Skaters seen on ice despite warnings of ice safety

Some skaters in Ottawa are still skating outside on ponds, lakes and rivers despite warnings of ice safety.

For MJ Diotte and her son Thomas, a skate outdoors is part of their winter tradition.

“We have a river in the back of the house but we really don’t want to go on it right now, it’s not safe,” said Diotte.

Instead, they went to Meech Lake, making sure ahead of time, it was safe to do so.

“We have some people who know what they're doing. They've been drilling around the lake there and we have at least a good amount of ice. Most of the area is eight to nine inches,” she said.

For extra safety, an orange pylon was also seen out on the lake, warning skaters not to go past it.

But it appears some people are not taking the same safety precautions. This week, some people have been seen skating on Mud Lake and parts of the Rideau Canal.

Experts say just because some rivers and lakes appear frozen over does not mean they are safe to travel on.

“Lakes are okay especially as it starts to get colder. Stay away from rivers,” said Ottawa Fire Services’ Joseph Shortliff. “There's moving water and we have no idea what's happening under the ice.”

Caution around ice has drawn even more attention in Ottawa after a tragedy that struck the Manotick area over the holidays, when two teenagers died after a group of friends fell through the ice on the Rideau River.

“Our rivers have moving water and it's not safe for skating,” said Sean Duffy with Lifesaving Society Ottawa. “We need ten centimetres of thick clear blue ice and much more if we are doing recreational activities. 20 to 30 centimetres.”

Duffy says we should never trust the ice will be safe and always take precautions, such as bringing a life jacket and never going out alone or at night. He adds we should also look for signs describing the state of the ice.

“No ice is safe ice.... We want to enjoy the great outdoors but we need to do so safely,” said Duffy. “A good tell-tale sign is if the Rideau Canal is not open, maybe it's time to visit that indoor rink.”

According to Ottawa Fire Services, there has been a total of 30 ice rescues in 2022 and 2023. OFS hopes the number keeps trending down.