A number of lakes around the province will be equipped with free to borrow life jackets this summer, including a couple here in the Peace Region.
Both Moonshine Lake near Spirit River and Young’s Point on the north end of Sturgeon lake will have a life jacket loaner station.
Shaun Percival with the Lifesaving Society of Alberta and the Northwest Territories says the program has two functions.
“The first function is that it provides users of the provincial park or the waterfront area the opportunity to borrow life jackets free of charge. It also provides people with education around being water smart while in, on, and around the water.”
The program operates on an honour system, relying on those who use the jackets to return them.
Percival says they have actually seen a great return rate in previous summers.
“People in the community, they buy into it, they get it. They see the value. We’ve had instances where people have brought jackets back at the end of the summer because they forgot they had them. We’ve even had people buy life jackets for the program because they lost the jacket they were using.”
This is the fourth summer for the program to be implemented in Alberta parks.
Photo supplied by Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation