The slightest details of that day, Barbara Underhill says, are seared into her memory. Her twin girls, Samantha and Stephanie, had just been christened. As they played, she turned to her husband and said: "How did we get so lucky? We have such beautiful, healthy babies."
Minutes later, Stephanie was dead, drowned in the family swimming pool.
The champion figure skater had left the gate open for a minute as she fetched a wheelbarrow to do some gardening, and the eight-month-old somehow crawled out of the house, clambered through the gate and into the pool.
While discussing the tragedy remains painful, even 12 years later, Ms. Underhill said she wanted to share the story "in the hope that parents will see how easily and fast this can happen."
Almost 500 Canadians a year drown, and six times as many again are injured in near-drownings.
Almost half of all drownings and near-drownings involve children under the age of 5, according to data released yesterday by the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
Margaret Keresteci, manager of clinical registries at CIHI, said it is noteworthy that three-quarters of the children who drowned were not swimming, but happened to be near water for other reasons.
"We seem to have a false sense of security if kids aren't swimming," she said. "But it doesn't take much time, or very deep water, for a child to drown."
Nicole Beben, the manager of Safe Kids week at the injury-prevention group Safe Kids Canada, said young children are naturally drawn to water "because it's shiny, it's fun."
She said parents overestimate children's ability to judge water depth and currents, and underestimate the impulsiveness of youngsters.
Ms. Beben said there are four key elements to water safety:
Active supervision of children. "Those little lapses -- even running into the house for a minute -- can be deadly";
Passive strategies such as building four-sided fences around pools, and equipping them with self-closing mechanisms;
Teaching children to swim. "But no amount of lessons will drown-proof children or make up for lack of supervision";
Making sure children wear a lifejacket in all watercraft, and while swimming if necessary.
The new data show that 1,166 people visited the emergency department of an Ontario hospital in 2002-03 because of injuries sustained in water-related incidents.
Almost 70 per cent of those incidents were drownings or near-drownings. The balance of injuries was sustained in collisions of watercrafts, boat fires, and falls on docks.
According to CIHI, one in four children who experience near-drowning suffer permanent brain damage due to lack of oxygen. Severe lung injuries are also commonplace.
The data show that most drownings and near-drownings did not occur among swimmers, but among people on watercrafts such as motor boats, water scooters and canoes.
"Most people in watercraft don't anticipate ending up in the water so they don't wear any form of flotation device and they aren't adequately dressed for cold water," Ms. Keresteci said.
Drowning is a leading cause of death in children younger than 5, second only to motor vehicle collisions.
After her daughter drowned, Ms. Underhill, a 1984 world pairs champion, established the Stephanie Gaetz Keepsake Foundation, which works with fire departments and injury-prevention groups to promote awareness about water safety.
Last year, the foundation also launched a high-profile initiative to offer free swimming lessons to children who cannot afford them. "Swimming is not just a recreational activity, it's a safety issue," Ms. Underhill said.
She said every time she reads about a drowning -- and there are plenty these days as temperatures soar in much of Canada -- "my life just stops and I feel that knife twist in my stomach, the one that has been there since my daughter died."
Ms. Underhill said she has also ensured that Samantha, now 12, has learned to swim well.
"I have no doubt in my mind she will be a lifeguard some day, that she will save others. That's our goal here: To raise awareness and educate parents so these incidents can be avoided."
André Picard