The University of Victoria today announces the fulfillment of every recommendation—within 12 months of the release of independent consultant Ross Cloutier’s report—for conducting field trips to the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre, except for those involving a visit to the centre which has been closed to student field trips during the pandemic. UVic commissioned the review after a tragic bus accident in which two of our students, Emma Machado and John Geerdes, passed away and many others were injured.

“As the president of the University of Victoria, the safety of our students is my top priority,” says UVic President and Vice-Chancellor Kevin Hall. “Our community will never forget what happened September 13, 2019. We will honour the memories of John and Emma with our commitment to continually improving our student travel and crisis response processes. We’ve learned so much over these past years and we’re grateful to those who have been closely involved in the review process and implementation of the recommendations. UVic is dedicated to doing everything we can to prevent an accident like this from ever happening again. Today my heartfelt thoughts are with Emma and John’s families and all of the students who were affected.”

A final report by UVic capturing full details of implementation of all 43 recommendations is available online.

Read more in today’s campus article.

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