It’s shaping up to be a hot and gorgeous August long weekend in Edmonton, and many residents will be looking to enjoy the summer weather by heading out on the water.
The city is reminding water sport enthusiasts who intend to hit up the North Saskatchewan River that wearing a life-jacket or personal flotation device is now the law in Edmonton.
The new rule came into effect on May 12, 2025 — regardless of it people are on a boat, canoe, kayak, paddleboard or pool floatie.
“So a vessel is anything that you use for navigation purposes,” said Zain Haji, a peace officer park ranger with the city.
“So that can range from a unicorn floating island all the way to a jet boat. It’s all considered a vessel. You have to be wearing a life-jacket at all times.”
There are now signs at the city’s two major boat launches — Capilano and Laurier Park — informing people of the recent bylaw change mandating life-jackets.
Park rangers have noticed that not all people entering bodies of water in Edmonton are wearing life-jackets.
“We’re getting mixed information. So we have individuals that have followed through our social medias, looked at in the news, looked on our City of Edmonton website that you know the life-jackets are mandatory,” Haji said.
“Then we have the other group of individuals that just simply don’t know or are unaware.”
He laughed when explaining some river floaters don’t realize the life-jacket rule applies to them, too.
“If it floats — it’s a boat. You can be on a unicorn, you can be on a tire tube, you can be on an air mattress — it’s considered a boat!”
So far this year, the city said rangers have only given out one ticket for not wearing a life-jacket, but have issued 473 warnings for people not wearing one.
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Edmonton Fire Rescue Services have been called to 24 requests for help on the river in the spring and summer months.
“Usually, everyone that we talk to are pretty good,” Haji said. “We do have the groups of individuals that are generally consuming liquor or not happy just seeing us and, you know, it goes with the territory.”
The penalties differ depending on whether you have a life preserver present on your watercraft or not.
“If you don’t have one at all, you can be either charged under the Canada Shipping Act or directed to leave the water,” Haji said. “For not wearing one, it is a charge under (city) bylaw, so we do recommend everyone wear a life-jacket at all times,” he said.
Haji said peace officers go for the educational route first before laying fines on people caught without a life-jacket.
“We would educate and inform the individual of the new law’s legislation. And if that escalates, it is an escalation process, and that can go right to a ticket.”
The ticket is $250 for each individual not wearing a life-jacket at all times, he said.
The city said those looking to venture out onto the river should check the weather, the river depth and flow rate and pack all relevant safety gear as outlined by Transport Canada.
One piece of safety equipment that should never be worn on the river? Ankle leashes attached to paddleboards. If a paddler falls off, the leash can get caught on rocks under the water and drag a person under.
“The river is an unpredictable body of water,” Haji said.
“Never underestimate it.”
The North Saskatchewan River’s stream-flow varies throughout the year, with fast underwater currents, strong undertows and unforeseen hazards, including underwater debris, floating trees and wood, and muddy shorelines.
On Thursday afternoon, Haji said the North Saskatchewan was flowing at about 360 cubic metres per second, much faster than the normal flow for the end of July and beginning of August, which he said averages around 190 to 250 cubic metres a second. Rain in the past week along the watershed has added to the runoff and high flow rate.
“Right now, the current river levels are higher than usual, so you’ll get a lot of debris floating down, you’ll get miscellaneous big rocks or just random islands that are popping out everywhere.”
Some of those hazards are hidden right below the water surface, so people need to keep an eye out if they are in flimsy vessels.
“There might be some rocks underneath that you can’t see,” Haji said.
“If they’re on an inflatable, that can cause significant damage and potentially poke their vessel and damage it in this way, we’re having to conduct a rescue, and we have people in the water.”
The same advice goes for other popular river floating spots such as the Pembina River, located about an hour west of Edmonton in Evansburg.
RCMP have issued many reminders for floaters there to make sure their vessels are sturdy and can withstand brushing up against rocks, and to be mindful of where to exit the river.
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In addition to watching out for compliance on the water, Edmonton park rangers at launch points are also doing land-based safety compliance checks on all vessels.
“So this way we’re checking people before they get on the water or after they go on get on the water, primarily because of river safety, and we want to make sure everyone is safe,” Haji said.
Peace officers are looking for boaters to have, in addition to life-jackets, items required by Transport Canada, such as a safety bucket, throw line, whistle and a pleasure craft operator’s card on their person.
So far this year, the city said park rangers have conducted 2,642 safety compliance checks on vessels and 394 warnings have been issued under the Canada Shipping Act/Small Vessel Regulations for lacking safety equipment, vessels not licensed and no pleasure craft operator’s cards (PCOC).
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