Family of teens injured in bus rollover calling for seatbelts to be added to school buses

A family who saw two teenagers sent to the hospital after a recent bus rollover in Manitoba, say they want to see seatbelts on school buses moving forward, as the cargo of children is just too precious to risk.

“It would have made a big, big, big, big difference,” said Ephrem Sakayigun, the grandparent and guardian of two teens hurt in a bus rollover. “These are little souls. And the parents, they depend on you so much.”

Sakayigun’s two granddaughters, Claudia and Sophie, who he has raised as his own, were on the bus when it rolled and are now at home following treatment at the Swan Valley Medical Centre. 

A bus driver for almost two decades, he’s long felt seatbelts should be required on the vehicles; the injuries his granddaughters sustained are proof they are needed. 

“I was so scared to hug them, because they had scratches on their faces and they must have had bruises on their bodies also, because they said they were flying, flying all over the place,” he explained.

He says if it wasn’t for his oldest granddaughter Claudia’s action, grabbing her sister and cousin, as the bus rolled, it’s possible they would have ejected and injured even further. 

“People are starting to ask questions,” said Chief Nelson Genaille of Sapotaweyak Cree Nation.

The school bus was travelling to Swan River from the Sapotaweyak Cree Nation on Highway 10, 13 kilometres south of Mafeking, when RCMP say it lost control trying to pass another bus in icy conditions, rolling over before landing upright. 

Sapotaweyak Cree Nation Chief, Nelson Genaille, says injuries as a result of the bus rollover varied widely, and it’s his understanding that four people were thrown from the bus as it rolled, saying now is the time for the safety restraints to be part of the conversation.

“It’s not very often a bus rolls, and there’s people that survive. Maybe the province should start looking at school divisions, maybe school divisions should start to look at seat belts too,” said Chief Genaille.

Data from Manitoba Public Insurance indicates that from 2022 to present, there have been 484 collisions involving school buses, the vast majority of them – 81 per cent – involving another vehicle. 

“Do I think seat belts would have prevented some of these major injuries some of these students have? I think, how could they have not?” said Wayne Ewasko, the Manitoba PC Education Critic and MLA for Lac du Bonnet.

Ewasko recently brought forward a bill that would see seat belts required in new school buses and says this crash is an example as to why the non-partisan bill is important to move forward, the recent crash serving as a major impetus. 

“I think this is definitely going to wake the government up a little bit,” said Ewasko.

Earlier this week, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said while seatbelts are something his government would be willing to have a conversation about, it’s too early to commit to legislation until more is known about the crash, which remains under investigation by the RCMP.