P.E.I. parents group upset after new playground equipment didn't meet standards

A parents committee in Prince Edward Island's Évangéline Region is frustrated that some of the playground equipment it purchased for a school in the area doesn't meet safety standards.

Mathieu Gallant, one of the parents, said the group spent a lot of time on fundraisers to come up with the money for new playground equipment for École Évangéline.

But he said the equipment wasn’t as advertised, and they discovered it didn’t meet the certification required by P.E.I.'s French-language school board (CSLF).

“We had to hire a third-party play structure certifier from Ontario," Gallant said. "For us to get our certification we had to take away the climbing structure, the swings and the slides, which were the key element of the park."

When purchasing the equipment, the parents looked at the French version of the website for the company, which goes by Jeux 1000 Pattes, or Playground Canada in English.

The site indicated at one point that the equipment was compliant with Canadian Standard Association regulations, meaning it met national requirements, Gallant said.

“That was probably one of the key selling features.... It was a criteria we had to meet to be on school property,” he said, adding Playground Canada sent workers to install the playground equipment.

Radio-Canada first reported on the issue in November. Parents spent about $77,000 on the equipment in total.

“All the kids went to recess and they saw their park getting fenced off and they couldn’t access it," Gallant said. "We did this for the kids and it really left a sour taste in our mouth.”

He said there hasn’t been much communication between the parents committee and the Playground Canada.

“They haven’t returned our calls, emails, texts or anything like that. They really dropped off the face of the earth," Gallant said. "They reached out to us via their lawyer. It wasn’t a good ending.

"If they want to refund the pieces they took off... that would be great.”

In an email to CBC News, officials with Playground Canada said if the company was informed about the inspection report at the time it was issued it "could have intervened promptly and proactively to ensure the play structure’s compliance.”

Officials with the French-language school board said it’s typical for parent groups to raise funds for playground equipment.