(City of Prince Albert)

By Nigel Maxwell

Swimming

Red Cross ends 70 year relationship with swim and lifeguard programming

Jan 12, 2022 | 3:27 PM

For anyone that grew up collecting multi-coloured swimming badges, an announcement Wednesday by the Canadian Red Cross may come as a surprise.

The charitable organization has announced plans to wind down its swim and lifeguard programming, in order to direct more attention to surging humanitarian demands in other areas – such as disaster and pandemic response, opioid harm reduction and caregiving for seniors.

The announcement represents the end to an era that began in 1946 – when drowning rates in Canada were considerably higher than those we see today. Since then, Red Cross has provided swim training and lifesaving skills to more than 40 million Canadians.

In a statement provided by Canadian Red Cross CEO Conrad Sauvé, he explained the decision was driven by regular assessments the organization conducts of all its services that consider evolving humanitarian needs, the evolution of the marketplace, and alignment with its strategic direction.

“We are enormously proud of what we have accomplished in providing water safety training and we are truly grateful to entire generations of staff and volunteers who dedicated themselves to creating a program of the highest standard,” he said. “We continue to believe in the importance of water safety training, but no longer saw that we offered unique expertise in that area. We also believe the relative humanitarian need for water safety training has been surpassed by demands in other areas in which we are well positioned to make a difference.”

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A young child receives some help from her instructor. (Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

Moving forward, the Red Cross is encouraging its water safety training partners to transition to the swim and lifeguarding programs of the Lifesaving Society Canada (LSS) through the course of this year. The exception will be in First Nations communities where the training will continue as part of the Red Cross Indigenous Peoples Framework.

“The Lifesaving Society is a respected, accomplished organization that has long shared our passion to reduce drownings and aquatic-related injuries. We have every confidence that the water safety training needs of Canadians will continue to be well-served in their care,” Sauvé said.

The agreement will see Red Cross support its current training partners in making the transition to offering Lifesaving Society programming for swimming and lifeguarding. Red Cross will also continue to support their training partners with expanding community and first aid programming, including opioid harm reduction and psychological first aid.

For the Lifesaving Society, the arrangement is expected to double participation in their swimming, lifesaving, lifeguard, and leadership training programs that already see over a million participants each year. Lifesaving Society CEO Bobby White said the arrangement with Red Cross is indicative of the commitment of both charitable organizations to service rather than profit.

“Humanitarian values drive both organizations,” White said. “Collaboration isn’t difficult when the interest of all is to simply keep Canadians safe.”

White went on to say the Lifesaving Society appreciates the confidence in it expressed by Red Cross. He pointed to the Lifesaving Society’s experience of more than 100 years delivering nationally-recognized learn-to-swim, lifeguard and leadership training. He also noted that steps are being taken to ease the transition of current and aspiring Red Cross instructors, instructor trainers and lifeguards to the Lifesaving Society.

“We hope one benefit of a single national water safety training entity will be an easier entry for young Canadians to seize the great leadership and development opportunity in becoming an aquatic instructor, trainer or lifeguard,” he said.

Local impact

Lauren Haubrich, Prince Albert’s aquatics recreation programmer, said the local impact will not be noticeable given that they were already running the LSS lesson program.

Sport and Recreation Manager Curtis Olsen added the bigger impact will be for those communities who maybe have not transitioned over fully or at all.

“They’ll have to switch all their programming over for lessons and getting their staff transferred so that’ll be the big one,” he said.

The Emma and Christopher lakes Association have confirmed they will be offering swimming lessons through the Lifesaving Society starting this summer.

Shannon Marshall, Aquatics Manager for the City of Melfort, explained they are in a similar situation as Prince Albert, and she is personally very excited to see the whole country now running the same programming. She referenced a partnership with Tisdale, where they have in the past taught Red Cross.

“Their objectives are the same but how they are taught is a little bit different so we could never say hey Tisdale do you have an extra instructor, we need one in Melfort or vice-versa, and now we’ll be able to do that,” she said.

While Marshall acknowledged Wednesday’s announcement represents a big transition for the LSS, she added they have in the past been both solid and sound in their programs, policy and procedures. Marshall also noted the CEO of the Saskatchewan branch of LSS was Shelby Rushton, a former manager of the Melfort pool.

“And they’ve always been excellent with our pool training programs; especially with COVID they were the first on board with polices and procedures and how to operate safely,” she said.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell