Swimming and Water Safety (Page 7)

There were some great photos submitted to our recent #LifejacketLiving contest, showing how we Canadians sport our lifejackets in some beautiful locations throughtout the country. 

There are a lot of excuses the three of us could have used to not wear our lifejackets. After all, we are all confident swimmers;  the water was calm; we weren’t going very far out; we could just throw three lifejackets in the canoe; and we all felt pretty comfortable with our canoe abilities. The thing is, all of these reasons only make sense in a world where nothing goes wrong, and especially nothing goes wrong as quickly as a canoe tipping over. 

We want to see how you live to explore our lakes, rivers and shores while wearing your lifejacket. Snap a pic and send it to us for a chance to win one of 10 family packs of Mustang lifejackets.
Share your photo on social media using #LifeJacketLiving or #LaVieEnGilet to enter the contest or submit your photo online here.

Every year, over 500 Canadians die in drowning-related incidents. Of these, over 90 per cent are men. Statistics, however, often mask the individual losses though and the enormous impact a drowning death can have on an entire family. Danika Crossman, boating safety program coordinator with the Canadian Red Cross, knows this loss first hand. In 2009, her uncle drowned while he was boating with his wife on Lake Okanagan in Kelowna, B.C. He was 41.

My happiest childhood memories are of times spent at the family cottage, floating on an inner tube, lounging in a lakeside hammock, and learning how to paddle a canoe. I grew up loving water and feeling safe and confident around water. That’s because my parents did a great job of balancing out two important messages. They taught me that being around water can be incredibly fun, but that you have to be alert to the dangers at the same time.

My family recently found ourselves on a Caribbean island where we were having a wonderful vacation. My husband and I have always loved the water and once upon a time were both lifeguards in Canada (let's just call us 'retired'). With two young children, we respect the ocean and are always looking for opportunities to talk over safety in the water, taking the opportunity in this case to explore ocean currents and what they mean when we're thinking about cooling off in the ocean.

As an aquatics professional, Janet has watched the Syrian refugee crisis with a unique perspective – and that perspective has lead her to create a free swimming program for Syrian refugee children. 

As a four-year-old, John Napier splashed around his neighbourhood pool in Grand Prairie during his swimming lessons provided by the Canadian Red Cross. “You could say I was indoctrinated from a very young age,” he jokes. Now, Napier is a Water Safety Master Instructor Trainer with the Canadian Red Cross and has been a volunteer since 1998.