{"id":862551,"date":"2026-08-18T13:24:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T13:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/862551\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T13:24:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T13:24:13","slug":"this-summer-camp-kept-an-instructor-who-pleaded-guilty-to-assaulting-kids-ontario-law-allows-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/862551\/","title":{"rendered":"This summer camp kept an instructor who pleaded guilty to assaulting kids. Ontario law allows it"},"content":{"rendered":"

KL Hockey in Kawartha Lakes, which offers day and overnight programming for children in July and August, aims \u201cto bring the best to campers everyday \u2014 on and off the ice,\u201d its website reads.<\/p>\n

But for weeks this summer, one of its lead instructors was a man who recently pleaded guilty to charges of assaulting children.<\/p>\n

Bradley Gibbs, who is a Durham Regional Police officer, pleaded guilty in April to two charges of assaulting children who were known to him, his lawyer confirmed. CBC News cannot provide further details due to a court publication ban.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gibbs is currently described on the camp\u2019s website as \u201can active coach and mentor to many in the Kawartha Lakes region.\u201d However, he chose to step down on Wednesday afternoon, according to an email that was sent to the camp’s parents one day after CBC News contacted Gibbs and the camp for this story. <\/p>\n

Camp leadership told parents in the email they have supported Gibbs as he dealt with a personal legal matter over the past year. But they did not say whether they knew about the guilty pleas, or why he was allowed to stay on despite them. <\/p>\n

There is currently no Ontario legislation that requires summer camps to screen staff that work with children. Camps are not required to get criminal record checks or more extensive vulnerable sector checks from their employees.<\/p>\n

The Ontario Camps Association (OCA) requires its 400-plus accredited members to vet staff with criminal record checks. But membership in the non-profit organization is voluntary, meaning summer camps that aren\u2019t part of the OCA \u2014 including KL Hockey Camp \u2014 don\u2019t have to meet any standards when it comes to vetting staff.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ScreenshotBradley Gibbs (pictured far left) in an undated photo posted on the KL Hockey website ‘About Us’ section. Gibbs posted the same image on his personal Facebook page in October 2022. (KL Hockey)<\/p>\n

The camp\u2019s director Amanda Tayles said in a statement that Gibbs \u201chas publicly taken accountability for his personal actions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur focus remains entirely on maintaining a safe, supportive, and positive environment for our summer camp players,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

CBC News reached out to Gibbs for comment, but he did not respond before deadline. He is expected to appear in court in September for sentencing.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

Gibbs is still employed at Durham Regional Police Services, where he\u2019s currently redeployed from frontline patrol duties to an administrative role, a police spokesperson said.\u00a0Any potential internal disciplinary proceedings will be informed partly \u201cby the outcome of the ongoing criminal matter, including the sentencing,\u201d Const. Nicholas Gluckstein said in an email.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Big gap\u2019 in Ontario legislation for summer camps: lawyer<\/p>\n

One of Gibbs\u2019 victims, who is now an adult, spoke with CBC News before Gibbs announced his departure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had sent my kid to [KL Hockey], I\u2019d be really concerned,\u201d said the victim, whose identity is protected under the court publication ban.<\/p>\n

WATCH | Some families struggling to afford summer camp expenses:\"\"<\/p>\n

Can’t afford your kids’ summer camp anymore? You’re not alone<\/p>\n

More Canadian families are simply finding it too expensive to send their kids to summer camps, as the affordability crisis drives up costs, prompting calls for governments to help with funding.<\/p>\n

They said Gibbs co-founded the camp with his friends and that camp leadership are aware of the guilty pleas. CBC News has asked the camp if leadership knew about Gibbs\u2019 pleas, but they did not directly respond to the question.<\/p>\n

The lack of legislated requirements for summer camps is a \u201cbig gap,\u201d said Puneet Tiwari, an employment litigator and partner at Levitt LLP in Toronto.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said the province should consider legislation that requires summer camps to get vulnerable sector checks from their employees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Vulnerable sector checks are for people who intend to work with groups considered vulnerable, such as children.<\/p>\n

According to the province\u2019s website, they include the same information as a criminal record check, but may also have additional details on outstanding charges, arrest warrants, absolute and conditional discharges and information about charges that didn\u2019t result in a conviction.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Durham Regional Police Service website provides examples of who might require vulnerable sector checks, which include coaches and parent volunteers for sports or school trips.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"PhotoAn image from the KL Hockey website. The camp offers day and overnight programming for children in July and August. (KL Hockey)<\/p>\n

