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Community looks for assurances following arrest, charges of sexual abuse

Mountains beef up background checks on employees Whistler-Blackcomb will now do criminal record checks on every employee who works with kids.

Mountains beef up background checks on employees

Whistler-Blackcomb will now do criminal record checks on every employee who works with kids.

The move comes in response to the arrest of a former employee on several charges of sex assault on children in Whistler.

The charges do not stem from incidents at the ski school or any of Whistler-Blackcomb’s operations.

"We will make sure that in fact 100 per cent of our staff in the children’s area are checked or they won’t work," said Doug Forseth, vice-president of operations for the mountains.

"We recognize that this is where we have to take this and there will be no tolerance for not delivering that level of compliance with this policy we have instituted at the mountains.

"No one would want this to ever happen with any kid and we are going to do the best job we can to make sure this doesn’t happen on our watch."

There is a court order banning publication of the alleged sex offender’s identity in order to protect the complainants.

According to a Whistler RCMP press release the man was arrested April 28 and held in custody. He was to appear in North Vancouver Wednesday, May 14. He is charged with three counts of sexual interference, three counts of invitation to sexual touching, and three counts of sexual assault, all on pre-teen children.

The RCMP’s investigation is on going and Whistler-Blackcomb has been turning over the names of those the alleged offender came in contact with.

There are six alleged victims, five of whom are local.

The accused, an Australian in his late 20s, lived in Whistler for just over a year. During that time he worked for 47 days over two seasons for Whistler Kids Adventure Camp, a program aimed at tourist kids five to 14 years old.

In January this year he left due to injury. His visa also ran out at the end of January.

The accused also tried to start an outdoor club for Whistler kids but it never really got off the ground.

RCMP have confirmed their investigations are not affiliated with any agency in Whistler that involves children.

The accused did not have a criminal record check done by the mountains before being employed.

"The reality is that this guy didn't get checked because he came in at the end of the season," said Forseth.

"Out of our population last year we probably had about 80 per cent of people with background checks and we have a combination of reasons why that other 20 were not done.

"One was possibly that they were multiple-year employees and we didn’t go back and do the check. In some cases they were (placed) late in the season, like this guy, and got missed."

Whistler-Blackcomb’s new policy on criminal record checks will also apply to all current employees and those who work in services for the children’s ski schools, such as food services.

There is no legal requirement for Whistler-Blackcomb to do criminal record checks on their employees.

A spokesperson for the Aspen Skiing Company in Colorado said criminal record checks of anyone who works with children are required by law and by the company’s insurance provider.

"This is a step we have taken voluntarily in the past in order to give a higher level of assurance to our children and our guests and our parents," said Forseth.

Whistler-Blackcomb’s checks are done by a Vancouver-based company. Forseth said the company could check overseas applicants.

Whistler-Blackcomb is not the only company which is reviewing its policies on keeping kids safe.

"I feel confident in the measures in place at the (Whistler Children’s Centre), predominantly because we don’t leave (new employees) alone with the children," said centre director Julia Black.

"They don’t have access like that.

"But certainly this case makes me want to review (our polices) at our next staff meeting to make sure that everyone is abiding by them."

Black said she received numerous calls from people in the community concerned that the allegations stemmed from incidents at the centre.

"I did get a lot of phone calls," said Black.

"People are concerned. I mean this is your worst fear ever in any community."

It is a legal requirement that every employee at the Whistler Children’s Centre has a criminal record check done, said Black.

"To make sure that we are doubly safe, until we get to know the employee well, all of our teachers-on-call are not to do routines which may be private, such as taking children to the toilet or helping them to get dressed if they have had an accident," said Black.

"We do that for two reasons. One is to respect the privacy of the child with someone they don’t know and also we haven’t established a relationship yet with that individual so we don’t want to put them in a position that might be compromising."

Steps are also taken to ensure the safety of kids in local recreation and community programs.

"Anyone hired to work with children, whether it is the sports centre or the community centre, has to go through criminal record checks before they are brought on," said Meadow Park Recreation Centre pool programmer Mike Henderson.

"To protect our instructors we don’t allow our instructors to go into a change room or any closed area with a child to assist with changing or anything else.

"We do everything in an open area where people are around.

"There is no exception to this. They are not brought on unless they have a clear criminal record check."

If the accused is found guilty he could be deported back to Australia at the end of his sentence.