When Kayla Sereda Paul thinks of her brother Adam, she thinks of his sense of humor. “Even if it wasn't funny, he could make it funny,” she said. “I don't know how he did it.”
Growing up in Winnipeg, the siblings would spend hours in their grandparents’ swimming pool, competing for the title of deepest diver or fastest swimmer.
“He did beat me last summer, I admit that,” she said.
Their parents, Cindy Paul and Jason Sereda, often took their children to the public pool.
“Everybody called him Fish,” Paul said. “But this happened, and I don’t understand why.”
On April 1, 2024, Paul took Adam to the Cindy Larsen Leisure Center swimming pool. Paul remembers watching her son jump into the deep end from the pool's observation area before going to the bathroom at 4:11 p.m.
“When I came back he wasn’t there,” she said, “and I sat down because it wasn’t unusual, it was like he was going to the locker room.”
She waited a few minutes for him to return.
“At 4:34, I called him … and no one answered,” she said. Shortly after, she saw a lifeguard hit the alarm button. “He was right in front of me at the bottom of the pool, and I couldn't see him the whole time,” Paul said. “I couldn't see him. I didn't know.”
Adam could not be revived. Now his parents are seeking answers from the City of Winnipeg about how their son drowned in a pool with lifeguards present. They claim staff failed to monitor the deep end of the pool and failed to provide proper first aid. Paul said staff could not find the equipment needed to use a CPR bag.
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“It didn’t bother Adam at all,” she said.
“There is absolutely no excuse for this,” Sereda said.
Paul also said she remembered staff talking about “shift changes” — but not asking swimmers to leave the water.
Paul and Cereda say they have heard little to nothing from the City of Winnipeg since April 1. Cereda reached out to St. Boniface councillor Matt Allard but said he has not spoken directly to him, but has spoken to an aide instead.
“He's the only person in city government who's ever said anything to us, and that's because Jay asked us,” Paul said Tuesday. “I don't think it's my responsibility or my job to ask questions for them. I think it's their responsibility to talk to us.”
In an email, Global News sent the City of Winnipeg a list of questions about lifeguard staffing and training policies, shift protocols and changes that occurred after Adam's death. Global News also requested an interview, but the city declined.
“Please be advised that whenever a significant incident occurs at one of our recreation and leisure facilities, we follow post-incident protocols, which include review and debriefing with staff and management. We do not have any additional information to share in this regard at this time,” corporate communications manager David Driedger said in an emailed statement.
The statement also notes that the Winnipeg Fire-Rescue Service has offered to meet with Adam's parents to discuss their response to the incident – but Paul and Cereda say it's not the Winnipeg Fire-Rescue Service's response that they're questioning.
“It was a very young child, but it could have been someone of another age because they weren’t there,” Paul said. “They weren’t paying attention.”
Sereda said police told him there was no camera footage of the part of the pool where Adam drowned, only the observation area where Paul sat. The pool was closed for the rest of the night of April 1 but reopened the next day.
About two months after their son and brother's death, his family has relied heavily on the support of the Winnipeg hockey community. Adam was an avid hockey player who attended Churchill Hockey Academy and played for the St. Boniface Seals. Paul and Sereda said they have been particularly touched by the outpouring of support from Adam's teammates and friends.
“They kept us going for the first few weeks,” Paul said.
“They’ll show up at your house with food, cards and flowers,” Sereda said.
“There are no words to describe it,” Kyra Sereda Paul said.
Unless the city answers their questions and makes changes, the family fears what happened to Adam could happen to someone else.
“Don't think for one moment that you're safe going to a public swimming pool,” Sereda said.
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
