The first year of Edmonton’s new life-jacket/PFD requirement

In May of 2025, s.61 of Edmonton’s new Public Spaces Bylaw began mandating all adult boaters within the city boundaries wear a life jacket or a personal floatation device (PFD). 

For the purposes of this requirement, anything that floats is a “boat” (with two listed exceptions) and the bylaw addresses paddling on the North Saskatchewan River (NSR) as well as the various creeks and ponds within the city limits. 

Requiring recreational boaters to wear a life-jacket/PFD is a more stringent requirement than those in the Canada Small Vessel Regulations (s.209) of simply having a PFD on board. 

Calgary adopted a similar requirement in 1974(!). The rationale for Edmonton’s change is to increase boater safety. The basic argument is that, like seat belts, life-jackets/PFDs only work if you wear them because there is not usually adequate time to locate, put on, and fasten one when it is needed, particularly in cold water. 

I spent a couple of hours reading academic papers on life-jacket/PFD use and efficacy. Research on the efficacy of PFD/life-jacket use by paddlers in conditions similar to those present in Alberta is uneven. This mostly reflects the design of studies which (1) often combine, to some degree, data on motorized and non-motorized boating, and (2) examine boating in multiple and/or non-analogous locations (e.g., oceans, warmer climates). This publicly available meta-analysis offers a good starting point if you are curious. 

 Those caveats aside, there does seem to be good evidence that:

• When there is an incident (e.g., a boat capsizes), the risk of drowning tends to higher for users of kayaks and canoes than for users of larger and motorized boats.
• Wearing a life-jacket/pfd is associated with a significantly reduced risk of death by drowning. 
• Life-jacket/pfd use among paddlers is higher than among motorized boaters but is still uneven.
• Mandatory-wear requirements increase wear rates.

I thought it might be useful to examine what happened during the first year of Edmonton’s bylaw change. The city’s park rangers were kind enough to share some of their stats (they are the primary enforcers of the bylaw). These stats provide only a partial picture because three separate agencies patrol and/or respond to events primarily, but not exclusively, on the NSR. The Edmonton Police Service patrols, mostly enforcing provincial statutes around alcohol and cannabis use. The Edmonton Fire Department provides search and rescue services.

A couple of things stand out to me in these stats.

• Upward trend in paddling: The number of citizen contacts has trended upwards. While this number is not necessarily a proxy for rising numbers of boaters (since it could reflect changes in the number of patrols conducted and/or record keeping), it is consistent with my observation that the number of paddlers on the NSR had risen dramatically in the past five years.
• Non-compliance: Of the 3460 warnings given by the park ranger maritime program in 2025, 1464 included a violation of the PFD/life jacket requirement (this data was provided to me separately). This means of the 10,842 total contacts, about 13.5% of boaters were non-compliant.
• Enforcement through education: As is typical when new rules are introduced, the park rangers appear to have focused on educating and warning boaters about non-compliance. Presumably, there will be more stringent enforcement of the PFD/life jacket requirement going forward. The Public Spaces Bylaw provides for fines of $250 for first-time violators.

Whitney Lake and Chicken Hill Lake

In late August, we had the chance to paddle and swim at Whitney Lake, in the Whitney Lakes Provincial Park, and then scouted out Chicken Hill Lake, just NE of St. Paul.

Whitney Lake

Whitney Lake is a circle-shaped lake, about 1.5km in diameter. The best access is through the day-use area at the Whitney Lake Campground. The signage coming from the west is pretty good. The signage coming from the east is less helpful and the entry-way is just a nondescript gate that is easy to overshoot. Once inside the park, follow the signs along the winding road to the boat launch.

There is a boat launch where you can drop beside the water and park. It has a concrete ramp (that could use some repair) and a dock as well as room on the side for a beach launch. The nicer access, though, is off the main beach.

This requires a carry of about 50 meters to the water. There are pit toilets, a playground, a marked swimming area, picnic tables, and a picnic shelter here. Overall, this park could use both some renovations and a larger cleaning budget. The beach had a noticeable amount of garbage on it (old inflatables, shoes, cans--really unusual for a provincial park). Camping at Ross Lake would be the better option.

The water was super clean and the swimming area had a nice sandy bottom. We went left (west) off the beach and follow the shoreline around. It took us about an hour and we travelled about 4km. It was 34C that day and we were bushed by the end.

Despite being the slow season, the bird watching was good with an osprey, four cranes, and 40 pelicans passing overhead.

I wouldn't say this was the most interesting paddle in the world, but no complaints. After we got back, my wife took a swim and said the water was lovely.

