Faced with the enthusiasm of Quebecers for kayaking, paddle boarding and canoeing, necessarily amplified by the obligation to stay within our borders, the number of drownings has jumped since the start of the pandemic. In order to counter this scourge, voices are being raised to make swimming lessons for children compulsory and the wearing of life jackets aboard certain pleasure craft.
“In the summer of 2020, everyone was in Quebec, recalls Raynald Hawkins, executive director of the Lifesaving Society. The weather was nice, it was hot… we even broke heat records in July-August. In this weather, people want to be near the water, on the water and in the water. It is therefore the law of probabilities: the more people bathe, the greater the risk of having unwanted behavior which increases the probability of drowning,” he concludes.
From 2009 to 2015, Quebec suffered an average of 80 deaths related to aquatic activities per year, according to a report by the Ministry of Education. The dutyobtained access to data from the Lifesaving Society, which confirms the downward trend observed by community workers before the pandemic; fewer than 60 drownings occurred in 2018 and 2019.
However, since the arrival of COVID-19, the data contradict these recent findings: 2020 is only the second year in 20 years that the bar of 90 water-related deaths has been crossed. This number decreased slightly in 2021, to 81 drownings. And this year, if the deaths from August to December follow the same curve as the two previous years, the total should again exceed 80. The data for the years 2018 to 2022 are unofficial, since they are the result of a daily review of press articles by Lifesaving Society employees.
Learning to swim, a right?
Since the pandemic, children are more afraid of the pool, notes Nicole Cameron, founder of Camp Cameron, located on L’Île-des-Soeurs, in Montreal. “My goal is to make them love the water again. “As we got used to staying indoors during the various confinements, it is now difficult to go play outside and try new activities for children, she observes.
Since the philosophy of the camp is to let the little campers make their own decisions, they are the ones who determine each day if they will join the group that goes to the pool. And since the pandemic, it has reduced considerably. “Almost the whole camp was in the pool five years ago! says Nicole Cameron. Today, around one in three children express an interest in going swimming.
To ensure their safety, each week the children take an informal swimming test over a distance of ten meters. If the child seems comfortable and does not try to touch the bottom, he gets a green bracelet, the one that allows him to swim in the deep end. Otherwise, we encourage him to get used to the shallower parts and we teach him a few tricks to be more comfortable in the water, yellow or red bracelet on his wrist.
The entrepreneur deplores the lack of availability of swimming lessons in the area, having herself tried to register her two young children there this summer, without success. With both toddlers and elementary-aged children having been without lessons for most of the past three years, parents are trying to start catching up as soon as possible, which creates a backlog when it comes to booking places in class, notes Camille Bouchard, customer experience advisor at the YMCAs of Quebec. “We know that a lot of courses — especially those offered on weekends — are sold out within an hour of opening on our website,” she explains.
This is why Nicole Cameron believes that swimming should be taught in primary school, a solution to which Raynald Hawkins also adheres. “According to the World Health Organization, to reduce the number of drownings around the world, school-age children must be taught all the basics of aquatic survival. »
We too often overestimate our ability to swim, especially in an environment less stable than a swimming pool. “We know how to bathe more than we know how to swim,” says the activist. When we ask the question, people always tell us that they know how to swim. Yes, doing two or three breaststrokes when I have both feet touching bottom immediately afterwards is fine. But doing them in three or five meters deep is not so easy – especially in a state of shock, ”he adds.
More deaths in natural bodies of water
This depth of five meters or more is found, among other things, in our lakes and rivers, which have been stormed by Quebecers overwhelmed by the heat in recent summers, particularly when public swimming pools were closed or with restricted access. .
It is therefore there that the greatest number of drownings take place each year; since the beginning of 2022, the proportion of deaths that have occurred in natural waters is 85%.
It is because the call of the outdoors was heard from the first confinement: camping, cross-country skiing, but above all water sports have gained in popularity. Sales of nautical products, for example, soared 36% between 2018 and 2021, according to the Quebec Retail Trade Council. This renewed interest is even reflected in the number of Google searches since spring 2020.
However, fatal capsizing – all types of boat combined – increased from 7 to 16 from 2018 to 2021. This summer, there are already 9.
That’s why Raynald Hawkins is campaigning to make life jackets mandatory, “at the very least for the most easily capsized boats, ie those six meters or less,” he says.
“In 9 out of 10 drownings, people were not wearing or were wearing their life jackets incorrectly,” he recalls. And the main reason people don’t wear it is because they say they have no intention of going overboard. And I too wish them that they stay on board the boat. But if you forgot to fasten your seat belt in the car, do you think you will have time to fasten it during the accident? The answer is no, and it’s the same with water. Once you find yourself overboard, it is often too late. »