Sudbury's board of public health has endorsed the proposed Ontario Bill 93, known as Joshua's Law (Lifejackets For Life) which would require life jackets for children who are aged 12 and younger. But the Sudbury endorsement is suggesting the law go further and that the life jackets for pleasure boating should be mandatory for everyone.
In Ontario it is mandatory to have life jackets for each person on a boat, but it is not mandatory to wear them, even for children.
The newly proposed law was introduced by Carleton MPP Goldie Ghamari, named in honour of a young boy named Joshua who died without a life jacket five years ago. Ghamari introduced the bill on behalf of the mother who lost her child. The boy was in a boat that capsized on the St. Lawrence River because of high waves in 2018. His body was not found until seven weeks later.
The issue was brought to last week's regular meeting of the Public Health Sudbury and Districts (PHSD) Board of Health.
PHSD board chair René Lapierre presented the motion which was seeking support from health units around Ontario and commented that data shows that not wearing a lifejacket is more common among adults who have died of drowning or a submersion incident while boating.
"Historically, if you look at the fatality rate for fatalities and waterways, there were much more adults that died than children. So our letter of support that we sent to the government just asked that they include all people," said Lapierre.
The most recent letter from the local board made reference to a previous request from PHSD for the same issue.
"The matter of boating safety and drowning prevention is of great interest to the Board of Health for Public Health Sudbury & Districts. On September 22, 2022, we advised your office of the Board’s resolution to request the Government of Ontario to enact legislation requiring all individuals in a pleasure boat to wear a lifejacket or PFD", said the letter sent out this week.
Lapierre noted that every time first responders are called on to rescue boaters who have fallen overboard or to recover the bodies of those who have drowned, it puts them in risky and dangerous situations as well, not to mention the additional mental health stress of the work involved.
Len Gillis covers health related news as well as mining industry news for Sudbury.com.