Chicken Hill Lake

In scoping out this trip, one of the possible back-up lakes I noticed was Chicken Hill Lake, just NE of St Paul. The lake runs NW-SE and is about 5km long and maybe 400m wide. We drove out in the evening to have a look around. There is a small campground in the north end with a boat launch.

The lake has dropped appreciably since the launch was installed and the cement blocks are now located well inland of the lake edge. I am standing on the end of the cement launch in the photo below. Beyond that, it is just sand to the water.

There is a floating dock and there were people out on the water the evening we were there.

The water quality looked pretty low to me so we decided to take a pass. This might just be an August thing?

Given the number of lakes in the region, I probably wouldn't bother to go back here.

Ross Lake and Laurier Lake, Whitney Lakes Provincial Park

In late August, we visited Whitney Lakes Provincial Park. We had the chance to paddle Ross Lake and scout Laurier Lake.

Ross Lake

Ross Lake is one of the four lakes in the park and a lovely paddle.

There are a couple of places you can put in. We decided to use the boat launch on the western shore. There was a nice cement ramp and a dock, pit toilets, and parking nearby. There was also a loaner life jacket station here.

The water was super clean and try was a snap.

The water level is higher than it once was and there is a fringe of dead trees around the lake shore that makes getting out tricky. We went left (north) off the launch and paddled the perimeter of the lake.

This is pretty representative of the shoreline. It was crazy calm the morning we were there and there were a few other paddlers out but no motorized boats.

We went around the small island in the north end of the lake. I was able to render aid to another boat.

This part of the lake was a bit weedier than the southern basin and there were a lot of fish jumping.

The eastern side of the island has a narrower passage.

There are two beaches in the campground that you could launch from. The main beach is on the SE corner and includes a playground, toilets, and swimming area.

There is also a smaller beach on the southern shore, where we've gone swimming in the past.

There is a day use area on the SW corner but this is set about 5m above the lake and has no easy water access (???).

Overall, this was a spectacular paddle on a lovely lake. It took us about an hour to around the perimeter and, if you can only put in at one lake in this park, Ross is the lake to go to.

Laurier Lake

Just north of Ross lake is Laurier Lake. Laurier is the largest lake in the park. We took a drive to two launch points on the south shore to see what they were like with the thought of perhaps paddling to the north end and trying to portage into Borden Lake.

There is a boat launch at Bluebird Beach, but the water there was in the midst of a blue-green algae bloom.

We then went up to the day-use area jus to the west of it. Again, there is a boat launch.

And again with the algae. Maybe next time!

Google suggests it may also be possible to get into Borden Lake on the west end off Township Road 564, but we didn't have a chance to suss that out this trip.

Minnie Lake and Garner Lake

In late August, we paddled Minnie Lake (NE of Glendon) and scouted Garner Lake (NE of Vilna).

Garner Lake

Garner Lake is located northeast of Vilna and just east of Bonnie Lake. It is a triangular-shaped lake with the easiest access being through the Garner Lake Provincial Park on the south shore. There may also be a boat launch on the east edge off Range Road 122, but we didn't drive over there.

The lake has experienced a significant drop in water levels over time and the boat launch  gives you a sense of how much (I'd guess at least a meter). The province had banned trailer launches in order to protect the lake bottom. You can still hand launch off of the silty beach or the floating docks. The water was so-so. Parking is back up the hill about 75 meters

The other option is to go of the public beach in the day-use area. This involves a long carry (100m meters) across the old beach and the exposed lake bed. There are pit toilets, a playground, and picnic tables here.

Below is a shot back up from the edge of the lake towards the parking lot. The drop in water level (basically the grassy area)  is really quite something.

The water was again so-so with a fairly mucky-looking launch. 

Floating Stone Lake to the east is probably a better bet if you want to paddle nearby. In the end, we decided to pass and go on to Minnie Lake.

Minnie Lake

Minnie Lake is located just NE of Glendon. It is about 2km north-south and maybe 400m east-west. The best access is from the municipal campground on the south shore.

There is a boat launch with a floating dock, a cement launch, picnic tables and pit toilets. You can drop and park right by the water.

The water was insanely clear and clean and lovely. The cement launch was a tad slippery as we wadded out to get in, with both of us almost biting it!

The southern half of the lake is basically forest behind a bullrush border.

As you get further north in the lake, the trees thin out and it becomes a bit more pastoral.

It was windy as hell the day we were there (at least 30kph based on the flags) but there was hardly any real chop on the water, likely because the lake is small and shallow.

You could also likely launch off the public beach in the campground.

Overall, this was a lovely paddle, even in 34C heat. It was a bit short (less than an hour) but would be a great option for SUP.