Listen to this article
Estimated 3 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
A 3-year-old boy has died after being found unresponsive Saturday afternoon in a residential swimming pool in Blainville, Que., located roughly 40 kilometres northwest of Montreal.
Blainville police say the child’s parents had been looking for their child before he was found in the pool.
His death was later confirmed in the hospital.
With swimming pool season just beginning, the director of the Quebec Lifesaving Society, Raynald Hawkins, explains toddlers are most at-risk when it comes to drownings.
“A majority of the drownings that we have in Quebec — partly with the toddlers — is just because they have direct accessibility from the house to the backyard pool,” said Hawkins.
“With the toddlers, they cannot be alone. And this is not a responsibility to the big brother or the big sister. No. You need an adult … and this adult cannot do other tasks than supervising the kids.”
Hawkins said parents need to teach young children basic safety rules, such as not playing around pools without their parents — similar to how kids are taught not to cross the street without their parents.
He added that even if children and teens know how to swim, they should still be supervised.
Coroner emphasizes importance of swimming lessons
Earlier this week, a Quebec coroner issued a report that said whoever is supervising needs to know how to swim.
The coroner’s recommendation comes following the death of a 34-year-old woman and her three-year-old son, both of whom drowned in their home pool in Lachine last June.
The boy fell into the deep end of the pool while chasing a ball. His mother was nearby and jumped in after her son, despite not knowing how to swim.
Coroner Edgard Nassif emphasized the importance of swimming lessons in his report.
He wrote that while 95 per cent of Canadian-born people know how to swim, the rate is much lower among newcomers and young children.
‘Many of these tragedies are preventable’
Another common cause of drownings is recreational boating accidents, which claim the lives of roughly 90 people across the country every year, according to the Drowning Prevention Research Centre Canada.
The organization’s data also shows that the majority of the incidents are associated with power boating or canoeing; and that in 80 per cent of the deaths between 2012 and 2021, a lifejacket or personal floatation device was not worn.
“Every life lost on the water is one too many,” said Steven MacKinnon, Canada’s Minister of Transport in a release on Tuesday, as part of North American Safe Boating Awareness Week.
“And many of these tragedies are preventable.”