Drownings and other water-related injuries in Canada, 10 years of research : Boating & powerboats

May the evidence of the circumstances of their deaths be a guide to safety for the Canadians who use powerboats or personal watercraft for recreation, daily life, or work, and for professionals and decision makers with a duty to protect the vulnerable. [...] In the optimistic belief that knowledge of the circumstances of water-related deaths offers a source of longevity for all who use the waters of our vast land, this report on the circumstances of death for nearly 2000 Canadian boaters is dedicated to their memory, and offered as an instrument of survival for future boaters, operators and passengers, since each one of us carries at least partial res [...] Due to the fact that much of the work was done on a voluntary basis, the total costs of collecting, analyzing, and reporting on incidence and risk factors of 5,900 drowning deaths, including the deaths described in this report, was accomplished for the modest amount of about $C2 million, and has already resulted in averting hundreds of deaths, with about $C500 million savings in direct and human c [...] As denominators for incidence and trends for 1991-1995 we used 1991 census data, for 1996-2000, the 1996 census population, and for 1991-2000 the mean of the 1991 and 1996 census populations. [...] RATES AND TRENDS BY REGION AND PURPOSE The highest rates of recreational and daily living drowning during powered boating occurred in the northern territories, followed by British Columbia and the Atlantic region.