Parents sue City of Winnipeg, Festival du Voyageur over Fort Gibraltar walkway collapse

The parents of one of the children injured when an elevated walkway collapsed at a Winnipeg tourist attraction has filed a lawsuit, saying their son is at risk of permanent disability from their injuries.

The statement of claim, which was filed in Manitoba’s Court of King’s Bench on Aug. 11, names both the City of Winnipeg, and Festival du Voyageur as defendants, and is in response to an incident at Fort Gibraltar on May 31.

Seventeen people from St. John’s-Ravenscourt School were injured and taken to hospital after an elevated walkway collapsed during a field trip. The site has since been closed.

The claim says the child fell approximately 20 feet to the ground, sustaining “significant” injuries, including a broken hip and a broken wrist, which required surgery.

The parents of the child say their son will have to undergo further surgical procedures, and is “at risk of permanent disability.”

“The doctors are monitoring the medical situation. While we're hoping for full recovery, it is possible that the child will not be able to walk without a limp for the rest of his life,” said Troy Harwood-Jones, a Winnipeg lawyer representing the parents in the lawsuit, told CTV News Winnipeg in a phone interview.

It is Harwood-Jones’ understanding that the boy is the most severely injured of all the children hurt in the walkway’s collapse.

Further, the parents say their son is suffering from psychological trauma, a fear of heights, anxiety, and a “loss of enjoyment of childhood,” according to the claim.

The lawsuit accuses the city, which owns the site, and Festival du Voyageur, which manages Fort Gibraltar, of negligence by “allowing the premises and the elevated walkway to enter an unsafe condition” and “failing to remediate a hazardous condition and thereby creating a highly-dangerous trap.”

The walkway was last repaired in 2004 and last inspected in 2006, according to a city spokesperson at the time of the incident.

The parents are seeking punitive, general and special damages, in an amount to be determined at a trial.

Harwood-Jones said his clients do not want to go to trial. Their interest, he said, is to secure their child’s future and to prevent this from happening to other families in the future.

“What we're hoping is the City of Winnipeg and the Festival of Voyager do the right thing and step up and take such steps that are appropriate to ensure that he can have the best possible future.”

A spokesperson for the City of Winnipeg confirmed in an email to CTV News Winnipeg they have been served with the lawsuit, but cannot comment at this time.

CTV News Winnipeg has reached out to Festival du Voyageur for comment and is waiting to hear back.