Kayaker saw high-speed boat before deadly B.C. crash in ‘very problematic area’

First responders are pictured at the scene of a fatal boat crash at North Vancouver's Cates Park on Saturday, June 7.

VANCOUVER — North Vancouver resident John Belisle and his wife frequently kayak in the waters off Cates Park in North Vancouver.

But they’d never seen a boat going as fast as the one that sped by just before a deadly crash on Saturday that killed a 10-year-old and left another child in critical condition.

Read more: Boy killed in North Vancouver boat crash identified online

It happened in what Belisle called a “very problematic area.”

Belisle said he and his wife live not far from the park, and its waters are typically “teeming” with boats, kayakers and paddle boarders on hot days.

“In the evening, everybody is in a rush to get out of there and so we’re very careful when we’re paddling across there because there’s so many boats just booting it up the sound,” Belisle said Monday.

The couple were sitting on some rocks across from Deep Cove on Saturday and saw two boats going very fast side by side, one of them a “long-type cigarette boat” that was moving faster than anything he’d ever seen on the narrow waters off the park.

Belisle said he and his wife were struck by the boat’s speed and closeness to shore. They lost sight of it around a bend before paddling back to the Deep Cove side of Indian Arm.

“By the time we got to the other side, we started hearing sirens and my wife literally looked at me and went, ‘I hope that wasn’t that freaking boat,”’ he said. “Later on that evening on the news, the first shot we saw was it parked at the dock and we just went, ‘oh, it was that boat.’”

North Vancouver RCMP said Sunday that the children were riding an inner tube when it was struck by a speed boat.

Police said alcohol and speed may have played a role in the deadly collision, and the driver of the speed boat was taken into custody after the crash but has not yet been charged.

Boating safety advocates, first responders and anti-drunk driving campaigners said people can fail to understand dangers on the water compared to the road.

The executive director of Boating BC said Monday that some had a false sense of security on the water, and aquatic crashes can happen in an instant if safety isn’t a top priority.

The advocacy association’s Bruce Hayne said deadly boat crashes are infrequent, but are “absolutely horrific when they do occur.”

Hayne said the association does safety campaigns every year as boating season begins around the May long weekend, encouraging safe speeds, life-jacket use and sober operating.

“Something can happen in a blink of an eye, and if you’re not wearing a life-jacket, then it’s not doing you any good,” he said. “The next one — right beside it, in no specific order — is to boat sober, and we drive that message home year after year. Some people continue to ignore that advice.”

He said some boaters mistakenly believe there’s less enforcement of the rules and regulations on the water.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving national president Tanya Hansen Pratt said Monday that she felt “a lot of sadness, a lot of frustration” upon hearing the news of the crash.

“My first thought was, ‘oh no, not again,” she said. “And just an immediate frustration. If alcohol is involved, that makes for a very preventable crash.”

Ambulance Paramedics of B.C. spokesman Ian Tait said calls like those that came in on Saturday can sometimes be both “life changing and career ending” for first responders.

“It’s hard to go on for the rest of your day and not have something like that affect you,” he said.

Tait said the summertime brings more calls about car accidents, boating accidents, campfire burns and other injuries involving the outdoors.

“Unfortunately, a reoccurring theme in a lot of these things is when alcohol isn’t used responsibly,” he said.

Belisle said he gave a statement to police about what he saw on Saturday, and he said multiple other witnesses gave a similar account.

“You could never imagine actually getting hit by a boat,” he said. “We actually went out yesterday and my wife was just like, ‘I think let’s just stick to this side today.’”

This report by Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press, was first published June 9, 2025.