The second international student under investigation related to an alleged gun threat at Seycove secondary has been sent back to his home country.
North Vancouver school district confirmed Wednesday that his student visa had been revoked and he has flown home under the supervision of the homestay agency acting as his custodial guardian.
Another student was arrested on Oct. 25 when he allegedly threatened to “bring a gun to school and do harm to a teacher.” The student was sent home less than 24 hours later. Later, on Oct. 26, police recovered a gun somewhere off of school grounds.
Police had requested charges of possession of a prohibited firearm and uttering threats for the second boy, although the Crown declined. “Because Crown didn’t approve charges, there is no more criminal investigation happening. It will still try to be determined how the gun surfaced,” said Cpl. Richard De Jong, North Vancouver RCMP spokesman. “We still have a concern, obviously as police, how a young person can have access to a gun.”
Police could confirm that the gun did not come from any of the homestay families. All other aspects of the investigation aren’t being disclosed, De Jong said. Both students were subject to background checks by the school district as well as screening by the Canada Border Services Agency and Citizenship and Immigration Canada, according to Deneka Michaud, North Vancouver school district spokeswoman.
Any international student who is expelled for breaking the school district’s code of conduct, which could include anything from failing to show up for class to getting caught with drugs or alcohol, would be sent home, she said.
“The student wouldn’t be allowed to leave the country, unless they had gotten the OK from law officials to do so,” Michaud said, adding such cases are “very rare.”
“In the over 20 years we’ve been running the international student program, nothing of this magnitude has ever happened before.”
