Internal documents detail verbal, physical assault during SRSS protest

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This article was published 07/04/2022 (1129 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Internal documents are painting a clearer picture of the violent incidents and verbal abuse which unfolded at Steinbach Regional Secondary School during an anti-mask, anti-vaxx protest in February.

A divisional incident/near miss report obtained by The Carillon through a Freedom of Information request documents 20 incidents recorded on Feb. 10 including verbal abuse towards administrative and support staff, educational assistants and teachers, threats, provocation and physical assault during the demonstration. All were noted as stemming from the SRSS protest and subsequent lockdown.

Between 100 and 200 student, parent and adult protesters congregated just outside the school at 9 a.m. that Thursday with flatbed trailers and signs in tow decrying mask and vaccination mandates. Food and drinks were distributed to protesters and heaters were installed to keep demonstrators warm while supporters of the protest drove up and down McKenzie Avenue with Canadian flags cheering in solidarity with the group.

The protest prompted the Hanover School Division to place SRSS in a “hold and secure” before going into a full-blown lockdown for the remainder of the day. A statement sent out by the division said the hold and secure was implemented “for reasons of student/staff safety.”

Despite the external lockdown, the incident report makes mention of protesters verbally assaulting an educational assistant while inside the school and a teacher threatened by a student who broke through school doors. A separate incident recorded reports adult protesters inside the school verbally abused, intimidated, threatened and displayed “aggressive physical positioning” towards a member of SRSS administration.

A cell phone video posted online showed Steinbach RCMP Staff Sgt. Harold Laninga restraining an individual making repeated attempts to enter the school. A statement from an RCMP spokesperson confirmed the youth was an SRSS student.

Some of the instances recorded in the report record confrontations from students within the school towards employees during the protest as well as two reports of support staff incurring abusive language while answering school phones. A member of school administration reported they were pushed by a student during the protest.

However, an additional statement issued by the division on the day of the protest contradicts what the incident report details.

“Protesters were on school property and made efforts to enter the school building,” the Feb. 10 statement read.

One week after the protest, the division sent out another statement condemning the location of the demonstration.

“Protesting on school or daycare property is not an appropriate place. It was disheartening and disappointing to learn how this protest disrupted the school day and instilled fear in some of our students,” the Feb. 17 statement read.

HSD Superintendant Shelley Amos said the division has dealt with the fallout of the day’s events properly.

“In terms of incidents, it’s minimal, not large scale,” she said in an interview with The Carillon.

Of the 46 total incidents/near misses recorded by HSD between Dec. 3, 2021 and Feb. 15 detailed in the report, 26 other incidents/accidents were reported with two labeled as a “violent incident.” Of the 20 recorded on Feb. 10, 14 incidents were deemed violent.

Amos defended the divisions handling of the day and corresponding reports made by employees.

“They’ve all been dealt with appropriately and communicated out to those who needed to be communicated out to.”

Meanwhile, the discrepancy in what divisional statements say about the incidents and that which is detailed in the internal report is up for interpretation, Amos said.

“We would think that we were pretty transparent with our communication out. We do choose language, obviously, carefully,” she said.

Three SRSS students were confirmed to be suspended in connection with the protest but Amos wouldn’t confirm if there were additional suspensions after the fact. Without elaborating she added apologies were made to appropriate parties in regards to the demonstration. To Amos’ knowledge no employees of HSD participated in the Feb. 10 demonstration.

The superintendent said the division is wanting to move forward from the “contentious” work they’ve been “forced” into since the onset of the pandemic.

“As much as we tried to communicate out that it’s not the school division making those decisions, we are mandated by law to follow what the public health order said, some people understood that and some people didn’t,” she said.

Amos said all incidents recorded in the report have been followed up.

On the day of the protest, a provincial condemnation came from Premier Heather Stefanson, Education Minster Wayne Ewasko and Steinbach MLA Kelvin Goertzen. Goertzen said schools aren’t an appropriate place to hold protests while a joint statement from from Stefanson and Ewasko said protesters were “endangering children with their actions.”

“We hear their concerns, but the method in which they are expressing them is dangerous,” the statement read.

– with files from Greg Vandermeulen and Jordan Ross