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District of North Vancouver says Lynn Canyon swimming ban unlikely

Click to play video: 'Lynn Canyon tragedy'
Lynn Canyon tragedy
Lynn Canyon tragedy – Jul 29, 2017

Following the death of an American teen in Lynn Canyon, the District of North Vancouver says implementing stricter rules might not be the solution.

Lynn Canyon is a local favourite during the warmer months, but that has led to multiple injuries to people jumping off the park’s cliffs.

There have been 31 deaths in Lynn Canyon in the last 24 years.

Stephanie Smiley with the District of North Vancouver said they still hope signs and fencing in the area will be enough of a deterrent.

“We can’t keep people from jumping, but we can certainly make our best [effort] to make sure they’re aware of the risks,” said Smiley.
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She said the fencing around the high-risk areas has been there for decades and is inspected daily. She said the warning signs were also re-designed last year to make sure they stood out to visitors.

“What we were hoping to do is catch anyone that might be thinking of going into these areas and give them just pause for a minute to make them think about, you know, the risk that they are about to take.”

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WATCH: Lynn Canyon dangers

Click to play video: 'Lynn Canyon dangers'
Lynn Canyon dangers

She said it’s a tricky balance between safety and allowing people to enjoy the park.

“If [swimming] were something that was forbidden and that there was a fine for, how would you go about enforcing that? There’s not really a way that we could do that, that we could safely issue fines.”

Smiley said trying to enforce anything would require staffing the park, and making rangers enter some dangerous areas.

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