With swim lessons scarce in Quebec, worries rise about summer drowning risks
Lack of swimming instructors is creating potentially risky situation, says Lifesaving Society manager
Since the pandemic began, Montrealer Sarah El Queisi has been desperately trying to get her three-year-old back into swim lessons.
"It's worse than getting playoff tickets," she said."It's like the hottest ticket in town."
Public health restrictions shut down swimming lessons for 18 months at the YMCA in Westmount, and more than two years of uncertainty has led to instructors looking for work in other fields.
That has left many pools short staffed, and now there's a waiting list at the Westmount YMCA, where those employees still on the job are doing everything they can to meet the demand.
"We always make sure that there is someone there to teach the class," said Shannon Sherrett, the assistant aquatic co-ordinator at the Westmount YMCA.
But with physical distancing still recommended, parents are forced to hop into the pool with their kids and that's not sitting well with everyone, she said.
"Some parents are hesitant with that. They don't know how to swim themselves, so they don't like being in the water," Sherett said.
And there are still maximum-capacity rules in place that limit the number of kids allowed in each class.
That is worrisome to people like Sherrett, who sees first-hand how cancelling swimming lessons is affecting students.
"The one thing I have noticed is that when children don't practise their swimming abilities, they tend to forget it," she said.
Drownings are preventable, advocate says
Quebec averages about 80 drownings per year, said Raynald Hawkins, general manager of the Lifesaving Society's Quebec branch.
"One drowning is one too much because we know they are preventable," he said.
"Swimming lessons are very important."
Teaching kids to swim is the best way to prevent drowning, he said. People also need to follow his organization's boating and water safety tips, he added.
In July 2020, Lifesaving Society Canada made 15 — lowered from 16 — the minimum age required for certification as a swim instructor, lifesaving Instructor, or lifeguard.
Hawkins said the salaries for those who do work as lifeguards and instructors are strong, and his organization is working to convince young people to get certified.
But despite that rule change and the good pay, Hawkins said there are not enough new applicants trying to get into the program — programs, he noted, were also closed in the early days of the pandemic, greatly reducing the number of newly graduated lifeguards and swim instructors.
"We try to make some adaptations," said Hawkins.
So while pools are playing catch-up on several months of backlog, there are too few instructors and lifeguards to meet the demand.
"We have a lack of swimming instructors and a lack of lifeguards also," said Hawkins.
Rethinking service offering
Communities and pools have to rethink the way services are offered, he said.
For example, it would be good to include swimming lessons in summer camp programming, he said, rather than focusing on giving lessons in the spring or fall.
But until things change, El Queisi is left worrying about her daughters' safety. Her three-year-old started lessons at the age of six months, before the pandemic hit, and now her youngest is nearly that age.
Whenever class registration opens, she is sitting at her computer, hitting the refresh button and hoping for a spot. But the spots fill up in seconds, she said.
She has been checking different pools in her area, making sure she's ready to register at the right time but has yet to land a spot.
"We have been trying for over a year now," El Queisi said.
with files from Rowan Kennedy