BRAMPTON – Peel Regional Police are looking into the death of a man after a canoe overturned at a lake in Brampton.
Spokesperson Tyler Bell mentioned that police got a call on Saturday regarding boaters in trouble at Heart Lake Conservation Area, with both a man and woman in the water.
Bell stated that officers and firefighters reached the scene around 9:30 p. m. and rescued a woman in her 30s from the water.
However, he noted that emergency teams couldn’t locate the man, also in his 30s, prompting an extensive search-and-rescue operation.
According to Bell, police air support units utilized thermal imaging cameras that night to scan both the water’s surface and the lake’s edges from above, but they could not find the man.
An underwater recovery team resumed the search on Sunday and discovered the man’s body shortly after 1 p. m.
Bell explained that since the conservation area is currently closed, no one should have been on the water at that time, leading police to treat this incident as suspicious for safety reasons.
“Some things are just not completely lining up,” he said. “Whether or not there’s any criminality involved, we don’t know at this point.”
As part of precautionary measures during their investigation, Bell indicated that police impounded the woman’s vehicle.
He also pointed out that neither of them was wearing life jackets when it happened and reminded everyone to always have safety gear while out on the water.
Bell mentioned it was lucky some people were at the conservation area having a bonfire at that time-even though they weren’t supposed to be there-otherwise both boaters might not have survived.
The police are waiting for a coroner’s report to clarify how exactly the man died.
This report by The Canadian Press was first April 12, 2026.
Kathryn Mannie, The Canadian Press
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