Paddlers need lifejackets: OPP

Two men sit in a canoe while fishing on Sat., April 18, 2015. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)

During Safe Boating Awareness Week, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is strongly urging paddlers to wear lifejackets.

OPP’s statistics show of 131 people who died in Ontario’s lakes and rivers in the last five years, 56 paddlers lost their lives.

Between 2020-2024, 34 canoeists died in marine incidents, 17 kayakers died and five people died from paddleboarding.

OPP says whether you and your family are in motorized or human-propelled vessels, be mindful that falling overboard as well as capsized vessels remain the leading causes of OPP-investigated boating and paddling deaths year after year.

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“The data makes a compelling case for the value in wearing a lifejacket. It is virtually impossible to drown if you are floating in the water with a properly fitted lifejacket. Even if you are rendered unconscious in a paddling/boating incident, a lifejacket will keep your head above water and keep you breathing.

“This is a particularly important message for paddlers/boaters who cannot swim, as a lifejacket is the one piece of equipment that you can count on to save your life,” an OPP press release says.

With Safe Boating Awareness Week getting underway, OPP marine officers will be out on the water promoting marine safety and enforcing boating laws.