city schools, video surveillance of schools and national gun control laws.

Shooting timeline

Manners was hit once in the chest while on the second floor of the school's swimming pool at around 2:30 p.m.
Police received a call about a possible drowning, but arrived at the school to find the teenage boy in a corridor suffering from a single gunshot wound.
The Grade 9 student was taken to Sunnybrook Hospital with serious injuries, but doctors were unable to save him.
C.W. Jefferys was locked down between 2:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. while the hall monitors, Toronto Police and the Emergency Task Force were searching for the shooter.

Arrests

Two 17-year-old Canadian citizens, whom the media can not identify under the provisions of Canada's Youth Criminal Justice Act, were arrested on May 27, 2007 and charged with first-degree murder. Prior to one of the arrests, police had taken the unusual step of obtaining a judicial order to publish one suspect's name and photograph as he was considered armed and dangerous. Media reported his identity and photo, then had to take the stories off their websites after he was arrested hours later.^[3] The suspects have been described as friends of Manners.¹

Consequences

The school offered "psychological first aid", a newer approach, for students and staff as opposed to the more conventional "grief counselling" which some experts now say may cause more harm than good. ^[4]
The school scheduled a candlelight vigil on May 24, 2007, the day after the tragedy to remember Manners. An overflow crowd of between 800 to 1,000 people attended his funeral.

School board reaction

A lack of surveillance cameras was quickly called into question by an editorial in the national newspaper, ''The Globe and Mail''.^[5] The schools operated through the Toronto District School Board will review the security measures which were introduced in September 2006. The board also announced a panel to review school safety.^[6]

Provincial, national and world reaction

Toronto Mayor David Miller said the situation shows the need for stricter gun control and called for an outright ban on handguns. He said handguns are too accessible, as people can steal them from collectors in Toronto or smuggle them into Canada from the United States. ^{[7][8][9][10]} Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty wrote an open letter to federal party leaders urging them to push through proposed criminal justice legislation and implement a "real ban" on handguns.^[3]
After meeting with provincial representatives, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day rejected such a ban.^[12]
On June 6, 2007, representatives from B'nai Brith joined leaders from the black community in calling for a public inquiry and the re-establishment of a youth commissioner, a defunct position once held by Ken Dryden.
^[6]
The murder was also expected to affect proposed changes to Ontario's Safe Schools Act that were to address complaints that it and other discipline policies "unfairly discriminated against minorities -- mostly boys who happened to be black -- as well as disabled students, who were being turfed out of school because of their different behaviours."^[14]

Allegations of sexual abuse

Recent allegations have surfaced of sexual abuse directed toward Muslim female students at C.W. Jefferys C.I. The school administration is being criticized for not taking any action on the incidents and allowing them to continue. A 14 year old girl was allegedly forced to perform oral sex on a student in a washroom, while another student watched the door. The allegations emerged during an inquiry into conditions at the school following the May shooting death of Grade 9 student Jordan Manners. The Toronto police have said they are currently investigating an alleged assault at the school that was never reported to police. The police executed a search warrant at the school to look for information about the alleged assault.^{[15]
[16]
[17]}

See also

★ List of school related attacks

References

1. Farewell to 'brightest star', By Curtis Rush, ''The Toronto Star,'' Published May 31, 2007
2. High School Goes Into Lockdown & Fear After Fatal Shooting, www.citynews.ca, Published May 23, 2007
3. Two teens, both 17, charged with murder in Toronto school shooting, By Peter Cameron, Canadian Press, www.canada.com, retrieved on May 27, 2007
4. Grief counselling: more harm than good?, By Patrick White, ''The Globe and Mail'', May 25, 2007, Retrieved on May 27, 2007.
5. To save schools from the thugs, Editorial, ''The Globe and Mail'', May 25, 2007, Retrieved on May 27, 2007
6. Black and Jewish groups call for Manners inquiry, CTV's John Musselman with files from The Canadian Press, June 6, 2007
7. CBC.ca
8. TheStar.com
9. CityNews.ca
10. CTV.ca
11. Two teens, both 17, charged with murder in Toronto school shooting, By Peter Cameron, Canadian Press, www.canada.com, retrieved on May 27, 2007
12. Feds reject Ontario's call for handgun ban, By Canadian Press, CBC News website, Published June 1, 2007
13. Black and Jewish groups call for Manners inquiry, CTV's John Musselman with files from The Canadian Press, June 6, 2007
14. Reviewing the Safe Schools Act: Whose rights will be protected if this legislation is watered down? Opinion by Moira MacDonald, ''Toronto Sun'', Published June 4, 2007.
15. http://www.thestar.com/article/231218
16. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070710.SCHOOL10/TPStory/TPNational/Ontario/
17. http://www.thestar.com/News/article/231218


★ School shooting shocks Toronto

External links

★ C.W. Jefferys C.I at the Toronto District School Board website