Men accounted for 77% of drowning deaths in B.C. last year, coroner says

Of the nearly 100 drowning deaths in B.C. last year, 77 per cent were men, according to a report from the B.C. Coroners Service. 

This information comes just a few weeks after the drowning death of 27-year-old international student Jatin Garg in Kamloops, B.C., who died after he went into the Thompson River to retrieve a volleyball in early July. 

Only a few weeks prior to Garg's death, a 29-year-old Burnaby man drowned in Cabin Lake, in Cypress Provincial Park. According to police, he had been swimming across the lake with his fiancée when suddenly he started to struggle. 

"This is something that is preventable, and that makes it even more tragic," said Lenea Grace, the Lifesaving Society's executive director for B.C. and Yukon. 

Grace said 2024 was not unusual, as men often make up the majority of drowning deaths each year in B.C. 

"Men tend to engage in riskier behaviours, overestimate their physical abilities, and we also see trends in males not wearing PFDs (personal flotation devices) while boating and fishing as well," she said.  

"There could be some, you know, issues about wanting to be cool or, you know, thinking they don't need it because they know how to swim. And the reality is that when people are boating, everyone needs a life jacket, no matter what your age or ability or gender is."

This week is National Drowning Prevention Week — an annual reminder about water safety — prompting the Lifesaving Society, B.C. Emergency Health Services and the B.C. Coroners Service to share statistics on drowning deaths in an effort to educate British Columbians about preventing deaths in, on and around water. 

The report shows there were 98 drowning deaths in B.C. in 2024, more than half of which occurred from June to September. 

Thirty-three of those deaths happened in the Interior Health region. Grace said that's largely due to Okanagan Lake, where 28 drowning deaths have been recorded in the past decade. 

Of the many bodies of water across B.C., the Fraser River and Okanagan Lake have been the most deadly in terms of drownings over the past 10 years. 

Grace said that's largely due to people not wearing lifejackets and using substances while on the water. 

Twenty-two of the drowning deaths in 2024 happened when someone fell into the water, followed by 18 where the individual was swimming and 14 deaths that happened in the bathtub. 

"We really want to encourage parents to actively supervise their children and watch their kids, not your phone, when your kids are in the bathtub," Grace said. 

Not included in the coroner's report is how many newcomers to Canada die as a result of drowning, but Grace said they are four times more likely to be unable to swim compared to people born in Canada. 

"It's really important that new Canadians receive this kind of crucial water safety education," Grace said. "We really want to encourage families to enroll their children and themselves. Adult lessons are available ... or, at the very minimum, swim to survive, which is the Canadian minimum standard for surviving a fall into water.

She is urging everyone in B.C., whether a newcomer or not, to take swimming lessons if they haven't already.