Park Board apologizes to mom of boy left on Granville Island

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Vancouver’s Park Board says it will discipline day camp staff who didn’t check attendance yesterday when they left Granville Island without an eight-year-old boy.

Protocols will be reinforced at every city kids’ camp.

Chair Aaron Jasper says the Park Board is not taking this lightly.
    
“When I first heard this I had a big knot in my stomach.  I was mortified,” he said.

No head count was done when the daycamp left. Jasper says the staff involved are being dealt with.

“There will be discipline that will be handed out in accordance with the severity of this issue.”

He adds all daycamp staff will get a reminder.

“The parents have entrusted us with the safety and well-being of their children and these are not minor protocols that need to be followed,” he told News1130. “It’s very important that the children are accounted for. I would like to convey to your listeners that we do take this very seriously.”

Dozens of police officers had to be sent out to scour Granville Island for the eight-year-old. Jasper says the Park Board’s general manager apologized to the boy’s mother today.

“As you can probably expect, she was not impressed.”

The boy ended up catching the SkyTrain and a transit bus to get home on his own after the daycamp had been visiting a water park.

On any given day 1,400 kids across the city are cared for at more than two dozen Vancouver Park Board community centres.

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