Yellowknife (July 14/06) -Yellowknife families want lifeguards to start patrolling the waters at Long Lake.

"It gets really packed down here, especially when there is a volleyball tournament," says Rachel Merilees of the beach at Fred Henne Park.

"You can't see anyone unless they are wearing a brightly coloured bathing suit. I think when it's busy like that, lifeguards are definitely needed."

Merilees, 19, comes down with her younger siblings who are seven and 12. She says that it just wouldn't be safe not to have a parent or an older sibling with them.

Even with parents in attendance, the extra support and safety of a lifeguard on duty would be excellent, says one parent.

"I think that parents should be responsible for their own children," Lisa Wik says. "But having a lifeguard around in case something happens would be nice."

Others say that they want to be around to watch their children as they are younger - but when the kids get older they'd want to send them on their own.

"Right now I want to take him with me," Lea LeClerc says of her child.

"If he was a little older, I would be hesitant to send him here without a lifeguard.

"I think it would be a good idea to have lifeguards."

While Long Lake is considered a territorial park, the government says it is not responsible for hiring lifeguards.

"Historically, the territory has provided the funding and (the city) provides the lifeguards," says Drew Williams, manager of communications for the department of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

The territory does not directly hire lifeguards at any of its parks, he says.

He says an agreement with Yellowknife used to provide lifeguards at Long Lake, before the city stopped hiring them about three years ago.

Mayor Gordon Van Tighem says it is an issue of finding qualified people for the job.

Tighem says that a few years ago when they couldn't find lifeguards, the Territories terminated the contract with the city for funding.

He blames the economy for not being able to find lifeguards.

"Young people have significant options for employment," Van Tighem says.

"They can make more working in construction, in the mines or at government jobs than they can at lifeguarding in the summers."

The need for lifeguards was emphasized during the summer of 2003.

Three young children were pulled to safety by two 11-year-old Yellowknife girls.

It was the first year without lifeguards and the three children had swam to the edge of the buoys where there was a drop off to deeper waters of the lake.

Ruth Inch Pool recruits and trains lifeguards for its own pool programs and is always fully staffed.

The pool has successfully recruited lifeguards from all over Canada to supplement lifeguards who already live in Yellowknife.