Questions Parents Need to Ask About Their Child’s Summer Camp | Preszler Law

In this informative video, personal injury lawyer John Philp from Preszler Injury Lawyers discusses important considerations for parents sending their children to summer camp. He emphasizes the significance of the Occupiers Liability Act in Ontario, which mandates that camp owners ensure safe grounds for participants. Philp advises parents to visit the camp, engage with staff, and inquire about safety measures in place. He also highlights the importance of understanding liability waivers that parents must sign, urging them to read and comprehend these documents thoroughly before signing. For further personal injury inquiries, viewers are encouraged to connect with Preszler Injury Lawyers.

Thank you, Liam. So, you're thinking of sending your kid to summer camp, or they are already registered. There is a very good chance of that. Whether it's a day trip or an overnight adventure, there are certain things you should know before you leave your little ones at camp. Joining us with the do's, don'ts, and all of the other questions you need to ask when assessing your camp is personal injury lawyer John Philp of Preszler Injury Lawyers. Good morning.

Good morning. Even if your kid is in camp, we are halfway to July now. If you haven't done this yet, it's still a good idea to go in and take a look around in a way you might not have before.

Absolutely. If there is an injury at a camp, there is a law in Ontario called the Occupiers Liability Act. We've talked about this in previous segments, but it's applicable for summer camps, whether they are municipal summer camps, like a City of Toronto day camp, or a sleepaway camp up north somewhere. The Occupiers Liability Act would apply, and that law states that a property owner, the owner of the camp, has to make sure that the grounds are safe. They must take reasonable steps to ensure that participants at the camp are safe and that there are no hazards at this camp.

That must be kind of tough to apply, I would imagine, especially if you're out in the wilderness, and there are just a million different things to trip on because you're out in the woods.

Yes, absolutely. For any sort of circumstance, it's going to be what is reasonable in the situation. You're not going to require a camp owner to be on the lookout 24 hours a day, every second of the day. It's about what they've done to ensure that there is a system of inspection in place. So, when you're deciding on a camp for your kids, you really should be careful in terms of actually going to the camp, talking to the director, and talking to the staff of the camp. See what they have in place. I know this may sound like overkill, but you really can't be too careful with the safety of your children. You should be talking to them and seeing what kind of systems they have for making sure that the premises are safe.

What if your child was to get hurt by another child?

Well, you know, it depends on the circumstances. If there is an opportunity for these kids to be playing and one of these children injures another child due to a certain activity because the staff were not supervising those children properly, there could be a lawsuit for failure to supervise the children properly. One of the things that is really important to remember in these cases is that any camp nowadays requires you to sign a waiver as a parent. You're going to sign this document, and it is, for all intents and purposes, supposed to release the liability against the camp for any injuries caused while your children are there.

In order for those liability waivers to have teeth, they really need to specifically state that they release the camp staff members from liability for negligence on their part. There need to be really specific parameters. When you're signing that waiver, you really should not just put your signature on there. You should have it explained to you. You should have the person who is putting it in front of you give you some direction as to exactly what you're signing.

Right. It can get so easy to see all the legal ease and think, "My kid's registered, I already paid, okay, here we go."

I definitely counsel against doing that. You really should read those waivers before you sign them.

John Philp from Preszler Injury Lawyers, thank you so much. If you have any personal injury questions for John and his team at Preszler, visit our Facebook page at facebook.com/morningshowTO. Here's a look at traffic now. Hi, Kim.