National Drowning Prevention Week: Quebecers urged to be extra vigilant around water this summer

During National Drowning Prevention Week, Quebec’s Lifesaving Society wants to remind Quebecers that cooling off in swimming pools, rivers and lakes during the hot summer days can be deadly if they don’t practice vigilance.

While Quebec’s Lifesaving Society is reporting 11 fewer drownings than at the same time last year in Quebec, the number of deaths continues to remain far too high.

This year alone, 32 drownings have already been recorded in the province.

“Never be alone. Supervise your kid all the time. Wear your life jacket,” said Raynald Hawkins, executive director of Quebec’s Lifesaving Society. “The good news is, if we’re going on this direction, we’re going to be less than the average of 80 drowning per year. So that’s our focus, because one drowning is one too much anyway.”

The death toll rose this past Saturday, with the tragic death of a kayaker who capsized in the Matawin River in Mauricie.

An average of 80 drownings per year in Quebec

Quebec’s Lifesaving Society says that over the past 10 years, the province has seen an average of about 80 drownings per year.

To reduce that number, experts encourage people to wear a life jacket when on a boat or when engaging in water sports. That alone would prevent about 20 drownings per year.

“I ask the population, ‘Are you swimmer?’ and the majority, the answer, ‘Yes.’ ‘Okay, can you define to me what swimming is?’ and when you’re doing like two or three stroke in the deep side of the water, shallow end, for example, is not really swimming,” explained Hawkins.

Experts say that nine times out of 10, people did not wear a life jacket or wore it incorrectly.

Currently, the law stipulates that a lifejacket or personal flotation device for every person on board a boat must be available, but passengers are not required to wear it.

Another major tip from Quebec’s Lifesaving Society is to not to be alone when you find yourself in the water.

“You also have parents that are like a couple of hundred meters away from the kids while the kids are in the water,” said lifeguard Gabriel Morrissette. “That’s also a big problem. So generally, what we see is that the parents don’t inform the kids as to the dangers of the water and maybe the parents themselves aren’t aware.”

According to data provided by the society, an average of 50.8 per cent of incidents that occurred between 2020 and 2024 involved single people.

Adults should aways ensure that children are well supervised. Children between the age of one and four are most at risk.

Install a gate around your pool

Research shows that an average of one child a day goes to the emergency room for a drowning or near-drowning in Quebec during the summer months.

Many of these accidents involve the lack of a safety gate or an improperly installed gate around a pool.

“For most of the drowning that occur at home, so in a private property, we could see that there was no appropriate fencing,” said Hussein Wissanji, pediatric surgeon at Montreal Children’s Hospital. “Most people think that it happens like in Hollywood, there’s gonna be a big splash and lots of noise, but it could be a silent event that happens in 20 seconds.”

Fences and gates are required in backyard pools, but not all households have them yet since Quebecers have until 2025 to comply with the new regulations.

Experts also warn people to be careful with their alcohol consumption around water.

Four out of ten drownings involved alcohol consumption.