City addresses lifeguard shortage, pools fully staffed for spring, summer – Winnipeg Free Press

This summer, things will change with regards to the number of pools and lifeguards in the city.

Number. Community Services Committee Chairman Evan Duncan said not only is the city fully staffed for spring and summer swimming operations, but there is no need to hire or train additional lifeguards.

Duncan said that's a change from this time last year when the city struggled to train and hire lifeguards for its indoor and outdoor pools.

“That's good news,” Duncan said Friday. “The City of Winnipeg Community Services is committed to providing swim lessons as a core service. I'm 100 percent ready for city breaks and free time.

“It makes people happy and we want to make sure people are happy.”

Duncan said the city is looking good for this year's swim lessons after the pandemic shuts down, so the lifeguard shortage is so acute that it can't operate anywhere near the number of programs it had a few years ago. Children had to queue for classes.

In 2019, the last year before the pandemic, the city hosted 8,305 swimming sessions with 38,268 registrants.

A year later, that number dropped to 3,686 sessions and 14,654 participants.

The city held free training programs in 2022 and 2023 to recruit more lifeguards. That helped the city hire 199 new lifeguards last year.

It also helped the city bounce back to the proposed 6,245 sessions and 31,412 registrants in 2023, as well as the proposed 6,307 sessions and 33,535 registrants in 2022.

Duncan said he could say the numbers for 2024 would exceed the high water level set in 2019.

“We have 3,914 sessions offered and 18,983 registrants in 2024, compared to 2,648 sessions offered and 13,916 registrants at this time in 2023,” he said.

“If this trend continues, it could be impressive. We aim to get 39,000 registrants. We haven't had those numbers in a while.”

Christopher Love of the Manitoba Lifesaving Society said the number of lifeguards in Winnipeg and Manitoba has increased to pre-pandemic levels.

“Before the pandemic, the province was training 1,000 to 1,100 lifeguards every year,” Love said, noting that will drop to just over 900 in 2022.

“Preliminary numbers show that by 2023 we will have over 1,000 rescuers across the province. The numbers seem to be in the range we were in before the pandemic.”

Love said last year's lifeguards were down at the beginning of the year, so he suspects the city's push to implement free training programs helped increase numbers throughout the year, allowing children to take swimming lessons.

“Everyone should learn to swim,” he said. “It's not just a life skill, it's a life-saving skill.”

In addition, Duncan said she wants to meet with provincial officials to see if more children can learn to swim because she believes swimming is a “life skill.”

“I would love to see the city and province partner together to see swimming lessons as part of our academic curriculum,” she said.

“We have opportunities, but the province is responsible for the education program. I hope these discussions happen. There's no reason why the city can't open this conversation.”

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Kevin Rollason
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Kevin Rollason is one of the most versatile reporters at the Winnipeg Free Press. Whether it covers city hall, the courts, or general reporting, you can count on Rollason to not only answer the 5 Ws—who, what, when, where, and why—but to do so in an engaging and accessible way for readers. .

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