For the second consecutive summer, there will be no lifeguards monitoring Victoria Beach in Cobourg, Ont.
The Lake Ontario waterfront attracts thousands of visitors each year and hosts a number of summer festivals.
“It’s really part of what Cobourg is as a brand,” said Mayor Lucas Cleveland. “It’s this great amazing beach-front community that welcomes outsiders and really looks for great experiences throughout the town.”
The lifeguard towers still remain at Victoria Beach, for years staffed during the town’s busiest season.
However, in keeping with last year’s decision, town council has decided to withdraw funds allocated for lifeguards on the beach.
“It came after a lot of thought and it was a decision that was highly discussed as a council for a great period of time,” said Cleveland. “The reality is we made that decision for a variety of reasons: staffing, age of lifeguards, and budget restraints.”
Cleveland said he worked as a lifeguard for eight years.
“I didn’t see it as an effective, preventative measure,” he said. “Weekdays there are only a few people on the beach so the staffing requirements for those — three or four lifeguards could add adequate coverage. The reality is on a Saturday or Sunday when there are 15-, 20- or 30,000 people on the beach, four 18-year-olds aren’t going to provide adequate service for that beach.
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“The argument could be made ‘well some lifeguarding is better than others’ — the reality is from a corporate standpoint that’s not actually the case.”
Cleveland added there are other options including the Centennial Pool which offers lifeguards from the YMCA.
The decision has once again faced some criticism. An active online petition calls for reinstatement of lifeguard, citing an “urgent need” for increased safety measures at Cobourg’s main beach.
The petition cites Lifesaving Society Canada which says drowning is the third-leading cause of unintentional death among Canadians age 60 and under.
The LSC Ontario reports 92 drownings in Ontario in 2020 and an average of 164 drownings between 2010 to 2019. The LSC Ontario says between 2012 to 2021 there were 5,684 emergency department visits due to non-fatal drowning — an average of 568 annually.
“With these alarming statistics in mind, it becomes clear that reinstating lifeguards at our beloved beach isn’t just about comfort—it’s about saving lives,” states Robert Picard, author of the petition.
Data also shows in 2022, Victoria Beach lifeguards assisted three people with a “significant” medical emergency and 35 with a minor medical emergency. They also assisted in 48 potential missing persons incidents and 3,742 public relations incidents.
In June 2023, Ontario lowered the minium age requirement to become a lifeguard to 15 years old from 16. The move aligned with Lifesaving Society’s required bi-annual first-aid recertifications.
Waterfront certification for Ontario lifeguards includes using a rescue craft; pool lifeguards require over 100 additional hours of training, including 20-pound object underwater recovery training.
Cleveland estimates the cost-cutting measure will save between $140,000 to $150,000. However, he could not say where those funds will be reallocated.
Going forward, an emergency at Victoria Beach will have involve local first responders and the Canadian Coast Guard which has a base near the beach. The Coast Guard was unable to speak on the issue on Tuesday.
“We aren’t adding burden to the response because they would already be involved in a normal situation (such as a child reported missing),” said Cleveland.
The lifeguard towers remain in place on the beach as part of the town’s emergency response system, the mayor notes. Signage on the towers to indicates lifeguards will not be on duty and that visitors are responsible for their own safety on the beach.
“The towers being in place provides an exact location for an emergency response team that’s needed to locate an individual if they get called to one of these four locations,” Cleveland explains. “They are really important geographical markers.”
— with files from The Canadian Press and Tricia Mason/Global News
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