Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Hay River Territorial Park beach is a great draw for both residents and tourists, and I am pleased to see the strides that ITI is making to increase its level of safety. I would like to share some of these safety developments with you today.
A number of safety recommendations were made by the Lifesaving Society of Alberta and the Northwest Territories in the safety audit that it conducted for ITI in July of 2013. ITI will be implementing all of the water safety recommendations at both Hay River and the Fred Henne beaches this summer. Permanent lifejacket loaner stations will be in place this summer. These stations will be available at both beaches for swimmers who are not equipped with a personal floatation device. ITI has also developed new signage with simple messaging to promote public awareness and education. Signage includes information regarding beach rules, a map of the beach, safety equipment and facility locations, as well as hazard identification and emergency contact information. An emergency phone will be installed this summer season as well as beach safety equipment such as throw bags and ring floats. The swim area will be identified with markers this summer, something that hasn’t been in place for many years.
While not a recommendation of the audits, ITI is also ensuring that there will be supervision at both beaches this summer. Trained beach attendants will be on the beaches starting mid-June and remain there until Labour Day weekend. There will be two beach attendants in Hay River Territorial Park beach on duty seven days a week. These attendants will be trained in water rescue in up to 1.2 metres, aquatic emergency assistance, First Aid and CPR. The Lifesaving Society will provide training and is developing guidelines and procedures. Beach attendants will educate beach goers on safety behaviour on the beach as well as monitor the designated swimming area to ensure that children aged seven and younger are within the arm’s reach of a guardian 16 years of age or older.
ITI is working in conjunction with the GNWT Drowning Prevention Group to promote public education throughout the NWT related to water safety. These initiatives, led by the Department of Health and Social Services, are not specific to territorial parks, but rather, broader-based water safety. They include public education, building community capacity, social marketing and community-based research. As an example, during Water Safety Week there will be a news release promoting water safety awareness.
We are dedicated, as a government, to creating sustainable, vibrant, safe communities, which is the goal of the 17th Legislative Assembly, and the steps we are taking now will help us reach that goal.
I would like to seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
I have made reference to the Fred Henne Park, and I have made reference to the Hay River beach, and as we know, most NWT communities are located on a river or a lake. I would like to also encourage the government to further expand this initiative to promote water safety to these communities, because summer is finally here and you can be sure that kids are going to be jumping in the rivers and lakes on those hot summer days. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
