Construction on safety improvements at a site where two boys drowned in Whiteshell Provincial Park will soon get underway.
The improvements, which include new barriers and fenced lookouts, signage and a new portage for kayakers and canoeists at Sturgeon Falls, was promised by the province after the deaths of brothers Maximo Au Ramirez, 10, and Aaron Au Ramirez, 13, who went missing in Nutimik Lake on July 18.
The province said in a news release Friday the upgrades would begin shortly.
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Construction on safety improvements at Sturgeon Falls in the Whiteshell Provincial Park is set to begin shortly, the province announced Friday.
“We have a responsibility to do everything we can to make this site safer and to prevent another family from going through this kind of heartbreak,” said Environment Minister Mike Moyes in the release. “These measures will make the Sturgeon Falls area safer and ensure that Manitobans and visitors are protected when the area reopens.”
Searchers converged on Nutimik Lodge after the boys disappeared into the fast-moving rapids. Their bodies were found days later. Two others have died at the site in recent years. Harpreet Kaur Girn, 38, drowned in 2025 and 12-year-old Usaid Habib drowned in 2023.
The fence will span 300 metres and be about four feet in height and will wrap around the end of the trail and prevent people from reaching the area where the rocks meet the water. Six warning signs will also be installed, alongside three fenced lookout points.
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The falls are located between Nutimik and Numao lakes on the Winnipeg River system. Visitors can reach them by hiking a 1.9-kilometre trail that begins at the Nutimik Lake campground.
The safety improvements are set to be complete by the middle of September.