CBC News asked the Ministry of the Solicitor General whether the province would consider creating legislation that requires summer camps to get vulnerable sector checks from their employees, but did not receive a response.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Ministry of Education does require \u201cday camps\u201d for children under four to get a child-care license and make their staff complete a vulnerable sector check, according to its website<\/a>. But camps for children over the age of four aren\u2019t considered child-care centres, and don\u2019t fall under the ministry\u2019s scope.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Ministry of Education declined to comment for this story. <\/p>\n

Still, Tiwari said it’s common sense for camps to require vulnerable sector checks when they\u2019ve been entrusted with children, regardless of the law.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c[Camps] bear the responsibility to screen, supervise and act on relevant information,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

KL Hockey \u2018supported\u2019 Gibbs through challenging period<\/p>\n

In the email sent to parents on Wednesday, KL Hockey\u2019s camp director Amanda Tayles wrote that Gibbs decided to step away from camp due to “recent attention” about a personal legal matter. <\/p>\n

\u201cKL Hockey is aware of Brad\u2019s personal legal matter, which is unrelated to camp operations or his law enforcement duties, and has supported him through a difficult and challenging period in his personal life,\u201d she wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The email doesn’t say that Gibbs was criminally charged, or that he pleaded guilty to those charges in April.<\/p>\n

\"ScreenshotKL Hockey\u2019s Facebook account posted a video on August 3, recapping its first week of activities, that shows Gibbs at a campsite. CBC has censored faces of children in the screenshot. (KL Hockey)<\/p>\n

The same email includes a letter from Gibbs, where he writes that he\u2019s taken full responsibility in court for a personal legal matter \u201cand accepted accountability for my lapse in judgment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said he made the decision to remove himself from all KL Hockey duties \u201cout of respect for our players, families and the integrity of our summer camp.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gibbs wrote he was \u201cdeeply sorry to our community, our campers, our staff, our board, and the families who have placed their trust in me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy focus right now is on continuing to take responsibility, learn from this experience, and rebuild that trust over time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

KL Hockey\u2019s Facebook account posted a video on Aug. 3, recapping its first week of activities, that shows Gibbs at a campsite. Two people who know Gibbs confirmed it was him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gibbs is also pictured on the camp\u2019s \u201cAbout Us\u201d webpage. Several posts on his personal Facebook reference the camp, most recently from November 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ScreenshotGibbs is described as a lead instructor on the KL Hockey website. (KL Hockey)<\/p>\n

KL Hockey’s day programming runs out of the Lindsay Recreation Complex, which is owned by the City of Kawartha Lakes.\u00a0The city doesn\u2019t require camps that use its facilities to request criminal record checks or vulnerable sector checks from their staff, the director of community services, Jenn Johnson, said in an email.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The camp\u2019s overnight accommodations are located at Camp Endobanah, a non-profit camp available for rent that\u2019s also in Kawartha Lakes. CBC News asked Camp Endobanah about its vetting process for camps that rent its facilities, but did not hear back before deadline. <\/p>\n

Parents advised to ask about camp staff vetting <\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear what vetting standards KL Hockey has for its staff, since it is not a member of the OCA. The provincial camp association has a publicly-available document of over 600 standards<\/a> for its members, reviewed annually.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Those standards include a mandatory requirement that camps obtain a criminal record check from each staff member over 18 before employing them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ScreenshotPuneet Tiwari, an employment litigator and partner at Levitt LLP in Toronto, said the lack of legislated requirements for summer camps is a ‘big gap.’ (CBC News)<\/p>\n

Camps have discretion over how they use information from criminal record checks, said Rankin Middlebrook, who is on the OCA board of directors and former chair of its standards review committee.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said individual camps should determine appropriate steps based on the information in a check and the surrounding context.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The OCA also has an optional standard that camps request criminal record checks once every three years from returning staff members.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Middlebrook said he doesn\u2019t think camps have to be OCA-accredited to be a \u201cgood camp,\u201d but accredited camps must follow a higher standard. He said parents can review the OCA standards document so they can make an informed decision when picking a camp for their children.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Tiwari said parents should do their due diligence by inquiring how summer camps are vetting their staff. But he added parents are entitled to expect a \u201csafe system\u201d and aren\u2019t expected to become private investigators.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If a camp chooses to keep a staff member despite concerns, Tiwari said parents\u2019 options are limited, due to the lack of legislation in this area.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s really nothing that can be done, other than parents demanding a refund or pulling their kids and speaking with their wallets,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KL Hockey in Kawartha Lakes, which offers day and overnight programming for children in July and August, aims…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":862552,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44],"class_list":["post-862551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}