Open Door Society changes hotel pool protocols after refugee, 13, nearly drowns in Saskatoon

The near drowning of a 13-year-old Syrian refugeein a hotel pool in Saskatoon is raising concerns about language barriers and spurring calls for swimming lessons for new Canadians.

Shelby Rushton, the CEO of the Saskatchewan branch ofthe Lifesaving Society, wasspeakingwith CBC Saskatchewan's Morning Edition on Tuesday, a day after the pool incident.

Few details have been released about what happened. It's not known whether or not the child could swim, or if there were other problems.

However, the issue of newcomers and water safetyis well-known, according toRushton.

"Swimming lessons are key for our new Canadians, as well as public education," she said.

In cases where language is a barrier,pictograms can beimportant in preventing accidents like this because they can be universally understood, she said.

• Syrian refugee, 13, recovering after near drowning incident in Saskatoon
• Drowning of Saskatoon man accidental, coroner says

According to Rushton, pool safety is something that is unfamiliar to many newcomers.

"The Lifesaving society did some research a couple years ago and we found that newCanadianswho have been living in Canada for less than five years are going to be at greater risk for drowning than those of us that were already born here," said Rushton.

New Canadiansare often four times more likely to be not able to swim, and much of that is attributed to not having access to swimming lessons in their native country.

For the Lifesaving Society, the solution exists in bridging that gap and creating swim safety programs for new immigrants.

The organization has been offering pool safety lessons on dry land for several years. It has also beenworking with the Regina Open Door society and itstranslators, Rushton said.

"One of the things we can do now is reach out to the hotel pools and to the hotels. Unfortunately it's going to take an incident like this to make us step up and be more aware and have a call for action," she said.

Meanwhile, the boy who was transported to theRoyal University Hospital in serious condition is doing well, the Open Door Society says.

Open Door Society changes safety protocols

After the near drowning of the young refugee, the Open Door Society has changed its protocols around children staying in hotels.

"We added some extra measures in the way that we address safety at the hotel and that is not to allow any children under 18 to use the swimming pool and the gym, that's for their own safety," executive director Ali Abukar said.

Previously, children were allowed in the pool and the gym as long as therewas supervision from an adult.