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There's no life jacket law, but police and safety advocates say 'there's really no excuse' not to wear them
There's no life jacket law, but police and safety advocates say 'there's really no excuse' not to wear them

CBC

time19-05-2025

  • General
  • CBC

There's no life jacket law, but police and safety advocates say 'there's really no excuse' not to wear them

For many people, the May long weekend is the unofficial kick-off to the summer season, with people heading to their cottages or hitting waterways in boats and other vessels. May 17-23 also marks Safe Boating Awareness Week in Canada. Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and water safety advocates are reminding people about the importance of wearing life jackets when out on the water. The OPP say in 2024, 20 people died in boating or paddling and over the last 13 years, 86 per cent of water fatalities involved people not wearing a life jacket. "[That] is a staggering stat," said Sergeant Dave Moffat, the OPP's provincial marine coordinator. "It's frustrating because it's the same story. It continues over and over that people are deciding that they don't think that life jackets are proper for their boating attire." In Canada, including Ontario, there is currently no law in place that requires people to wear life jackets. In 2023, Bill 93, Joshua's Law, was introduced in the Ontario legislature. If passed, it would require all children in Ontario who are 12 years of age or younger to wear a life jacket or personal floatation device while on a moving pleasure boat. The bill made it to second reading in 2023 and was ordered for a third reading, but has not progressed through Queen's Park since then. Moffat calls the bill a "great initiative" for children, but says more should be done to make everyone wear a life jacket. "In my opinion, there's really no excuse to not wear a life jacket because it can and will save your life," Moffat said. The Lifesaving Society Ontario says one in five drownings in the province are from boating-related incidents, where the majority of victims are not wearing life jackets, and 44 per cent of all water fatalities are related to paddle users in canoes, kayaks or stand-up paddle boards. "We hop in our vehicle, we put our seat belt on and we don't even think about it. It's just an automatic reaction, something that we automatically do," said Lisa Hanson Ouellette, a senior researcher with Lifesaving Society Ontario. "And life jacket wear should be exactly that. It should just be an automatic thing, regardless of your age, regardless of the type of vessel, and regardless of who you are, what it is that you're doing."

Calgary's May long weekend weather is trash: A statistical analysis
Calgary's May long weekend weather is trash: A statistical analysis

CBC

time17-05-2025

  • Climate
  • CBC

Calgary's May long weekend weather is trash: A statistical analysis

Queen Victoria was born before Canada became a country and died before Alberta became a province, but her legacy looms large in the form of a holiday that is held up to this day as the official kickoff to summer — even though it rarely delivers on that promise. For Calgarians, that's not just local lore. It's science. Historical weather records show, more often than not, the weekend weather is cool — or downright freezing — and rainy, if not snowy. That's not to say it's always bad. There have been the occasional years when the weather gods, in their infinite caprice, smiled down upon the people and granted them three consecutive days of sun and overnight lows that didn't leave frost on their tent flaps. But those tend to be the exception. The rule, generally, is much gloomier for those itching to finally get outdoors after the long, harsh winter. For people looking to get outdoors in the higher altitudes of Banff and beyond, it's even more rare to feel that summery glow. Looking at historical weather records for the three consecutive days that form the modern long weekend — that is, the Saturday, Sunday and penultimate Monday in May — we can see the disappointment in data. In Calgary, which had 140 years' worth of records available, only 15 per cent of May long weekends saw the high temperature exceed 25 C. The average temperature, meanwhile, was below 10 C on 45 per cent of weekends, while the low temperature was below freezing 34 per cent of the time. Banff, which has temperature records for 132 May long weekends, was even cooler, with only five per cent seeing the temperature rise above 25 C at any point. Nearly three-quarters of long weekends in Banff had average temperatures below 10 C, while 70 per saw freezing overnight lows. Rain — or snow Not only do May long weekends tend to be defined by cool temperatures, they also tend to be at least a little wet — or snowy. On 61 per cent of May long weekends dating back to 1885, Calgary received a trace of precipitation (defined as 0.2 millimetres of rain or 0.2 centimetres of snow) or more. Meanwhile, 31 per cent of weekends saw more than five millimetres of combined precipitation, and a quarter saw more than 10 millimetres, in total. Banff saw rain or snow more often, with at least a trace on 76 per cent of weekends and more than five millimetres on 33 per cent. It tended to see fewer heavy precipitation events, though, with only 16 per cent of weekends recording more than 10 millimetres, in total. Outdoor enthusiasts hoping for three consecutive dry days were usually out of luck. Those occurred on only 39 per cent of weekends in Calgary and just 24 per cent in Banff. At least it's not a flood? Or a blizzard? This year, Victoria Day falls on Monday, May 19. And, keeping with meteorological tradition, the three-day weekend in 2025 is again forecast to be cool and rainy, in both Calgary and Banff. And, as much as we may justifiably complain, we should remind ourselves: it could be worse. At least it's not 1902. Over the three-day period ending on Monday, May 19, that year, Calgary received a staggering 81 millimetres of rain, according to Environment Canada records. The Calgary Daily Herald newspaper described the storm as "one of the worst in the history of the West," flooding creeks and rivers, damaging bridges and washing out rail lines. "The streets of Calgary were a sheet of water for most of the day," the newspaper reported. "Cellars were inundated and staid citizens were seen braving the downpour in slickers and waterproofs, digging trenches and ditches around their houses." Mother Nature offered no reprieve the following year. Over the three-day period ending on Monday, May 18, 1903, more than 67 centimetres of snow fell on Calgary. The spring blizzard struck nearby areas even harder. A headline in the Daily Herald declared: "90,000 head of cattle perished in Montana storm." "Ten feet of snow and four degrees below zero cause terrible loss," the news report added. "Trains move with difficulty." Victoria Day, then and now One important note about history and chronology: the historical-weather data analysis in this article used the May-long weekend dates that we are familiar with today. On modern calendars, Victoria Day falls on the second-last Monday in May. But it wasn't always like this. The holiday was initially celebrated on Queen Victoria's actual birthday of May 24, meaning it could fall on different days of the week each year. It wasn't until 1952 that the date was made to always fall on a Monday, ensuring a long weekend. So, the blizzard Calgarians endured in 1903 didn't technically fall on a long weekend for them. The law at that time called for Victoria Day to be celebrated on May 24 unless the date fell on a Sunday — which it did, in 1903 — so the holiday was actually celebrated on Monday, May 25, making it a long weekend the weekend after the blizzard. According to Environment Canada's historical data, it also snowed that following weekend in Calgary. Because, of course it did.

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