‘The worst pain’: Grieving Calgary fathers call for change to prevent future drownings

Nearly a week after two young men drowned at a Calgary lake, their fathers are speaking out and calling for change.

Nearly a week after two young men drowned at a Calgary lake, their fathers are speaking out and calling for better rules to protect people taking to the water.

The bodies of Yagazie Ike-Peters and Caelen Escalante were recovered near the dock area of Mahogany Lake last Wednesday.

Now, the parents of the 20-year-old childhood friends want to see changes to try and prevent future drownings.

“I think there’s an opportunity for us to improve the way our beaches are operated so that there won’t be another story in the near future or even later that we lost someone else,” said Peters Ike, Yagazie’s father.

He started an online petition calling on the City of Calgary to mandate lifeguards at private lakes.

If not, he wants there to be consideration for putting better emergency response equipment at all lakes.

Waiting for the response of 911 emergency crews takes too long, he said.

“By that time, the person who is in distress has already gone under,” Ike said.

“People are dying.”

Carlos Escalante, Caelen’s father, also says more measures need to be considered at lakes within the city.

“Maybe they could have, like, a lifeguard station with a boat. You know, it’s such a big lake, and … people pay money to use the lake,” he told CTV News.

No CFD dive team

While the fire department had three of its aquatic rescue teams respond to the drownings in Mahogany, the body recoveries were done by a volunteer dive team.

The fire chief confirmed the CFD’s specialized team has been “paused.”

“Some of our equipment was out of date; we were struggling to keep up with the training for the size of the team. So we’ve done a bit of a review,” said fire chief Steve Dongworth.

That review means the fire department’s dive team will not be operational again in Calgary until next year.

“Dive rescues are relatively rare,” Dongworth said.

Yagazie’s father hopes the petition will at least launch a conversation about better water safety.

He doesn’t want to see any other families deal with the tragedy his has.

“I think this is one of the most painful periods of my life. I can’t sleep, my wife can’t sleep, (Yagazie’s) siblings can’t sleep. We are just asking why. Why? And I think because of the kind of good life he’s lived, we try to console ourselves with that,” he said.