Pools struggle with lifeguard shortage

Some swimming pool managers in New Brunswick are having difficulty finding enough lifeguards to fill their busy fall schedules with a shortage of certified lifeguards across the province.

At least two aquatic centres in the Moncton area have noted a drop in the number of people signing up for the certification courses required for the job. Gregoire Cormier, who is in charge of staffing the new aquatic centre in Dieppe, said the pool used to offer three courses a year.

"In the past year we could only offer one session. The other two were cancelled because of a lack of participants."

Mickael Doucet, who runs the pool at the St. Patrick's Family Centre in Moncton, said if it he didn't constantly recruit youth out of swimming lessons, he'd be unable to properly staff his facility.

'If we can't have enough staff, then...maybe we'll cut a bit on the programming.' —Mickael Doucet, St. Patrick's Family Centre

"Usually we have to recruit our own staff, so people who have taken courses here before. Ask them if they would be interested to continue taking lifeguarding courses, to be able to work with us," he said.

"And also we've had to have some staff that have had to work split-shifts sometimes to be able to cover all the hours that we need."

Doucet said if the situation doesn't improve, he might have to scale back pool hours.

"Right now we try to offer a full day of scheduled activities to the public, but if we can't have enough staff, then that maybe is the first step we'll do, maybe we'll cut a bit on the programming." 

Officials with Lifesaving Society New Brunswick say they try to actively promote lifeguarding as an attractive job to students, but their most recent statistics show a small drop in the number of people completing certifications in the province.

Two new pools in the southeastern region could be adding to the strain, they said.