Students at Arborgate School in La Broquerie had a guest speaker come in from the CN Police Service, to share information on rail safety.

Since the school is situated very close to a set of railway tracks, Constable Aquin says it's important to talk to kids about safety around trains. "We are here to remind students as well as teachers about rail safety, where and how to properly cross, and not to trespass, to avoid any instances that have occurred in the past, and to try to limit those incidents from happening."

Aquin says she was pleasantly surprised by the knowledge displayed by students, and with the great questions they asked. "It's good to see that a lot of them retain quite a bit of information they've learned. We are trying to spread the message that it's illegal to trespass on railway property, how dangerous it is, and to avoid anything from happening in the future."

In 2016, Aquin says there were 23 railway crossing incidents within the Praire Division, in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and NW Ontario. 7 were trespassing incidences and of the 23 incidents, 6 resulted in fatalities.

She says, the rule of thumb of property lines would be 50 feet from the centre of the track, and it's trespassing if anyone crosses anywhere on the track except for at a road, sidewalk, or pedestrian crossing at a railway track."It's a lot of area to cover, but people don't realize it's not just necessarily at the tracks or where the two rails are, but it goes quite far beyond the tracks. Unfortunately, social media draws a lot of attention with pictures, but we are trying to stress that every incident that happens when it comes to trespassing is totally avoidable, so please stay off the tracks."

Arborgate Principal Sandra Meilleur, says teachers have follow-up conversations in the classroom and outside, to point out the tracks, so they can continue the conversations further. 

She says, after this presentation, there is always a positive buzz around the students as they talk about their own experiences with trains and tracks. Meilleur notes, "We continue to have talks with the children always, about staying within the school property for safety, including the tracks."

There are about 66 CN Police in Canada, and six of them cover the Winnipeg, and Southeast area.