City of Montreal increases age limit for unsupervised youngsters in pools

File Photo: “That’s why we say that below eight years of age, a child should be supervised by an adult,” Hawkins said. (Photo by AnneCN/Flickr, CC BY 2.0)

MONTREAL — The move by Montreal to increase the minimum age for youngsters to be allowed into its public swimming pools without supervision is getting the thumbs-up from the province’s lifesaving society.

Several drownings earlier this year prompted the city to raise the age to eight years old from six when municipal pools opened this summer.

There’s also a height requirement, even if the child is eight.

Raynald Hawkins, director of the Quebec Lifesaving Society, says his organization agrees with the city’s decision, adding it also meets standards that have been adopted in other provinces.

He said the two-year difference in ages is significant.

“We estimate that a lot of kids who are eight-year-olds are generally taller, have more skills to swim than a six-year-old and can still be on their feet in the shallow end of a pool. . .but there are exceptions,” Hawkins said in an interview Monday.

“We’ve come to the conclusion that at eight years of age, one child out of two would also know what to do if they fell into the deep end.”

He stressed that the depth of each pool and the child’s ability to swim has to be taken into consideration — especially if they are six years old.

“That’s why we say that below eight years of age, a child should be supervised by an adult,” Hawkins said.

He compared it to a situation where a six-year-old would not be allowed to play on the streets without adult supervision.

Hawkins said 13 per cent of drownings in Quebec occur in private pools like those in backyards, apartment buildings and hotels and that less than one per cent happen in supervised public pools.

He said more and more supervised pools everywhere are doing likewise. In other words, checking the height of the children and their ability to swim.

“But the best person to keep an eye on their children is always the parents,” Hawkins added.

Montreal consulted with its boroughs and other Quebec towns before council adopted the new regulation.

The decision was made for safety reasons and, according to the city, “so that all swimmers can swim under the best possible conditions.”

But Hawkins said he wasn’t aware of any public consultations being held before Montreal adopted the change.