Winnipeg looking to reduce lifeguard shortage

The City of Winnipeg is trying to combat a lifeguard shortage. For the first time ever, they are offering free lifeguard and swimming instructor training to 60 successful candidates. Alex Karpa reports.

By Alex Karpa

We might not be thinking about swimming at this time of year, but the City of Winnipeg is trying to combat a lifeguard shortage to keep pools like this one open in the summer. For the first time ever, they are offering lifeguard and swimming instructor training for free.

City Hall is now offering a six-course, 14-week certification program, free of charge, for 60 successful applicants to become an instructor or guard. Lifeguards who also teach swimming lessons.

“We’re looking to recover our staffing levels in the aquatic section of recreation services,” said Jennifer Sarna, manager of recreation services for the City of Winnipeg.

Sarna says the city currently has 220 lifeguards out of 300 positions. Current staff are working substantial overtime hours and Sarna says it’s important to hire more people to ease the burden on current staff.

“They’re really doing all they can to help keep our facilities open and safely operating.”

Sarna says the courses usually cost around $1,500 for each participant, but the training will be covered through a Canada-Manitoba job grant. Dr. Christopher Love from the Lifesaving Society of Manitoba says there are about 450-500 drowning deaths each year in Canada. He says lifeguards prevent accidents and save lives.

“We know from drowning research that we have been doing for over 30 years in Canada, under one percent of all drowning fatalities in this country occur in a lifeguarded facility, whether that’s a beach or a swimming pool, and so we know that they make a huge difference,” explained Dr. Love.

Love says the pandemic has contributed to the lifeguard shortage.

“You didn’t have two years of training taking place, plus existing lifeguards retired or moved to other careers and that has just combined to create a huge deficit.”

Over the summer, many pools and aquatic facilities were closed due to the lifeguard shortage. Happyland pool in the city’s St. Boniface area was closed on weekends for the entire summer, a gathering place for many in the area to beat the heat.

Former City of Winnipeg lifeguard Sylvie Schmitt says it was frustrating not being able to use the community pool last summer.

“I mean for one, I didn’t go on the weekends because it was closed and usually that is the time that I would’ve liked to have gone because I work during the daytime and it’s not always convenient to go during the week. Especially with the hot weather we had last year, it would’ve been really nice to have that pool open during the weekend and be accessible to everyone at all times.”

Schmitt says the training program is a positive step in the right direction to fixing this issue. Sarna says well over 350 people have applied for the free training.

“Ultimately, we’re just encouraging anyone who has a genuine interest in water safety education and lifeguarding in general.”

Eligible applicants must be at least 16 years old and have a minimum of grade 10 education. The application deadline for the training program is Dec. 5.

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