Maxime Lemelin was working in his backyard in Laval Sunday when he says he got the scare of his life.
He says he had his back turned to his six-year-old daughter for about a minute and half.
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What he turned back around, Lemelin’s eyes fell on a set-up his daughter had made: a chair piled on top of a table next to the family’s above-ground swimming pool.
Lemelin told Global News his six-year-old doesn’t know how to swim yet.
“I was shocked,” he told Global News. “I had to explain to her what could happen.”
When he went searching for his daughter, she was playing elsewhere.
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Lemelin said he had to have a difficult conversation with her about what could have happened if she had climbed the chair and fallen into the pool.
“She would not be with us today,” Lemelin said. “She would be dead.”
After the incident, Lemelin posted a picture of the set-up on Facebook to warn his friends to keep their children in sight at all times.
The photo has been shared 25,000 times, including by the Canadian Red Cross, who wrote “thanks to a vigilant father for this photo that’s worth 1,000 words.”
Lemelin said he hopes the photo will show parents what could have happened, while also stressing the importance of teaching children how to swim.
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“They must learn to swim,” Lemelin said.
“Be aware, be vigilant. You don’t know what could happen.”