Dear Hive Mind,

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

@RPBook Yes! Imagine doing something because it is a good safe thing but also because it opens up a lot of very fun things for children and future adults!

Celeste Ryder 🐾 🐀🏳️‍🌈

@chris I said yes because while my own town may not have one, that’s fine with me as long as there are facilities nearby. I wouldn’t live anywhere where there isn’t *anything* nearby.

I also don’t think year-round is a necessity. An outside pool during the summer does the trick. I grew up in Montreal, and every neighborhood throughout the region had its outside pool, sometimes more. I was really surprised when I moved to the NCR to see there are barely any pools anywhere.

Celeste Ryder 🐾 🐀🏳️‍🌈

@chris @stephanie Pools aren’t just for kids! When it’s 35 degrees out, you’re glad to have access to one, no matter how old you are!

It’s also a class issue. Unprivileged kids should also be able to experience enjoying playing in cool water in the summer and learning how to swim. It should be available only to people who own their own pool or can afford classes.

Celeste Ryder 🐾 🐀🏳️‍🌈

@camerondotca @chris @stephanie Lakes and rivers are gross! There is no way I would send my kid to learn to swim in that! They’ll end up catching E. coli while drinking all that water while learning! Ewww!

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

@bougiewonderland @stephanie I am actually quite disappointed in the seniors community in my town that they have not been a lot more vocal about building a new pool. There are a huge number of people who use the pool to stay healthy and mobile through middle age but especially as they get older! It is probably the most accessible ‘exercise classes’ we have in terms of both cost and location.

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

@bougiewonderland @camerondotca @stephanie hahaha. We are VERY blessed to have very clean lakes and rivers. But yours is a very good reminder that that is itself a privilege!

Wöhnlich

@chris what is the distance to the next alternativ?
(not km/miles, but actual distance, like with car 10mins. but in fact cars are rare, and roads are bad and bus wont drive at the weekend)

climat friendly solution for warm water?

elderly people swim too, for thier health

Greg Kemp

@chris Strong yes. My wife spent a lot of time walking in our community pool for physical therapy after a recent surgery. Pools aren't just for kids.

Marielle Quinton

@chris We had one kid drown at a beach near me this summer. He and his family had been in Canada for a year after escaping a war-torn country. We absolutely need pools to teach kids how to swim but also many newcomer adults also don't know how to swim. In most other places in the world people don't swim because the waterways are all polluted. We need pools because we have clean rivers and lakes. As a side note that beach (in Ottawa) had two drownings this year.

http

@chris You're welcome, but careful - such imagination is half way to collective actions! Forbidden by our corporate masters!

I grew up on Ocean Falls, and often used the rather outsized pool - 4 lane, 20m for a town of < 2k. It was in use all year round despite Link Lake being like, two blocks away.

ꜱᴛᴇᴇʟ ʀᴀᴛ ɢᴀᴍᴇʀ

@chris

I grew up in a town of 5k. WHen the HS built an indoor pool that allowed "open swim" and public access it was a BFD.

Learned how to swim there. Some of my best time during the summer was in the pool

? Offline

@chris I live in a town of 20k and our pool is wonderful for all ages. Seniors use it for low impact exercise, kids for fun, we have multiple after school and daycare programs (my toddler goes to a morning program), and it's of course good for regular exercise for normal age folks too. It's really the best indoor activity we have and gets used in both hot and cold weather. We live in a rainy area and the pool is a great winter activity.

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

@woehnlich nearest alternative is at least 30 minutes away, though it is over a mountain pass so winter time can be less than desirable. A our city is also a service city for people 1.5-2hrs away in more remote communities.

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

@http Ocean Falls! A classic company town. As we were at one point, on an even bigger scale (though at our biggest Port Alberni has never been more than 30,000)

Theresa

@mariellequinton @chris That is sad to hear. A tragedy like that is preventable. The Red Cross has swim lessons for adults and I hope this info is shared widely especially to new comers. Do kids still get swim lessons as part of school curriculum? We did way back in the 80s.

Marielle Quinton

@TheresaReason @chris I don't know where you lived in the 80s, but living in Ontario swimming lessons weren't part of the curriculum and still aren't. I agree it should be part of the curriculum. Schools should have pools. I learnt to swim through private lessons. This is a supervised beach, but the drownings were outside of lifeguard hours. Due the drownings all the beaches in Ottawa are getting a major auditing by the lifesaving society. People are just unaware that rivers and lakes can be dangerous even near the shore. We have accidental drownings every year. Big city, lots of water.

jimkennedy

@chris I didn't vote because our village has a population of ~350, but yes, a pool is a necessity. All summer it's really bloody hot, so the entire town is at the municipal pool. All the kids learn to swim there. Not being able to swim is super dangerous for kids in Catalonia (and Spain), particularly as everyone also swims in the river all the time.

Susan Noakes

@mariellequinton @TheresaReason @chris The other complications have been that swimming lessons were unavailable in the pandemic. The teens who should have learned to be instructors and lifeguards didn't. So now there is a shortage of swim instructors. It's Hunger Games to get swimming lessons in Toronto.

Theresa

@mariellequinton @chris I grew up in BC, in a rural area in the interior. All the elementary schools booked time at the local pool to teach swimming as part of phys ed. For 4 weeks I think. We all got a ski lesson at the local hill too. Mind you I was a kid, there probably was an extra fee parents paid I did not know about, but it was during school day, we were bussed. I don't know if it was all of BC. Swimming is an essential skill in Canada. It would be great if schools included it.

dragonfrog, Grinch pro tem

@chris I wouldn't call it a "basic necessity" exactly, in the way clean water and schools and a fire department are basic necessities, but I would expect it to be there in any city that's not in dire poverty.

I grew up in a city of around 200,000 people and I'm pretty sure there were at least 8 swimming pools, so one per 25,000 people.