As Summer McIntosh shines, Canada’s aging public pools face a wave of closures

A lifeguard watches over people swimming at the Vancouver Aquatic Centre, in Vancouver, B.C., Friday, April 24, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Finding the next Summer McIntosh and keeping Canadians safe in the water is getting harder as pool closures spread across the country.

Municipalities and universities strapped for cash, and neglecting upkeep on aging pools, now face hefty renovation or rebuild costs — or closure.

More than half of Canada’s publicly owned indoor pools are at least 25 years old, and less than half of the country’s 25-metre pools are rated in good physical condition, according to a Swimming Canada report released this year.

“The reason why these pools are closing; they’re not serviced. They are not serviced until they break,” said Swim BC president Jeannie Lo.

Outdoor pools take pressure off their indoor counterparts in summer, but space in the water is about to get tight in some parts of the country.

If McIntosh, a recent winner of four world championship gold medals at age 18, inspired youngsters to try competitive swimming, St. James Seals head coach Josh Koldon is worried he won’t be able to accommodate them.

With the Winnipeg club’s St. James Civic Centre pool closed until next year for repairs, and the University of Manitoba’s pool out of commission indefinitely, Koldon’s 85 swimmers will be searching for lanes this winter.

“It’s a big challenge. It definitely puts a hard cap on our numbers because we don’t want to cram everybody in like sardines,” Koldon said. “We still want to offer a high level of instruction and opportunity for kids.”

The Seals shared their pool with Manitoba Bisons junior swimmers after the university’s 60-year-old Joyce Fromson Pool sprang a leak in April.

But the civic centre’s pool closed in June for repairs. The university has just begun exploring options for replacing a pool where Olympians Kelsey Wog and Chantal Van Landeghem once trained.

St. James Civic Centre is one of four city-run indoor pools in Winnipeg currently closed for renovations or repairs, although three are scheduled to reopen this year.

Mary-Sophie Harvey, who took world championship bronze in the 400-metre freestyle behind winner McIntosh, spoke of driving to four different pools in Montreal to train because Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard closed for renovations last year and won’t open again until 2026.

Among other pool reductions in Canada:

• The University of Victoria shuttered its 50-metre McKinnon Pool last year. The 50-year-old facility requires more than $1.5 million in upgrades, according to the university.

• Laurentian University’s pool in Sudbury, Ont. — the only 50-metre pool in the region — has been out of commission since 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by the university’s 2021 insolvency, from which it is still recovering.

• The Vancouver Aquatic Centre’s 50-metre pool will be reduced to 25 metres in an upcoming renovation to the half-century old facility. Vancouver’s Park Board won’t rebuild an Olympic-sized pool at VAC, although the board has committed to constructing a new 50-metre pool elsewhere “in the next ten years.”

The Canadian Dolphin Swim Club, with 350 swimmers, will shift during VAC’s three-year renovation to the Hillcrest Aquatic Centre, which Lo says is already over capacity.

“The math doesn’t make sense to me,” said Lo, who is also the swim club’s president. “The impact to our club is that we potentially have to shrink our program in order to deal with the limited space.”

Vancouver’s park board said in a March report that 8,000 people were on a wait list for fall swim lessons, and that Hillcrest operates at 113 per cent capacity.

“The overarching challenge for swimming across Canada is, how do we identify the next Summer Macintosh when we don’t even have pool space to teach people how to swim, let alone train?” asked Lo.

She says the federal government needs to take the lead on pool investment to bring other levels of government on board.

“I believe this is an issue that needs to be escalated to the federal level in order to prioritize pools and prioritize aquatic sport,” Lo said.

A 50-metre pool is the standard for Olympic, Paralympic and world championship competition. Fewer than 70 publicly owned ones remain in Canada, and 25-metre pools are also in decline, Swimming Canada’s report says.

Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S., shuttered its 58-year-old pool permanently in June.

The indoor pool in Weyburn, Sask., closed last year when structural failures in the basin were discovered in the 35-year-old tank. There is one adjacent outdoor pool for the city of 11,000. The mayor has said the indoor pool is unlikely to open this year.

“Every province is dealing with this on different levels,” said Swimming Canada’s associate director of sport development Jocelyn Jay.

“Saskatchewan’s dealing with small communities that are losing pools. Acadia University in Nova Scotia … it serviced a university and a club team, but it also serviced four local communities.”

There are cities and towns committed to renewing or replacing their aging pools, but large renovations and new construction cause shutdowns that are months and years long because of feasibility studies and bureaucratic hoops that precede the actual work.

Not only are recreational and competitive swimming, diving, water polo and artistic swimming interrupted, but so are swimming lessons and lifeguard training, Jay points out

“What we need to keep in mind is drowning is the second-leading cause of accidental death for children in Canada,” she stated.

“If we’re not paying attention to our facilities and just what’s going on with this facility crisis, it’s a scary thought to see what the long-term implications are there.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 12, 2024.

Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press