8.3 Legal Liability

In Parks and Recreation, in terms of legal liability, having a “duty of care” is an occupier’s responsibility. It is the occupier’s duty to ensure they have done everything reasonable to ensure their property is safe for the public.

While anyone who comes onto a property (like a recreation facility) or participates in a recreation program willingly assumes responsibility for what happens on that property, they are entitled to an expectation that the property or program is reasonably safe.  Consider the following situations:

• If a participant playing baseball at a municipal baseball diamond rounds 2nd base steps into a gopher hole and tears their knee, the question will be, “Why did that happen”?
• If a parent enrolls their child in swimming lessons at the local aquatics centre and discovers their child is being instructed by a convicted pedophile, the question will be, “How could this happen?”

How is it that a baseball player still got injured despite the best efforts of the municipal Parks and Recreation employees who look after maintaining the baseball diamond? How is it that a convicted pedophile managed to obtain employment with a city-run pool despite the municipality’s stringent applicant screening process?

What is really being asked is this: Did the Instructor/Agency or municipality do the best they could with the resources they had? Or was the Duty of Care breached? For someone to sue, there must be a breach of the duty of care – they should have done better. Further to that, the breach must have resulted in some damages (e.g., personal injury, pain or suffering).