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LLI GOLINE/NORMAN WELLS
A new safety installation planned for Jackfish Lake near Norman Wells might help prevent a repeat of a tragic drowning that occurred in the community on Sept. 6.

Lyndsey Blake, acting town manager for Norman Wells, said plans are in place to put a life-jacket tree at the park to make the lifesaving devices available to those going out on the water. Community members would be able to take life-jackets hanging from the life-jacket tree or device, use them while in and around the water, and return them afterwards.

Blake said the tree was scheduled to be placed at the park next spring. The plan was in place before 15-year-old Andy Carpenter Jr. drowned after a canoe he was in flipped. Neither he, nor another boy who was able to swim back to shore, were wearing life-jackets when the incident occurred at approximately 11:30 p.m.

However, it will take more than having life-jackets on site to prevent future deaths, people will actually have to use them. Cathy Menard, the NWT's chief coroner, said drowning is the leading cause of accidental death in the territory, and many of those deaths might have been prevented had people been wearing life-jackets.

According to the coroners office's latest 10-year review, between 2001 and 2010, accidental death was the most common cause of fatalities in the NWT, at 25 per cent of all deaths.

Drowning - 48 cases over the decade-long period - accounted for 22 per cent of accidental deaths. Also, 92 per cent of drowning cases involved males.

"Everybody should be wearing a life-jacket on a boat," Menard said, adding not only were the boys not wearing the critical lifesaving gear, they were also not carrying them with them in the canoe.

Menard added that speculation in the community about whether Carpenter had a history of asthma that could have contributed to the drowning will be difficult to prove because of the number of factors involved, including water temperature.

Menard said the canoe tipped approximately 76 metres from shore - 1.5 times the length of an Olympic-size pool - and Carpenter was reportedly not a strong swimmer.

The canoe Carpenter and his friend were using on the lake was one of a few boats regularly left at the lake.

Dudley Johnson, a resident of the community, said some of the boats at Jackfish are in poor condition.

Although the park is on Crown land, it is cared for by the Town of Norman Wells. However, Blake said the boats there belong to private citizens. Canoes and other watercraft are commonly left at the lake and along the river to offer easy access to the water.

As such, Blake said the town does not have much control over the boats.

"We can't regulate and say you can't bring your boat out there and leave it," he said. "We do ask that kids are supervised and that life-jackets are worn."

Carpenter's body was sent to Edmonton for autopsy. Menard said a final report is expected in four to six months.

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