Ontario woman wants mandatory signs on private beaches

The end of summer for Patricia Mason-Lawson means experiencing another season on the private shores of Ontario without the changes she enjoys. Her husband, Patrick Keith, drowned in 2016 on a lakeside beach. Since then, she says that every time she hears about someone drowning or getting into trouble in the water, it brings back painful memories. A resident of St. Catharines described experiencing exactly what happened to her. She read about the 50-year-old man, Milton, who drowned while swimming on Labour Day at a beach in Port Colborne, Ontario.
To prevent such tragedies, Mason-Lawson insists that owners of private beaches should be obligated to inform beachgoers when conditions, such as strong winds and powerful currents that she believes played a role in her husband's death, make water entry dangerous. Keith, aged 61, drowned on July 22, 2016. The couple lived in Crystal Beach, an internet community in the Fort Erie municipality, about 30 kilometers of the shoreline of which is mostly private.
At that time, Mason-Lawson said their home was about 200 meters from where Keith drowned, on a section of the Crystal Beach shoreline in the east. She mentioned that this is a private beach but is easily accessible to the public. On that summer day, Mason-Lawson was not with Keith. Witnesses told her that when her husband seemed to be struggling in the water, they saw him standing in the lake. She said, "Despite strong winds, there were no warning signs on the beach, and there was no lifeguard present."
According to reports from The Weather Network, conditions at the time of Keith's drowning were consistent with wave rider drownings in large lakes between 2010 and 2017. According to Mason-Lawson, at least two drowning incidents occurred in the Crystal Beach area after her husband's death.
She questions the safety measures at Sun Retreats Sherkston Shores near Port Colborne, where Milton drowned on this year's Labour Day. For example, whether the gate entrance to the beach was open or closed on that day. Mason-Lawson said the developer, Marz Homes, has a sub-development with access to the private beach where her husband died.
She mentioned that there were no warning signs or alerts about dangerous conditions on that day in 2016. She has been trying to get Marz Homes to install signs ever since, but the company has refused. Mason-Lawson said, "I just think that private beach owners and developers need to do more to inform people that these conditions can occur and may result in tragedy."

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