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Going on expeditions with no training doesn't make you tougher, it just gets you killed. Like learning to drive by crashing a car.
These kids where just put in danger, that's not teaching them anything, nothing positive, just a traumatising experience.

Honestly, “build character” and “toughen up” are red flag phrases for me. They so often seem to mean “putting children in inhumane conditions until they break.”

Schools teaching that “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” ignoring that what nearly kills you can cause lifelong health problems and that “what kills you, kills you”.

"We've been organizing these trips since 1962 - NOBODY'S DIED YET" is probably not the best slogan.

How do they NOT have an emergency procedure in place. Pure negligence!

I attended the school in Alberta. It was an absolute waste of time between being beaten by teachers, violent criminals for students, the horrible food, and religious crap shoved down my throat at every turn. I wish I could forget every awful minute of it.

This wasn't an accident, it was negligence.

My parents immigrated to Canada from Europe.  Neither had outdoor cold weather experience.   When I was about 8-9 yrs old, I be-friended a girl who's parents were avid hikers, and who took me under their wing on weekend hiking expeditions.   I guess they knew my parents had no idea of what was 'appropriate hiking wear" because everytime I went hiking with this family, they magically gave me a 'more comfortable jacket' mitts and hat.    I can't remember their names, but I am so grateful to them for understanding that I was not from a local Canadian outdoor family.  They took such good care of me -- including the right type of food, hydration, footwear and outdoor wear.    They were very very kind to me.    I am now 61 yrs old, and I have enjoyed an amazing life where, as an adult, I have snow showed, hiked, camped, climbed and endured all the beauty of our door life in Canada.    I attribute my positive experience to this family who took care of me and taught me how to manage and stay safe in the rugged Canadian landscape.       Years later, I coached a Toronto High school Cross Country team, and I had grade 9 students show up wearing basketball shoes to run in.   I immediately recognized that their parents were likely immigrants and just did not know what their children needed.     I approached a company to sponsor our team, and I'm so proud that I was able to purchase proper running wear for 21 students.     The days of being that 8 yr old child hiking came back to me.      As adults, it's imperative to understand that the children we are responsible for may not have the appropriate wear for the sport we are introducing them to.   As adults, we are responsible for their welfare and care.    This story today from Adventures Gone Wrong really struck a cord with me.   I was very teary because I knew these children were not cared for by adults who had any idea of what their background was.    I am angry and sad and upset all at the same time.

I can’t imagine taking children canoeing without training. At Girl Scout camp we had to swamp our canoe and get it and our selves back to shore in a supervised trial before we were allowed on a very placid lake. Add the low temperature and it seems even crazier that they were so ill prepared.  I dove into cold water on a hot spring day and even though I was a good swimmer I was frightened for a moment that I didn’t have the strength to swim back to shore. It was such a shock.

What a horrendous story, a complete waste of those young boys lives. Can’t believe the school wasn’t sued out of existence.

The fact that none of the adults went to jail is insane

"You take all the safety precautions you can take..." WOW, delusional 😮

This sounds like a nightmare of massive ego, toxic masculinity, and weak parents hoping someone else would fix their kids.  I have some limited experience canoeing and camping in the US North Woods and, wow, this is not at all how you do it.

This story genuinely enraged me when I first heard it

Adversity can make us stronger. But to manufacture adversity is insane. Life itself presents enough challenges, we don't need to make it harder. These people were insane. Not to be trusted with children. No way. It's a shame they didn't sue. I imagine a lot of bad things happened to a lot of boys before they finally shut down operations.

These people who are obsessed with taking risks always act like they’re the victims of an unpredictable tragedy when something inevitably goes wrong. Children should never have been left in these type of people’s care, risk your own life if that’s what you want but if you’re going to go into something unprepared because it’s more of an “adventure” you should never be allowed to bring children

The fact that there were multiple brothers really stood out. To me that says more about the parents not parenting correctly versus the odds of having more than one child that needs to be straightened out

This makes me incredibly angry. Why would you ever put young lives in danger like this. You do not need life-threatening danger to experience an adventure! Getting a group of teenagers to work together to put up a tent and to cook dinner on the fire / portable stove is adventorous enough.

These schools and programs to “toughen up boys” never seem to go well. Not then, and not now. 😧