Friends and family gathered in Toronto on Monday to celebrate the life of Jeremiah Perry, the 15-year-old who drowned on a class canoe trip to Algonquin Park earlier this month.
The service was held at C.W. Jeffreys Collegiate Institute, where the school community paid tribute to their former classmate. Several speakers offered up prayers and fond memories of Perry at the service. A projector screen showed a video of an eagle flying over clouds, with Perry’s portrait superimposed over top of it.
Perry is believed to have drowned while swimming with classmates in Algonquin’s Big Trout Lake, on the evening of July 4. He disappeared under the water and was not seen until the next day, when his body was found by search and rescue crews.
Perry’s family says he could not swim and was not wearing a life jacket at the time of his death.
The Toronto District School Board says all students were subjected to swimming tests prior to the trip, and that anyone who failed was not allowed to participate in the excursion.
