The City of Mississauga and Lifesaving Society Ontario presented the Swim to Survive Programme as part of the 2007 World Leadership Awards in London, England.

The City of Mississauga and Lifesaving Society Ontario presented the Swim to Survive Programme as part of the 2007 World Leadership Awards in London, England.

Presented annually in London, the World Leadership Awards celebrate the very best in modern city leadership. Mississauga was short-listed among 400 cities across the world that were asked to submit projects in a wide range of disciplines; the winner of the competition was Lima, Peru in the Education and Development of the Young category.

Last year, the City won the 2006 World Leadership Award in the health category for its Healthy City Stewardship Centre (HCSC) initiative.

“We were delighted to once more be able to share with the world an example of what makes our community great and in particular this wonderful programme which the rest of the world can now learn from,” said Mayor Hazel McCallion.

Mississauga Mayor, Hazel McCallion, Barbara Byers, Public Education Director of the Lifesaving Society (Ontario), Barbara Underhill, World Champion figure skater and founder of the Stephanie Gaetz Foundation, and John Lohuis, the City’s director of Recreation and Parks, presented the Swim to Survive programme before a panel of judges from Britain’s education sector.

Swim to Survive was designed to teach children how to survive an unexpected fall into water in three lessons. “It is easy to administer, easy to teach (three lessons in three hours), and is portable,” said Barbara Byers. “It can be taken to any city in the world, developed or developing, and be successful.”

According to the World Leadership Forum, the purpose of the World Leadership Awards is to identify exceptional leadership in cities across the world and to use that leadership as an example and inspiration to other cities facing similar problems.

Cities are judged on the following criteria:
– quality of leadership displayed
– difficulties or obstacles that the city has overcome
– degree of inspiration that the city may give to others

In its presentation, the City showcased how City staff and other community partners identified a need for all children to be comfortable in the water and learn lifesaving skills.

With the support of City officials, the Lifesaving Society developed the three-step model to help prevent drowning. With initial financial support from Barb Underhill and the Stephanie Gaetz Keepsafe Foundation, and support from the City’s Recreation and Parks division, a pilot programme was carried out in Mississauga in 2005.

The programme has already been expanded across Ontario and into five other Canadian provinces.

SOURCE: City of Mississauga, Ontario, Dec 7, 2007 (Marketwire via COMTEX)