The lifeguard situation has stabilized at Calgary aquatic centres after struggling to find labour to keep pools operating at target levels.

Ward 1 Coun. Sonya Sharp questioned aquatic facility hours during the Jan. 13 Public Hearing Meeting of Council. She said that patrons at many community pools are wondering why there are restrictions on hours of operation.

“Why do we have such restrictions around the hours of some of the pools, and what can be done to… get them opened longer,” Sharp asked.

City of Calgary Recreation had been challenged to find and train an adequate number of lifeguards after they were forced to lay off roughly 1,200 recreation workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a 2023 Performance Report published by the City of Calgary, the prolonged closure forced them to reduce staff in rec facilities by 90 per cent.

“The lack of training and certification opportunities for aquatic staff during the pandemic has impacted the workforce nation-wide [sic], making it difficult to hire qualified staff,” the report read.

“The City has increased certification/training opportunities at our facilities and is helping direct potential candidates to training opportunities offered by other providers.”

The lag in available lifeguards has had an impact on hours, and in some cases forcing the City of Calgary to redeploy workers to different facilities where demand was higher. That suspected redeployment frustrated community members in Inglewood who were trying to save their pool.

During the discussion about saving that community pool last November, many area residents lamented the staff shortages. Residents believed it helped create the low numbers the City of Calgary used to support the facility’s closure.

“While I understand staffing shortages have contributed to the pool’s limited hours, these closures—often to reassign lifeguards to other locations—have led to inconsistent access, making it difficult for residents to rely on the facility,” read a submission from Tracy Wylie.

“The unpredictable schedule, where the pool is frequently closed or open only during limited hours, has understandably deterred many users.”

Aquatic staff levels recovering: City of Calgary

Community Services GM Katie Black it was good to hear that the community is raising these questions and that they have an interest in using pools and recreation facilities.

“In fact, we are now back to 90 per cent of our pre-COVID levels in terms of our aquatic facilities, and at 100 per cent of pre-COVID levels in our other recreation facilities. So, we’ve made great progress,” Black told councillors.

The challenge remains recruiting and training qualified staff, Black said. It’s likely to continue, she added.

“We are continuing to run public qualification training programs so that we can have people ready to be lifeguards. But, in fact, many of those programs are running less than full capacity because the demand hasn’t returned to what it was pre-COVID levels,” Black said.

According to the 2024 City of Calgary compensation disclosure, the minimum salary for a lifeguard is $66,315, with the maximum at $73,448.

A statement from City of Calgary Recreation said they have rebuilt most of their aquatic workforce. They are operating at 90 per cent of “target hours” across the aquatic facilities.

“Aquatic employee recruitment, training, certification and retention continue to be top priorities for us this year,” they wrote in an emailed statement.

“Staffing levels for Recreation Service Delivery have stabilized however we continue to experience labour market challenges similar to other service sectors.”