Watersport professionals say danger of Lachine Rapids is being exaggerated by politicians

Watersport professionals who frequent the Lachine Rapids say they're worried calls from the city of Montreal's opposition party to better warn the public about the dangers of the waters could turn people away from sports. 

The calls for more warning signs around the waters come after Quebec's workplace safety board published a report Thursday about the drowning of Montreal firefighter Pierre Lacroix in October 2021.

The firefighter died when the boat he and three other colleagues were in capsized in the rapids during a rescue mission, in an area meant to be off-limits to the first responders.

The Commission des normes de l'équité de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST) later found that inadequate training and problems with the vessel led to the boat capsizing.

Kayaker Corran Addison isn't against a push for more warnings, but says he worries about suggestions the waters are "de facto unsafe." 

"If the fireman had training, it wouldn't have happened," said Corran, a three-time world kayaking champion and a canoeist at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. 

Corran often takes his eight-year-old son with him when he goes kayaking on the Lachine Rapids, saying it all comes down to life jackets and the right knowledge.

"Just a minimum amount of training and the correct safety equipment. It's perfectly safe," he said.

Since 2010, Montreal firefighters taking part in water rescues have been barred from responding to calls in the section of the rapids where Lacroix died, after another boat there also capsized. 

After Lacroix's death, the city began equipping rescue vessels with a warning signal to alert when they're in off-limit waters. The fire department has also improved its training for rescuers, according to a statement from the city of Montreal Thursday.

"Who it does affect is people who are recreational pleasant boaters with their motor boats or jet skies, or recreational kayakers who are upstream who get washed down and don't know anything about what they're getting into," Corran said, adding it leaves only the Canadian Coast Guard available to help in that area.

Warnings posted alongside the shores of the Vague à Guy in LaSalle also warn against sporting along the waters between Oct. 16 and April 30. 

'Completely irresponsible'

Montreal's opposition party has criticized how Mayor Valérie Plante's administration has handled the warnings in the area, saying it has not shared many details on the improvements made.

"It is very, very disturbing to see the Plante administration promoting water sports to Montrealers in high risk areas where authorities can hardly intervene," said Coun. Abdelhaq Sari, the public security critic for Ensemble Montréal, the official Opposition at city hall. "It is completely irresponsible and unacceptable to play with the safety of citizens for surfing and kayaking."

In a statement, the mayor's office said it's still open to changes depending on what comes out of the coroner's report into the firefighter's death.

"The CNESST investigation, combined with our internal investigation and the Coroner's public inquiry, will allow us to assess all possible improvements for the safety of the sector, including signage," the office said.

Jérémie Gauthier-Lacasse , a frequent surfer along the Vague à Guy shores, says he's on board with the no-go zone that's been in place for firefighters since 2010. 

What he worries about is how the public could respond.

"Surfing is considered an extreme sport, which means there are some risks associated with the practice," he said. "But as a community, we're doing everything here to make sure that everyone does it in a safe way. And it's a very safe place here to start."

"I feel like it's a shame that the opposition is using this tragic event to use this as politics and pointing fingers at Valérie Plante."