A local community organization is preparing to launch a new river patrol that will offer services, support and safety to people living and playing near Winnipeg’s waterways.
CommUNITY204, a group dedicated to supporting the city’s underserved youth and homeless population, will embark on its maiden voyage on the Red River later this month.
The initiative, dubbed CommUNITY204 River Watch, will act as a visible presence on the waterway, capable of intervening in the event of emergencies.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS CommUNITY204 founder Daniel Hidalgo and Alexis Tachnak (left) check out their new boat, which will be used to offer safety and support to people living in river encampments.
It is led by organization founder Daniel Hidalgo, a former firefighter and paramedic trained in rope and water rescue.
“I would consider this program a combination between a prevention service and a harm-reduction service. We are meeting folks where they are at and showing no judgment,” Hidalgo said Thursday, speaking from the organization’s home base downtown.
“We have response plans in place for every situation we might encounter. We have a medical response plan, crisis intervention, youth-at-risk plan… and we are working on a response plan that co-ordinates with Winnipeg police.”
Loaded with drinking water, harm-reduction supplies, life jackets and rescue equipment, the program will launch twice a week for four-hour patrols during the summer months.
Although the 22-foot-long vessel is capable of carrying up to nine passengers, it will never embark with more than seven. Every team member will possess boating licences, regardless of whether they plan to operate the boat, Hidalgo said.
The 22-person patrol team is made up with former members of Drag the Red — a volunteer organization dedicated to searching for the remains of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls near Winnipeg waterways.
Their experience inspired them to adopt a grassroots approach to water safety, although they will focus on serving community members rather than executing searches, Hidalgo said.
“We saw how much was going on along the water beyond MMIWG. We saw children unattended playing near and in the water, we saw high amounts of litter and pollution, we saw the encampment folks utilizing the water to fulfil their basic needs and we stopped three suicide attempts,” he said.
The team will be available to assist in search parties in the event somebody goes missing near the Assiniboine or Red rivers.
It will also bring youth along for river tours, providing opportunities for them to experience the waterways first-hand, said team member Alexis Tachnak.
“It’s about awareness that we are out there, not just to support people, but to educate our youth,” Tachnak said.
“It’s about love and caring.”
Statistics from the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service show the emergency service responded to an average of 143 calls per year for service within 25 metres of city waterways in the last five years — including 35 so far this year.
The data includes a variety of incidents, including fires, medical emergencies and water rescues.
Christopher Love, safety co-ordinator for the Manitoba Lifesaving Society, said the Red River’s strong currents can pose significant threats to anyone who goes into the water unprepared.
“That current can pull you down, it can drag you away from where you think you were going,” he told the Free Press.
“We don’t want to scare people away… but you have to respect the water.”
Manitoba has logged an annual average of 22 drownings over the last half-decade. Roughly a third of all people killed in the water last year died in rivers, Love said.
Tree limbs and other debris swept along with the current can cause severe injuries in a collision, he said.
Love advised anyone who gets trapped in flowing water to remain calm, allow the current to take them and point their feet in the direction the water is moving. They should try to conserve energy and move diagonally toward the nearest shoreline, when possible.
The water safety expert also reminded people to be cautious around the river’s edges, which can be covered in thick, sticky mud that may restrict movement.
Riverbanks, particularly at this time of year, are prone to erosion and can collapse unexpectedly, he said.
Tyler Searle
Reporter
Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press’ city desk. Since joining the paper in 2022, he has found himself driving through blizzards, documenting protests and scouring the undersides of bridges for potential stories.
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