Linda King says she believes the drowning dying of her son Ryan Davies in a St. Thomas lake indicators a transparent and dire want for motion.
Davies, 26, drowned when a canoe he was in with two different individuals capsized on Lake Margaret. On the time, not one of the passengers had been sporting life-jackets, his mom mentioned.
To stop others from drowning and ensure her son’s spirit lives on, King began a motion that is rapidly gaining traction to introduce a life-jacket loaning program at two outstanding our bodies of water in Elgin County.
“Every time a tragedy struck, [Ryan] would all the time be the primary individual to assist or attempt to assist,” King mentioned. “If I can save one different individual from drowning by sharing Ryan’s story, then it is value it.”
She launched an internet petition on Change.org urging native policymakers to implement a program that permits individuals who go to Port Stanley’s major seashore and Lake Margaret in St. Thomas, to borrow life-jackets freed from cost.
As soon as the petition is full, King plans to take the outcomes to the mayors and councils of each municipalities to push for change.
A newer photograph of Ryan Davies. The 26-year-old drowned on Lake Margaret in St. Thomas in the summertime of 2024 after the canoe he was in with two others capsized. (Linda King)
King mentioned the inspiration struck after she joined the Elgin County Drowning Prevention Coalition within the wake of her son’s dying. Members of the coalition advised her a few life-jacket loaner program that beforehand ran in Port Stanley, she mentioned.
“I mentioned, it will be nice if we will get one thing like this up and working once more, and broaden it,” King mentioned.
She factors to a mannequin in use by the Lifesaving Society, which consists of kiosks that embody details about flotation gadgets and life-jackets guests are free to take, offered they’re returned.
At an estimated price ticket of $4,500 per kiosk, plus upkeep prices, King mentioned she believes it is fairly doable.
King mentioned her household owns a ship and has life-jackets, however the three canoeists, together with Davies, weren’t sporting them the day he died.
“I am definitely not blaming anybody. I do know lots of people exit on Lake Margaret. They do not assume a lot about how deep it’s,” she mentioned. “I feel even simply seeing life-jackets could elevate, ‘Oh, shoot. I higher put on one. It is proper right here.'”
Different Ontario municipalities like Saugeen Shores at the moment have life-jacket loaner applications in place. Related applications are additionally working in 70 of Ontario’s provincial parks.
It is an initiative that King factors out is backed by information. A 2021 report commissioned by Transport Canada discovered that between 2008 to 2017, 89 per cent of drowning fatalities occurred to individuals who weren’t sporting life-jackets.
“I am urging individuals to, in the event that they care about water security, signal the petition. Discuss to their native MP a few loaner program the place they dwell as properly. Wherever individuals dwell, there needs to be life-jackets obtainable,” King mentioned.
On prime of the potential for a life-jacket loaner program to forestall deaths, King mentioned she hopes to see momentum decide up within the type of advocacy for extra signage that explains the dangers related to aquatic sports activities and recreation, and extra direct training that outlines these dangers.
“For instance, even sporting heavy clothes might be harmful. My son was … sporting heavy clothes, and I feel that is a part of the explanation he drowned as properly,” King mentioned. “Individuals all the time say they by no means considered that — that heavy clothes can actually weigh you down.”
Linda King mentioned her son Ryan Davies, pictured right here together with his mom at a younger age, would usually be the primary to supply help within the face of tragedy, which is why she is pushing for a life-jacket mortgage program to assist others. (Linda King)
Because it was posted on Jan. 9, the petition had obtained near 250 signatures as of Monday afternoon, with extra anticipated as consciousness of King’s name to motion will increase.
She mentioned she’s hoping to see the help that poured in for her household following her son’s dying mirrored as help for the motion that is been created in his reminiscence.
King described her son as a form, lighthearted individual, who beloved hockey, lacrosse, looking and fishing. He was roughly one yr away from turning into a journeyman plumber and was all the time the primary to assist to these in want.
“It was standing room solely at Ryan’s celebration of life. We had so many individuals present up. I knew he was favored, however that room was simply crammed with love,” King mentioned.
“He was the perfect son anybody may ask for.”
