Nearly two years after a young man drowned in Lake Margaret, the City of St. Thomas is installing lifesaving stations. Approved by city council, there will be nine spots with safety equipment on waterways in response to the tragic death of Ryan Davies on Labour Day in 2024. “They lift up at the bottom in a weather safe container, and we have this ring buoy that allows people to throw and then we have also the reaching pull that really allows to reach to people,” said Briar McCaw of the Elgin County Drowning Prevention Coalition (ECDPC). “We called it the Ryan Davies Project. It was around February 2025, where we first put in that initial report saying there needs to be some change in action happening.” Davies, 26, was not wearing a life jacket when his canoe tipped in Lake Margaret. “There isn’t a day that goes by that we don’t have a little cry missing Ryan,” said Linda King, Davies’ mom. “But we’re meeting some really great people and making change happen. That is what Ryan would want.” Just months after Davies’ death, his mother immediately started calling for change. She convinced Central Elgin to create a life jacket loaner program and now St. Thomas is on board. “Hopefully with everybody here, there will be more awareness that life jackets are important and they definitely save lives.” The city has installed nine stations. Four of them at Lake Margaret, one at Lake Pinafore, and four more around Waterworks Park. “This is one of the actual few times where we went against administration’s recommendation and as a county council voted for moving forward with this project,” said Gary Clarke, a St. Thomas city councillor. “We’re taking a tragedy and trying to look for a solution and make the community safer. It’s been a long process, but one that’s really been important.” McCaw credits council for taking steps to make residents safer. “We’re really, really proud to be a part of a city that really values water safety and moving that forward,” said McCaw. “They not only installed lifesaving stations around the pond, they also implemented a bylaw that that enforces mandatory wear of life jackets on any of the city parks waterways. That was really exciting to move that forward and really encourage safe boating, lifejacket wear, and really, just water safety in general.”
