‘What silence feels like’: Teen says warning signs ignored before school fire attack

Outside of Saskatoon’s Court of Kings Bench on Thursday, a teen girl spoke about her best friend who was set on fire in the school hallways in September 2024. Looking at reporters she said “we won’t forget who showed up and who didn’t.”

During a sentencing hearing, a joint submission was made requesting a three year sentence for the 16-year old girl who admitted to lighting a fellow student on fire at Evan Hardy Collegiate. The sentence would be two years in custody and one in the community with no credit for time served.

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Three years is the maximum sentence for attempted murder under Canada’s Youth Criminal Justice Act.

The friend of the victim — whose identity is protected under a publication ban — said trusted authorities had the power to intervene before the incident, but the warnings fell on deaf ears.

“We asked for help, and we trusted the adults in charge, to protect us, to listen, to act,” she said, expressing disappointment in the lack of priority and escalation from both police and the school.

“We learned what silence feels like, how heavy a hallway becomes when safety is treated like a suggestion,” she said, adding that there were warnings and missed changes of accountability in the months leading up to the attack.

“What happened was tragic, what led to it was preventable,” she said. “The responsibility was yours, the consequences were ours.”

The victim’s friend read her impact statement in the courtroom on Thursday, reflecting the continuous harassment she and her best friend endured months prior to the attack.

“Unwanted attention, photos taken without consent, and more than a dozen random numbers constantly texted me throughout that summer,” the victim’s friend said.

“The day (the victim) told me about you, I texted you — the first time you told me to slit my wrists and kill myself,” she said to the attacker.

The victim’s friend said she constantly relives the day her best friend was attacked, questions what she would have done differently and thinks about scenarios about what she could have done to stop the attacker.

According to the agreed statement of facts, the victim and offender had been friends but the relationship ended after the attacker lit the roof of the school library on fire.

The attacker had harassed the victim to the point of obsession after the friendship ended, pushing the victim’s parents to contact the school and police.

The offender was under constant supervision by school aids while at school, but on Sept. 5, 2024 the offender doused the victim with flammable liquid and set her on fire.

The court heard that after the incident, a knife and binder with entries detailing her bitterness towards the victim were found in the attacker’s locker.

650 CKOM has reached out to the Saskatoon Public School Division for comment.

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