Two people, including a three-year-old, died in separate drownings in Ontario on Saturday, as one expert warns that July often sees the highest number of drownings in Canadian water. <\/p>\n
Ontario Provincial Police are investigating after emergency services were called to Mille Roches Beach in Long Sault around 5:45 p.m. regarding a child with no vital signs. <\/p>\n
A statement from police said off-duty medical professionals were attempting to resuscitate the child who was rushed to the hospital and later pronounced dead.<\/p>\n
Separately, police said emergency services responded to a residence on River Road East in Wasaga Beach at approximately 1:05 p.m. after reports of a missing kayaker. <\/p>\n
They said a 24-year-old man from Toronto had been kayaking with two others when their boat overturned. <\/p>\n
The Wasaga Beach Fire Department located the man and started resuscitation efforts before he was taken to hospital and later pronounced dead.<\/p>\n
Neither of the identities were released out of respect for the families. <\/p>\n
Police are also investigating the death of another three-year-old who drowned at Sandbanks Provincial Park on Thursday.<\/p>\n
OPP at the time said the number of drownings in eastern Ontario this year is more than double what it was by this time in 2024.<\/p>\n
Stephanie Bakalar, a spokesperson for Lifesaving Society, said in an interview that July is often the month with the highest number of drownings across the country as people look to cool down amid hotter temperatures, with most instances occurring in natural bodies of water. <\/p>\n
Saturday marked the final day of Drowning Prevention Week in Canada, and Bakalar offered some general tips for staying safe around the water.<\/p>\n
\u201cDepending on the different age groups, we have slightly different risk factors, but generally pretty much the same things,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Bakalar said that swimming or boating alone is a significant risk factor for both older and younger adults. For those above the age of 65, she said about 70 per cent of drowning deaths happen while individuals are swimming alone. <\/p>\n
For children under the age of five, she said, drowning most often occurs while \u201csupervision was either absent or distracted.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s really important for especially parents and caregivers, anyone who\u2019s taking kids near the water, to understand that drowning is fast and it is silent,\u201d Bakalar said.<\/p>\n
She said someone supervising a child should be within an arm\u2019s reach and remain hyper vigilant. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can\u2019t get to your child in a moment, if you cannot reach out and grab them, you are too far away from them, and the unthinkable can happen that quickly,\u201d Bakalar said. <\/p>\n
When boating, she said it is always important to wear a life-jacket. <\/p>\n
\u201cAbout 90 per cent of the drowning deaths in Ontario, specifically, while people were boating, which includes powerboats, canoes, and kayaks. the victims were not wearing life-jackets,\u201d Bakalar said. <\/p>\n
Staying sober when swimming or supervising someone else can increase safety, according to Bakalar. She also noted that swimming in a lifeguard-supervised setting can help people stay safe as they look to cool off amid hotter temperatures. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are never immune to drowning if we don\u2019t take layers of protection. So it\u2019s knowing how to swim. It\u2019s wearing the life-jacket. It\u2019s being with someone else,\u201d Bakalar said. <\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 27, 2025.<\/p>\n
Daniel Johnson, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two people, including a three-year-old, died in separate drownings in Ontario on Saturday, as one expert warns that…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":98352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2147,2693,210,8142,50,39343],"class_list":{"0":"post-98488","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-disaster","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-justice","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-ontario-quebec"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114929023482289730","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}