Toronto teacher found not guilty of negligence in teen student's Algonquin Park drowning

A Toronto teacher has been found not guilty in the drowning of a 15-year-old student during a school canoe trip.

Nicholas Mills was charged with criminal negligence causing death in the drowning of Jeremiah Perry.

Mills, a teacher at C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute, oversaw the July 2017 trip to Algonquin Provincial Park during which Perry died.

In delivering the verdict, Ontario Superior Court Justice Maureen Forestell said that while Mills made individual decisions that were justifiable under the circumstances, such as allowing weak swimmers to take part in the trip, his conduct "fell below the standard (of care)" when he failed to reassess the risk at the swim site.

She found that failure "brought his conduct to the level of carelessness" but did not reach the level of "wanton and reckless disregard" required for a criminal conviction, nor did it represent a significant enough departure from the standard of care.