IT IS NOT THE LAW IN CANADA FOR CHILDREN TO WEAR A LIFE JACKET OR A PFD IN SMALL VESSELS. 

Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death in young people in Canada.[1] Drowning consistently ranks in the top three causes of those unintentional injuries.[2] Lifejackets and PFDs save children’s lives and prevent injury,  As matter of child public safety, lifejackets/PFDs should be mandatory for children to wear in small vessels.

At Life Jackets for Life, we believe preventable child drownings and injuries in recreational boating deserve the same regulatory response that cycling injuries and deaths have received. Canada’s children deserve no less.

Drowning accounted for 444 deaths per year between 2012 and 2016, a rate of 1.3 per 100,000.[3] When compared with cycling deaths, Statistics Canada reported an average of 74 deaths per year between 2012 and 2017, a rate of 1.3 per million.[4] The statistics further show that the average number of children that drown during powered and non-powered boating activities is comparable with the number of children that die as a result of cycling accidents.[5]

Join us in our effort to change the law and keep our children safe on Canada's waterways. 

Because losing one more child is one too many.

We are not accepting donations for this initiative at this time. Please share on social media.  

Sources: (1) Statistics Canada,Leading causes of death, total population, by age group; URL: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1310039401&pickMembers%5B0%5D=2.21&pickMembers%5B1%5D=3.1&cubeTimeFrame.startYear=2015&cubeTimeFrame.endYear=2019&referencePeriods=20150101%2C20190101; and Children First Canada, Raising Canada 2020: Top 10 Threats to Childhood in Canada and the impact of Covid-19; Unversity of Calgary and the Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute; 2020 at 15.  (2) Yanchar, Natalie L.,Warda, Lynne J., Fuselli, Pamela; Child and youth injury prevention: A public health approach; Canadian Pediatric Society; 2012 reaffirmed January 1, 2020 at Table 1; URL: https://www.cps.ca/documents/position/child-and-youth-injury-prevention  (3) Drowning Prevention Research Centre, Canada, Canadian Drowning Report, prepared for the Lifesaving Society, 2019 edition at p. 2. (4) Statistics Canada, Circumstances Surrounding Cycling Fatalities in Canada 2006-2017, Health Fact Sheets, Release Date, July31st, 2019 at p.3. (5) See Supra, note 3 at p. 10  – approx. 23% of drowning related deaths occurred during powered and non-powered boating; and Supra, note 4 at Chart 2 Data Table.