Winnipeg students, staff taking precautions in wake of Uvalde shooting
While Tuesday’s elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas has many on this side of the border on edge, a local educator wants parents and families to know Winnipeg schools are safe places.
Pembina Trail School Division Superintendent Ted Fransen told CTV Morning Live Winnipeg while students and staff are trained for the unlikely event of an intruder, it is done strategically and mindfully.
“It is our responsibility as teachers to minimize the kind of stress and anxiety that students have, and so we do this carefully,” he said.
According to Fransen, schools across the province are required to do intruder training twice a year. Fransen noted his division uses the ALICE training model – which stands for alert, lockdown, inform, counter and evacuate.
Winnipeg Police Service gives training to educational staff, and then students are trained by teachers in an age-appropriate manner.
“Students who are in Kindergarten and Grade 1 are going to learn the ropes, if you will, differently than a student in Grade 10 or 11,” he said.
Fransen noted because active intruder situations are so rare in Canadian schools, the more significant concern is managing kids’ fears and anxiety. Guidance counsellors, psychologists or social workers are on hand to help with training.
While the rash of shootings in the United States remains troubling, Fransen wants parents and caregivers to send their kids to school with peace of mind.
“The message I want you to take away and your viewers to take away from this morning is that when you send your kids to school, you're sending them to a safe and caring school,” he said.
- With files from CTV’s Nicole Dubé
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Saskatchewan households will continue to receive carbon tax rebate: Trudeau
Households in Saskatchewan will continue to receive Canada Carbon Rebate payments, despite the province refusing to remit the federal carbon price on natural gas, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday.
'It's just so hard to let it go': Umar Zameer still haunted by death of Toronto police officer
“It's just so hard to let it go. I mean, everyone is telling me, ‘you have to move on,’ but I know someone is not here [anymore]. So I don't know how I will move on." That’s what Umar Zameer, the man recently acquitted in the death of a Toronto police officer, told CTV News Toronto in a sit-down interview on Tuesday.
Senate expenses climbed to $7.2 million in 2023, up nearly 30%
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko won't play in Game 2
The Vancouver Canucks will be without all-star goalie Thatcher Demko when they face the Nashville Predators in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
Pedestrian, baby injured after stroller struck and dragged by vehicle in Squamish, B.C.
Police say a baby and a pedestrian suffered non-life-threatening injuries after a vehicle struck a baby stroller and dragged it for two blocks before stopping in Squamish, B.C.