The mother of a Manitoba teen killed on a construction site defends her son’s former boss
The mother of Andrew James, a 15-year-old Manitoba high school student killed after being buried in scalding asphalt on a job site this summer is supporting his former employer, Gerald Sheppell, owner of Interlake Paving. She’ll even help pay the up to $30,000 in fines he may face under the provincial Employment Standards Code, and will lobby against possible criminal charges. James says Shepell gave her son—who begged for the job—an opportunity, and acted like a “father figure” to him. “We’re from a small town,” she says. “There’s not a lot for them to do.”