Coroner recommends 'lifesaving audits' at all Ottawa beaches following June death

Yellow tape is up at Britannia Beach in Ottawa, where a child was pulled from the water in life-threatening condition. June 3, 2024. (Shaun Vardon/CTV News Ottawa)

Ontario's chief coroner is recommending the City of Ottawa conducts a "lifesaving audit" at all city beaches, following the drowning death of a nine-year-old boy in June.

The call comes after the Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario found the three people who drowned at Britannia Beach between 2020 and 2023 were standing/wading close to a "drop-off area" where the water depth dropped from two feet to 10 feet. The coroner's office made five recommendations, including staffing lifeguards on duty to "coincide with daylight hours" at public beaches.

On June 3, a child was found unresponsive in the Ottawa River at Britannia Beach. The child died in hospital.

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Lifeguards were not on duty at the time of the drowning. The city has lifeguards on duty at Ottawa beaches from June 15 until Aug. 24.

The Chief Coroner's Office says following the drowning in June, it was recommended the "City of Ottawa should conduct a lifesaving audit at all city beaches, with reassessments at intervals recommended by the Lifesaving Society."

The Lifesaving Society recommends all aquatic facilities undergo a comprehensive aquatic safety audit at least once every five years.  The agency notes aquatic safety audits identify potential hazards that could lead to accidents or injuries.

In a report into three drownings at Britannia Beach between July 5, 2020 and July 14, 2023, Dr. Louise McNaughton-Filion, the regional supervising coroner for eastern Ontario, noted the three victims were close to an area where the depth dropped from two feet to 10 feet, and the victims "entered the drop off area suddenly, while in the presence of friends or family."

"All decedents were new arrivals to Canada and known to be novice swimmers. They were wading slightly outside of the supervised area, and two of the three drowning events occurred less than a half hour after lifeguards were officially on duty at the beach (the third was within an hour of lifeguards being off duty)," McNaughton-Filion wrote.

"All three persons were standing/wading close to a drop-off area, where the depth of water transitions rapidly from approximately a two-foot depth to a 10 foot depth and both entered the drop off area suddenly, while in the presence of friends or family."

McNaughton-Filion made five recommendations to the City of Ottawa for the beaches:

1. The City of Ottawa should strongly consider lifeguard staffing to coincide with daylight hours at their public beaches.
2. When lifeguarding is no longer available at City of Ottawa public beaches, a pre-recorded message should be clearly audible at the beach, in various languages, advising that the beach is no longer monitored.
3. The City of Ottawa should consider installing drop off zone markers at the point in the water where the drop-off occurs (at water level). This may require reassessment on an annual basis, if the drop-off zone changes over time.
4. If not already being done, the City of Ottawa should conduct a lifesaving audit at the start of every season at all city beaches.
5. The City of Ottawa should identify, on an annual basis, any potential drop hazards in water close to city beaches and consider filling them to reduce risk.