Canadian towns and cities try creative ways to recruit lifeguards amid shortage
CTV
Staff running pools across Canada are trying to entice people to work as lifeguards amid a shortage, the Lifesaving Society says
Staff running pools across Canada are trying to entice people to work as lifeguards amid a shortage, the Lifesaving Society says.
Pool and beach staffing can be somewhat challenging at the best of times, since the job often appeals to high school students between 16 to 18 who then leave to go away for post-secondary education, said Stephanie Bakalar, spokesperson for the Lifesaving Society Ontario.
But COVID-19 made things worse.
"You have those couple of years where hardly anyone got certified because the pools (were) open a little bit here and there, but not consistently enough to be able to really plan and run all these (training) programs," Bakalar said.
"It's not like we could just put everyone on Zoom and say, 'Oh, you could be a lifeguard,"' she said.
"You need to be physically in the water."
On Friday, the Ontario government lowered the minimum age requirement for lifeguards from 16 to 15 years old in a move aimed at addressing the staffing shortage.
