By Charlene Tebbutt

New river rescue protocol following toddler’s death

Jan 15, 2019 | 4:34 PM

Six months after the body of a young toddler washed up on a riverbank near Prince Albert, a new agreement is in the works to plan for future emergency situations.  

Local residents Erin Davidson and Conrad Burns spoke to Prince Albert City Council Monday night about last summer’s search for four-year-old Sweetgrass Kennedy, urging councillors to develop a plan for future missing persons cases and community searches. In a letter to council, the residents said a plan needs to be developed to manage and guide volunteers who come out to help in emergency situations.

“About 200 people gathered and waited at East End Hall for direction from the city,” the letter reads. “Many people left the gather and started their own search. If these concerned civilians would have found something, they would have no true guidance in dealing with their findings. Evidence could have been contaminated, destroyed and possibly ruin the chances of finding the youth.”

In Saskatchewan, community search operations are organized and managed by the province, but Mayor Greg Dionne said Monday night the city is working on a new agreement to share services with the Prince Albert Grand Council. Dionne said a special investigator who specializes in interviewing young children was called in from Saskatoon during the search for Kennedy, but officials suspected early on that the little boy wouldn’t be found in a backyard or playground.

Dionne said the city is now working toward a new agreement with the PAGC to coordinate river rescues that will allow for more timely searches to happen in other cases where people enter the river, adding that an announcement is expected soon.

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No one from the PAGC returned a request for comment on the proposed new agreement.

Deputy Chief Jason Stonechild with the Prince Albert Police Service, said police have also been involved in talks over a new agreement to share resources when it comes to river rescues following the toddler’s death.

“The Sweetgrass Kennedy file was unprecedented with regards to immediate resources and how quickly it was set up,” Stonechild said. “Since the Sweetgrass Kennedy file, we have worked closely on a couple of files, with the Prince Albert Grand Council. They are a wealth of experience.”

Stonechild said police worked with a number of different community and service agencies in organizing a formal and structured search for Kennedy. He said the search and tragic death of the little boy was traumatic for everyone involved.

“Everybody was really disappointed, there was a lot of emotion there,” he said.

City councillors opted to send the letter from Davidson and Burns to the Board of Police Commissioners for further review.

Charlene.tebbutt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @CharleneTebbutt