By Adriana Christianson

Catwalk accessible, but unused, at Conexus Arts Centre when Slaferek died

Feb 26, 2013 | 4:08 PM

Jaidan Slaferek did. The 17-year-old fell from about 40 feet up.

The night she died — Jan. 15, 2012 — Stubbings was posted at the security staff entrance behind the stage. He was turning off the house lights above the seats when he heard sounds coming from near the darkened stage.

He went to see who was there. Stubbings found two panicked young men on a stairwell backstage.

He asked what they were doing and told them they weren’t allowed on the stage.

It wasn’t until he turned on the stage lights that he fully realized what had happened.

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“When I saw the scene, I realized it probably had to be the catwalk,” he said while on the stand at the inquest that is unfolding at the Court of Queen’s Bench in Regina this week to examine Slaferek’s death.

Stubbings called 911.

He said he had never been up as high as the catwalk in that building. The executive director of the Conexus Arts Centre, Jim McCrum, testified the catwalk hadn’t been used for years.

Some family members of Jaidan Lynn Slaferek had tears in their eyes as they heard the testimony from Stubbings and McCrum, who went on to explain how procedures have changed since that night.

At the time that Slaferek died, all the doors getting to the catwalk were unlocked.

The level before the catwalk is called a fly gallery and is only accessed by stage crews during live productions. The door to that area is marked with danger signs indicating only authorized personnel should go up.

McCrum also indicated that security guards are responsible to block access to the first entry point to the stairwell. The actual doors to the stairwell can’t be locked from the outside because it is also used as a fire exit.

That has changed. McCrum outlined how security has been tightened around the whole building since then. The jury at the inquest went on a tour of the building on Monday to become familiar with the layout ahead of Stubbings’ and McCrum’s testimony.

They have implemented new security policies and upgraded their doors to lock automatically unless the key is actually in the door. The stairwell can still be opened for fire escape purposes but once you go through those doors you can’t get back in.

You can reach as far as the rehearsal hall on the upper floor of dressing rooms but beyond that all doors are locked. Only security and management staff will have keys to the doors to the fly gallery used by stage technicians, who will have to sign them in and out.

Along with locking doors to dangerous areas, Conexus Arts Centre elevators will be keyed so visitors can only get to the areas that are actually in use. As for security, they have updated all procedures with a detailed form to go through all areas of the building before an event and again before closing.

Stubbings and another security guard, Colin Markusson, confirmed that all the new security measures are taken very seriously by security staff.

The jury will make recommendations to prevent future deaths such as Slaferek's but will not be assigning blame.

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