By Joel van der Veen

ELBOW — Peace pervades Lake Diefenbaker on a late September evening.

Few are out on the water, though a sharp eye can spot the odd boat far in the distance.

A lone paddleboarder makes his way across the horizon. From this vantage point, he is just a silhouette on the brilliant light painting that fills the sky — wispy, orange-tinted clouds against a pale blue backdrop.

The lake is calm and serene, almost deceptively so.

A sudden storm can catch boaters by surprise, and sometimes with fatal consequences.

The sun has set on another summer on Lake Diefenbaker — the deadliest one in recent memory.

Between late July and early September, four people drowned on the lake in three separate incidents.

Of those people, two lived in Loreburn and one was a Saskatoon resident. The fourth was an adult male whose place of residence was not made public.

Only one of the deceased — Ken Houben, 61, of Loreburn — was identified publicly.

After years without a drowning on the lake, local officials say this year’s death toll took them and other residents by surprise.

“We’ve never experienced a summer like this,” said Elbow mayor Rob Hundeby, a lifelong resident of the village. “Obviously, the (village) grieves with them . . . It’s a devastating loss.”

Cpl. Doug Gardiner, commanding officer for the Elbow RCMP detachment, acknowledged that the year had been “extremely unusual.”

Gardiner said he has worked in the region for five-and-a-half years. During that time, he said, there had been no drownings reported on the lake until this summer.

The corporal said he could not comment on the individual incidents as they remained under investigation.

Steve South, who is both mayor of the Village of Loreburn and chief of its fire department, also said the number of deaths came as somewhat of a shock.

“I guess a lot of people were pretty surprised,” he said. “It generally doesn’t happen, or you don’t think it’s going to happen.”

Because of the lake’s long, narrow dimensions, South said novice boaters sometimes assume that the water will stay calm enough for them to handle easily.

“It’s not very wide, so they figure it won’t get really rough,” he said. “The wind can get pretty rough . . . It can come up really fast.”

Elbow is served by an RCMP detachment and a volunteer fire department. Emergency medical calls in the district are answered by ambulances coming from Outlook, Davidson or Central Butte, depending on the location.

Hundeby said volunteer first responders in the village did everything they could, but they aren’t trained to go out onto the water during a storm.

The spring thaw also brings its share of hazards, Hundeby remarked. Last spring, a total of three vehicles — two quads and one truck — broke through the ice.

Educating the public on the risks that come in using the lake will be important in preventing future tragedies, Hundeby said.

“The public has to be aware of the size and power that Lake Diefenbaker has,” he said. “These storms can come up quite suddenly.”

Paul Johnson, executive director of park operations for the Ministry of Parks, Culture and Sport, also touted the value of education.

“Know the depth of the water, know your own individual limits and know the environment,” he said, underlining the importance of “understanding the water body you’ve entering.”

Three provincial parks are located on the shores of Lake Diefenbaker: Danielson, Douglas and Saskatchewan Landing.

However, the bed and bank of the lake itself largely fall under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Agriculture. (Only bodies of water fully enclosed by park land are administered by the parks ministry.)

“The lake itself is not formally our jurisdiction,” Johnson explained, adding that nonetheless, safety of park visitors is a major priority for his office. “We do what we can to ensure safety at our beaches.”

This includes partnering in promotional events, such as National Drowning Prevention Week, held every July.

Johnson said his office undertook a review of its safety and education procedures following a water-related fatality at Katepwa Point in 2016.

This included “beach audits” at Katepwa Point and Moose Mountain parks, which involved reviews of signage, safety flotation devices and other measures.

As well, the ministry has installed life jacket loaner stations at beaches in five parks, with hopes to expand this program further in the future.

Statistics from the Lifesaving Society of Saskatchewan offer some good news: drowning deaths in the province declined to nine in 2016, from 14 the year before.

Jocelyne Petryshen, chair of the Lake Diefenbaker Tourism board, said the question of lake safety has been raised at recent board meetings. The matter has been placed on the agenda for LDT’s upcoming annual general meeting in October.

One major concern is the availability of cell phone service on the lake, which can vary widely depending on the user’s location.

(Hundeby had remarked, “There are some dead zones out there.”)

Improved service would allow more users to take advantage of the SaskAlert system, which provides alerts in the case of severe weather.

Petryshen said access to these alerts, which are available online and through mobile apps, may have helped to prevent some incidents this summer.

She said LDT has had conversations with service providers and progress is being made on this front.

Petryshen said there have been many contributing factors to the incidents on the lake this summer — including poor visibility, resulting from wildfire smoke. Inexperience on the part of boaters can also be a factor.

Petryshen, who has served on the board for eight years and became chair a couple of years ago, said the board has weathered major change recently, including new leadership and members.

The “revitalized board” is working on a major strategic plan for LDT, and Petryshen said they are ready to be advocates for change.

Part of that includes promoting greater safety awareness, and helping boaters to be aware of the dangers and potential hazards when they’re out on the lake.

“There has to be some sort of respect for the water,” said Petryshen. “As much as you need to enjoy the water, you need to also fear it.”