Lifeguard not on duty: Popular Mactaquac beach won't be supervised this summer
Lifesaving society says lack of lifeguards will make beach west of Fredericton less safe
Mactaquac Provincial Park's beach will go unsupervised because it's been hard to recruit lifeguards, sparking concerns from the New Brunswick Lifesaving Society about safety at the beach located about 25 kilometres west of Fredericton.
"Less than one per cent of the drownings that happen in the Maritimes happen in a supervised area, which is a very low number," said Gregoire Cormier, program manager at the society.
"Now, unfortunately, this beach is no longer fitting that supervised criteria to make it safe."
A
beloved summer swimming hole near Fredericton, the beach at Mactaquac
Provincial Park has had lifeguards on duty every summer for decades
until this year. (Aidan Cox/CBC)
Department of Tourism spokesperson Leigh Watson confirmed to CBC News that the beach won't be supervised this summer because of "a lack of qualified candidates."
"The department worked with the Lifesaving Society to try to fill these lifeguard positions," Watson said in an email.
"Signage posted at the beach advises visitors that they swim at their own risk."
CBC News asked for an interview with Tourism Minister Tammy Scott-Wallace on Friday, but Watson said she was unavailable.
Watson said Parlee Beach and the pool at République Provincial Park in Edmundston will have lifeguards this year.
Challenges with recruiting lifeguards have been felt across the country since last summer, forcing municipalities to scale back the operating hours at swimming pools and limit the number of lessons offered.
At Kelly's Beach in Kouchibouguac National Park, recruitment challenges led to there being no lifeguards on duty last summer, said Timothy Murphy, a spokesperson for the park in northeastern New Brunswick.
He said ongoing staffing constraints this year see lifeguards on duty only from Thursday to Monday.
Recruitment strategy needed, group says
Staff at the Lifesaving Society of New Brunswick found out just this week that Mactaquac's beach would go unsupervised this year, Cormier said.
"Obviously, it came [as] a shock to us because again, it's many decades that this, a public beach is is guarded and then suddenly it is not for the first time," he said.
Gregoire
Cormier, program manager at the Lifesaving Society of New Brunswick,
said employers, including the provincial government, need to come up
with a recruitment strategy to ensure it has lifeguards to staff its
beaches and pools. (Zoom/CBC)
Cormier said the shortage of lifeguards can be blamed both on effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and on wages that have lagged behind the rising cost of living.
He said public health restrictions limited the ability to train new lifeguards, particularly in the first two years of the pandemic.
At the same time, many employers in New Brunswick only offer minimum wage of $14.75 an hour, or wages a few dollars higher.
Parks New Brunswick's website advertises lifeguard wages starting at $14.75, and going up to $18.50 an hour.
With Mactaquac a 30-minute drive west of Fredericton, in combination with the higher price of gas, Cormier said, many qualified lifeguards are likely opting to work closer to the city.
"If the salaries increase, that would help a lot and probably, I guess, as a one-solution fit-all, that would probably be it," he said.
"But there's also a recruitment strategy that needs to be in place. [Gone] are the days that we just post a job and then people come to you and say 'Yeah, I want that job.' You need to go in the field and actually recruit people."
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