Wading into a cool lake on a hot summer day, stretching your arms out in front of you and diving in, then coming up for air and gliding through the open water. It’s always a transforming experience. A new element. A new world. The mind freed by the meditative rhythm of each stroke, each breath.
Or staring up at the clouds, daydreaming as you do the backstroke in an outdoor pool, hands raising as if to ask a question before sweeping down and through the water. Or cruising across the water’s surface with the playful, frog-like kicking of the breaststroke. Or simply diving deep as far as you can, turning this way and that like an adventurous deep sea explorer or mythic mermaid. Returning to the surface out of breath but renewed.
No matter the stroke, no matter if you are in a pool, lake or ocean, the fundamental experience is always the same: delighting in what the neuroscientist and writer Oliver Sacks once described as the “essential rightness” of swimming. His father, when Mr. Sacks was a boy, called it “the elixir of life.”
It is a pleasure every Canadian should be able to enjoy. Along with our long winters and vast prairies, we are also a nation of oceans, lakes and rivers. Many of us are drawn to the allure of water.
Some of us have even proven to be exceptional competitive swimmers. Witness Canada’s 20 swimming medals at the past three Olympic Games, led by Summer McIntosh’s remarkable three golds and one silver in Paris this year.
Few strive to swim as well and fast as Ms. McIntosh. But having access to the activity that has made her famous – including clean water and accessible beaches, public pools and, most importantly, swimming instruction – shouldn’t be.
More than 400 Canadians die each year from drowning, with the majority of those deaths occurring between May and September, according to the Canadian Drowning Prevention Coalition. Being able to confidently swim wouldn’t have prevented all such deaths but it would likely mean fewer fatalities.
As the YMCA, a major provider of swim instruction, likes to remind people, knowing how to swim can save your life. And yet we don’t prioritize making sure Canadians get the lessons they need, at least not in a formal way.
The Lifesaving Society, a charitable organization that works to prevent drowning and water-related injury, estimates that half of Canadian children never take traditional swimming lessons. No province or territory makes swimming instruction mandatory in school as part of physical education.
For many Canadians who know how to swim, the challenge is finding somewhere to do it.
In large cities defined by water, such as Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, there are some beautiful beaches. But too much of their waterfronts remain inaccessible, whether because of physical barriers or, for anyone daring enough to jump in, varying and too-often poor water quality.
Political leaders of these cities all champion their waterfronts, seeing them as vital to a flourishing civic life. They are places for Ferris wheels, spas and bicycling, among other activities.
But when it comes to actually providing the opportunity to swim, our leaders have much work to do. More beaches and better water quality are needed.
To its credit, Vancouver is updating its sewer system to prevent untreated sewage from spilling into local bodies of water. The city’s goal is to eliminate sewage overflows by 2050.
In the meantime, those who love to swim can head to outdoor public pools to enjoy the twilight days of summer.
The hot and humid cities of the east have the most offerings. Toronto has 58 outdoor public pools. Montreal leads all Canadian cities, with 63. In Vancouver, there are only four outdoor pools and for much of this summer one of them, the beautiful Kitsilano Pool with its unusual 137-metre length, was closed because it had been allowed to fall into disrepair.
Swimming is physical. It can also feel metaphysical. In 2020, the journalist Bonnie Tsui published Why We Swim. “For many swimmers, the act of swimming is a tonic, in that old-fashioned sense of the word: it is a restorative, a stimulant, undertaken for a feeling of vigor and well-being.”
As we near the end of summer, it is worth reminding ourselves that swimming isn’t just about how we move through the water but also how we move through this life.