Inquest into New Brunswick teen's death who died in school bus incident wraps up

A public inquest into the death of a 13-year-old New Brunswick girl who died more than two-and-a-half-years ago in Dorchester, N.B., wrapped up on Wednesday.

This week, the court learned the girl jumped from the rear emergency exit door of her school bus on the afternoon of April 12, 2022. She died the following day.

It took two days of witness testimony and several hours of deliberation.

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The jury of five ruled that her death should be classified as a suicide, agreeing with the declaration made by Coroner David Farrow, and gave 12 recommendations aimed at preventing similar deaths in the future.

“The jurors had varied backgrounds and they seemed like reasonable recommendations that don’t need to change the whole system in order to be implemented,” said Deputy Chief Coroner Michael Johnston.

The recommendations covered everything from improved bus safety to more supports in school, to changes within the health-care system.

The recommendations include:

1. an additional adult or monitor on school buses seated at the rear of the bus
2. assigned seating or the ability to seat students towards the front of the bus as needed
3. a mechanical interlock that does not allow emergency doors to be opened while the bus is travelling over a certain speed limit
4. more internal support within schools such as additional resource teachers
5. any teachers or individuals working with children within school settings be given training on how to handle mental health situations
6. appoint a single primary psychiatrist to be in charge of a patient’s medications
7. alternative learning environments available outside the traditional school setting for students struggling due to the school environment
8. better resources made available for mental health patients who are deemed “high risk” such as admittance to a psychiatric hospital
9. better communication between both health networks
10. separate areas in the ER for mental health patients
11. more proactive approach in regards to communication between professionals involved with a patient
12. sufficient support made available to parents/guardians to provide assistance in dealing with mental health within the family

As for what happens next, the deputy chief coroner says the 12 recommendations will be sent to the affected agencies and organizers in the next few weeks.

They will have about six months to respond and indicate whether or not they plan to implement them.

"I think that they're a great set of recommendations whether they'll be possible or not will really be up to the agencies to determine if it fits within their mandates and within their current safety standards,” said Johnston.

"Currently our follow up is that they respond to the recommendations and that's as far as we go because they're not orders, they're recommendations. That's the limit of our authority."

He says while they are recommendations, he is hopeful that the inquest was worth it.

"These are difficult processes for everybody involved,” he said.

“Over the last three days there was a lot of emotions, testimony, and the family goes through these as well. So, it's definitely something that we don't do for no reason. We believe in the process and believe that it will help prevent similar deaths."

The family of the girl, who will not be named by CTV News due to her age and the sensitive nature of her death, declined an interview.

For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.