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@ Tim Bouma
2025-05-23 17:07:34
Canoeing is serious business in Canada. You can lose your driver’s license!
Golden Lake canoeist faces charges after capsize rescueOttawa Citizen
May 23, 2025
A 40-year-old man has been charged with being impaired and operating a personal watercraft without the required flotation device after his canoe capsized on Golden Lake on Saturday.
The man's driver's licence was suspended for 90 days, and he was scheduled for a court appearance in Pembroke on June 16, the Ontario Provincial Police said in a release on Tuesday.
At approximately 10 p.m. on May 17, officers from the Upper Ottawa Valley detachment of the OPP responded to an emergency call about a canoeist in distress on Golden Lake, about 125 kilometres northwest of Ottawa.
The individual had not been wearing a life-jacket and the canoe had begun taking on water before capsizing in high winds. Police arriving at the scene found the man had made it to shore along Island View Drive in North Algona-wilberforce Township.
He was taken to hospital for assessment by Renfrew County paramedics. As part of the investigation, an alcohol screening device was utilized and further testing was conducted, police said.
Under the Criminal Code of Canada, police underlined, it is illegal to operate a “conveyance” while impaired, which broadly refers to motor vehicles, vessels, aircraft or railway equipment, and vessel includes all types of watercraft regardless of whether they are motorized or not.
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