Statement from Minister of Education on the Yukon Ombudsman’s report on their Hidden Valley investigation

Minister of Education Jeanie McLean has responded to the Yukon Ombudsman report part one on the 2019 Hidden Valley Elementary School incident:

“The Government of Yukon has reviewed the Yukon Ombudsman’s first report on its investigation into the 2019 Hidden Valley Elementary School incident. We find this report to be aligned with the assessment provided by Amanda Rogers in her Independent Review Report.

“Students deserve safe, caring learning environments where they can achieve their full potential. This requires transparency, accountability, collaboration and reconciliation in all of our territory’s educational settings. We accept all of the Ombudsman’s report conclusions in principle, and are committed to continuing to work towards system-wide corrective action.

“Mistakes were made in response to the 2019 Hidden Valley incident. The Government of Yukon has apologized – and will continue to apologize – to parents and students at Hidden Valley Elementary School, both for the incident and how it was handled. We acknowledge that more should have been done to inform parents and to support students and their families following the incident.

“We are learning from our mistakes. We are implementing real changes to minimize the likelihood that incidents like these take place in the future. We have taken significant actions to increase student safety by developing and implementing the Safer Schools Action Plan. We will continue to address issues identified in this and other reports so that we can improve the safety and wellbeing of students at school, as well as the government’s ability to respond effectively to critical or serious incidents that take place in an educational setting.

“Later this fall, we will receive the second part of the Yukon Ombudsman’s report. At that time, we will review any additional recommendations regarding the implementation of the Safer Schools Action Plan and make any adjustments that are needed to ensure that we do right by students and parents, now and into the future.

“Thank you to all the organizations and individuals who have reviewed, reported or made recommendations on the Hidden Valley Elementary School incident.

“Together, I am confident we can continue to strengthen the safety and wellbeing of all Yukon students.”