Her father described her as a charismatic, outgoing, bright-eyed, bushy-haired little girl.

The type of child who was friends with everyone.

"If there was one kid in the corner that everybody was ignoring, she would go to that kid, put her arm around her and end up playing with her,” Paul Amann told the Star Thursday afternoon during an interview from Watson Lake.

"That's how she was; everybody was an equal to her, I think; it was pretty neat, at five years old.”

She loved riding her bike, going for walks, climbing on the monkey bars – and her brother, she loved her little brother.

"We don't want Jaedyn's death to be forgotten in a week,” her dad said. "No one should lose their daughter on a nice, green, flat soccer field.”

Jaedyn was killed the evening of July 4 when a foldable soccer goal at Watson Lake's high school collapsed on the back of her head.

She'd been at the park with three friends, all between the ages of three and five, playing. Her mom and another mother weren't more than 10 metres away, Amann said.

One of the children touched the goal. Amann wasn't sure if that child leaned on it or pulled on it, but noted the youngster couldn't have weighed more than 30 lbs.

"These things were like a loaded gun,” he said.

While Jaedyn was rushed to the hospital and the doctors did what they could, working on her for about three hours, the trauma proved too severe.

"I hugged and kissed my wife and talked to our two best friends that were there and then I immediately phoned the RCMP and told them to treat the site as a crime scene,” Amann said.

Now, Amann and his wife want answers.

They've heard from other community members that a few teenagers – much older and stronger than their daughter – had been injured by these goals before and had complained, but nothing appears to have been done about it.

"If you don't have any money in the budget (for new ones), you can still take those things away and throw them in the dump,” Amann said.

In other parts of the country where these nets are used, strict safety precautions are taken, Amann told the Star.

Goals are inspected regularly, risk assessments are completed before each use, and the nets are secured in place.

When the sporting event ends, the goal frames are folded down and locked away.

"School's been out for what, two weeks here?” Amann asked.

"The thing I don't understand is why, if it's the high school soccer field and school's out for the season, why weren't they locked up and put away?”

A 1995 report by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued safety guidelines for movable nets that noted the nets should always be anchored and that nets should be stored securely when not being used. The report notes that most incidents occurred when the goals were unattended, not during a soccer match.

These were recommendations, not mandatory requirements for using the goals.

A contractor, Amann is no stranger to workers' compensation board safety regulations and requirements.

Every day, he goes to work and stares up at a poster that promotes a target of zero workplace injuries. Every time he looks at that poster, he sees two large pictures of his children.

Now he wonders where the emphasis is on playground safety.

"Everything is safety; safety in the workplace, but the play areas are unsafe – it's scary,” he said.

"WCB is just ramming it down our throats in the workplace, and then here you have YTG's ministry of education being totally neglectful ... this equipment is old, tattered, worn out; there should be a safety stamp put on it every quarter,” he said.

"This is bigger than soccer fields now; all playgrounds should have a quarterly or semi-yearly inspection. It's equipment; there are pieces that can break and fail and cause harm or death.”

Last week, the Department of Education had all movable goals from its fields, 70 in total across the territory, removed.

In response to queries made by the Star today, department spokesperson Chris Madden said the department is co-operating fully with both the coroner's office and the RCMP's investigation, but because the investigations are ongoing, it is not releasing any information.

Earlier this week, a celebration of life was held for Jaedyn at the Watson Lake Recreation Centre.

Amann said the space was so full, there was only room to stand. He estimated there must have been about 350 people there.

The family will be returning to Vancouver Island, where they live in the winter, in a few days.

"That's where my Jaedyn was supposed to start daycare.”

They expect about 1,000 people to attend the funeral in Nanaimo.

The family is so thankful for all the support from both the Watson Lake and the Nanaimo communities, which Amann said has been "incredible” so far.

Once he and his wife have had a bit of time to grieve, Amann said they will be seeking legal advice about the circumstances of Jaedyn's death.

"It's all about preventing another accident and making people more aware,” he said.

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