Angela Light, poignardée par un élève dans un lycée de Bedford, N.S., en 2023, affirme que les suites de l'attaque l'ont laissée à se battre pour obtenir du soutien et l'empêchent de reprendre le travail.
Angela Light, the administrative assistant stabbed by a student at Charles P. Allen High School in Bedford, N.S., in 2023, says she remains unable to work and is still trying to secure the financial, medical and workplace support she needs more than three years later.
Light spoke publicly about the attack and its aftermath in an interview with CBC News, describing a recovery that she says has been complicated not only by physical and psychological injuries, but by the systems she has had to navigate since being hurt on the job.
Light was one of two school employees attacked on March 20, 2023. Vice-principal Wayne Rodgers was also stabbed. The assailant, who was 15 at the time, later pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault and was sentenced in 2024 to two years of probation. His name is protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Light told CBC she first realized something was wrong when she heard a scream from Rodgers’s office. After the student came out, she initially thought she had been punched before realizing she too had been stabbed. As she waited for help, she used her smart watch to call home. “I said, ‘I need you to tell Mom that I love her. And I need you to tell my son that I love him,’” she said.
Light said she has been unable to work because of injuries from the attack, including complex post-traumatic stress disorder. She has moved away from the Halifax area to a rural community in Cumberland County, telling CBC she feared encountering the assailant. “I’ve literally been in survival mode since the incident,” she said.
The financial impact has been severe, Light said. Before the attack, she earned $81,208.58 a year while working two full-time jobs, including the school office position and overnight shifts at a group home for at-risk youth. Documents reviewed by CBC News say the Workers’ Compensation Board of Nova Scotia determined she is entitled to $1,617.28 every two weeks, or $42,049.28 a year.
Light also told CBC her pension contributions from the Halifax Regional Centre for Education stopped after she went off work, her hourly wage has been frozen, and she believes wage increases in her union agreement have been withheld. HRCE declined an interview. In a statement, spokesperson Lindsey Bunin said human resources matters are “nuanced and confidential” and said the centre could not comment because matters related to the incident remain before the courts.
Light said she has also had difficulty getting some treatments covered through workers’ compensation, including care from providers outside the board’s approved network. WCB Nova Scotia declined to discuss her individual claim. Speaking generally, spokesperson Caitie Clark said the board provides access to evidence-based treatment through approved service providers and tries to find an appropriate provider when no suitable option is available in its network.
The Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union also declined to discuss Light’s case specifically. Union president Sandra Mullen said in an email that supporting members is a top priority and that the union has advocated for more government investment to make schools safer.
Light told CBC she hopes to work again in some capacity, though she does not yet know what that will look like. For now, she said, she is continuing to push for the therapies she believes she needs and is in the early stages of writing a book about the lasting effects of violent crime on victims’ lives.
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