SASKATOON – Recent Canadian Red Cross research shows that the majority of Saskatchewan parents do not understand what is needed to prevent children from drowning.
According to public opinion research, parents in Saskatchewan have a false sense of security when their children are near water. Nearly half of parents believe they don’t need to provide constant supervision when a child is in the water.
Red Cross says four out of five children under the age of six who drown in Canada were not expected to enter the water.
Last month, RCMP were called to missing child report by Pinehouse Lake. The 3-year-old was found shortly after in the northern Saskatchewan lake.
“Children wander away from the supervision of their parents and then ultimately, like all kids, are curious around the water and they end up wandering in. And in this particular case recently, obviously it ended up in the drowning death of a 3-year-old child,” said RCMP Sergeant Warren Gherasim.
Water Safety Week is currently underway and the Red Cross is calling on all guardians to properly supervise children by supervising them within reach and within sight at all times.
“Sixty per cent of child drownings occur between June and August. If past trends continue, 34 children could drown between today and Labour Day,” says Rick Caissie, national director at the Red Cross.
For more information surf the Red Cross swimming and water safety programs.
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