Surrey, B.C., pools open for summer season, and lessons are already in high demand

Jon Hernandez · CBC News

· Posted: May 13, 2025 6:23 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 minutes ago

Surrey's outdoor pools are unfastened for the season, and more Metro Vancouver municipalities are expected to travel suit successful the coming days.

Surrey's Bear Creek Pool, Greenaway Pool successful Cloverdale, and Sunnyside Pool successful South Surrey are open, with the municipality's remaining outdoor pools expected to unfastened implicit the adjacent month.

All of the city's outdoor pools are escaped for the 2025 season.

"A escaped accidental for a nationalist aquatics is large for our community; it reduces immoderate benignant of barriers financially it mightiness person connected anybody, and it allows radical to aquatics successful a harmless setting," said Mannie Deo, Newton Recreation's operations manager.

Port Coquitlam's Centennial Outdoor Pool is besides unfastened and free. Weekend nationalist swims astatine Burnaby's Central Park outdoor excavation person been connected since April 28.

In Vancouver, the Second Beach outdoor excavation is expected to unfastened implicit the Victoria Day agelong weekend. The metropolis says it besides hopes to person Kitsilano Pool unfastened successful mid-June, but notes it's astatine its end-of-life signifier and is inactive successful request of ongoing attraction and repairs.

Richmond's Steveston outdoor excavation besides opens May 17.

Oudoor pools successful Coquitlam, Port Moody and New Westminster unfastened successful June.

Swimming lessons successful precocious demand

The Lifesaving Society B.C. & Yukon branch, which provides certified swimming lessons successful communities passim the province, says registrations alteration by community, and they're already seeing precocious request up of the 2025 summertime season.

"There is rather a contention to get into swimming lessons successful immoderate of the cities, not conscionable the metropolis of Surrey," said programme and services manager Kimiko Hirakida. "We bash promote radical to motion up for the level that's due for them."

Swim lessons successful Metro Vancouver person been hard to travel by successful caller years, with immoderate families turning to backstage pools to unafraid their spot.

This year, Burnaby launched a aviator task to supply dozens of kids with escaped aquatics lessons.

Hirakida says lessons are unfastened for kids implicit the property of 4 months, teens, and adults of each ages.

Provincial drowning numbers up

The summation successful request comes amid an summation successful provincial drownings. The astir caller numbers released by the B.C. Coroners Service show that 101 radical drowned successful B.C. successful 2023, up from 86 successful 2022 and 80 successful 2021.

Figures from 2024 are expected to beryllium released successful June.

Hirakida says the immense bulk of deaths hap from May done the extremity of August successful unsupervised, unfastened h2o similar oceans, rivers and lakes.

"Swim with a buddy, deterioration agleam colours, and cognize your ability," says Hirakida. "Just due to the fact that I'm a competent swimmer successful a excavation ... it doesn't construe straight to being harmless successful unfastened water."