NEW After hearing thousands of last words, this hospital chaplain has advice for the living
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
With the summer swimming season fast approaching, the Canada Safety Council is reminding people to be careful and take measures to prevent drowning, especially after three children died just days apart.
“We never like to see these kinds of situations. Tragedies occur far too often,” Lewis Smith, manager of national projects at the Canada Safety Council, told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview.
In the past week alone, two children drowned in backyard pools in Ontario — a three-year-old girl in Ajax and a three-year-old boy in Oakville.
And in the early hours of Monday morning, the RCMP said the body of a 12-year-old boy from Winnipeg who fell into the water at Sturgeon Falls in the Whiteshell Provincial Park on Saturday was located and recovered.
Smith said the recent tragedies are part of a larger trend.
According to the Lifesaving Society’s 2020 Drowning Report, nine per cent of all unintended water fatalities in Canada happen in backyard pools and roughly one-third happen in lakes or ponds. Most drownings occur from May to September, the report notes.
“It's a serious issue and it's something that is certainly worth addressing as the summer months get closer and closer, because that is where we see most drownings in Canada occur,” Smith said.
Parents who have young children should actively supervise their children to prevent drowning incidents, Smith said, adding that no child under the age of five — at the bare minimum — should be in a body of water without “strong, active” parental supervision.
“Parents need to keep an eye on their children when they're around water at all times, ideally within an arm's length, because drowning can occur very quickly, very suddenly, very unexpectedly,” he said.
Making sure that children do not have easy access to water is equally important for preventing accidents, Smith said. For example, he recommended making sure that bodies of water, including backyard pools, are fenced off to prevent children from sneaking in unattended or from slipping and falling into them.
When it comes to moving bodies of water like lakes, rivers and rapids, Smith said it’s important to ensure that you’re keeping a safe distance so that you don’t get swept in unintentionally.
“It's always a good idea to be aware of your surroundings and to give any body of water a healthy amount of distance unless you’re intending to be in it,” he said.
Learning to swim properly — not just knowing how to paddle — can also help prevent drowning.
Having someone around when you’re swimming — even if you’re an experienced swimmer — is another preventative measure, Smith said, noting that a large number of unintentional water fatalities happen when a person is alone.
“Having someone with you can help mitigate the damage, can help make sure that if someone is struggling, they can be supported and can just ensure that if anything sudden and unexpected is happening, they’ll be right there to help,” he said.
Smith also stressed the importance of wearing life jackets when you’re on a boat.
“Life jackets really do need to be worn — even if you're not intending to go into the water. If you do get thrown overboard, it'll be too late at that point to find a life jacket,” he said.
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
More money will land in the pockets of some Canadian families on Friday for the latest Canada Child Benefit installment.
An apparent Israeli drone attack on Iran saw troops fire air defences at a major air base and a nuclear site early Friday morning near the central city of Isfahan, an assault coming in retaliation for Tehran's unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on the country.
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
Canadian banks that refuse to identify the carbon rebate by name when doing direct deposits are forcing the government to change the law to make them do it, says Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.
A woman who recently moved to Canada from India was searching for a job when she got caught in an online job scam and lost $15,000.
Prince Harry, the son of King Charles III and fifth in line to the British throne, has formally confirmed he is now a U.S. resident.
Colin Jost, who co-anchors Saturday Night Live's 'Weekend Update,' revealed who he thinks is one of the best hosts on the show.
Nearly half of China's major cities are suffering 'moderate to severe' levels of subsidence, putting millions at risk of flooding especially as sea levels rise.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a grade four student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.
When Les Robertson was walking home from the gym in North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood three weeks ago, he did a double take. Standing near a burrow it had dug in a vacant lot near East 1st Street and St. Georges Avenue was a yellow-bellied marmot.
A moulting seal who was relocated after drawing daily crowds of onlookers in Greater Victoria has made a surprise return, after what officials described as an 'astonishing' six-day journey.
Just steps from Parliament Hill is a barber shop that for the last 100 years has catered to everyone from prime ministers to tourists.
A high score on a Foo Fighters pinball machine has Edmonton player Dave Formenti on a high.
A compound used to treat sour gas that's been linked to fertility issues in cattle has been found throughout groundwater in the Prairies, according to a new study.
While many people choose to keep their medical appointments private, four longtime friends decided to undergo vasectomies as a group in B.C.'s Lower Mainland.