Does my child have to wear a life jacket (PFD) when rowing?

RCA's Rowing Safely document summarizes the Transport Canada Small Vessel Regulations (SVR) as they apply to rowing shells:

• At a sanctioned regatta, or training at the regatta venue, a shell is not required to carry the safety equipment the SVR otherwise requires.
• A shell training under RCA safety guidelines does not need to carry PFDs if it is attended by a safety craft carrying a correctly sized PFD or lifejacket for each person on the shell (or for the shell with the most people, if the craft attends several).
• A shell with no safety craft must carry a correctly sized PFD or lifejacket for each person on board (rowers and coxswain), plus a sound-signalling device, and a watertight flashlight if used after sunset, before sunrise or in restricted visibility.
• Inflatable PFDs carried on board do not have to be worn, because rowing is exempt from the requirement that inflatable PFDs be worn.
• If any crew member is under 16, the PFDs carried must be inherently buoyant, not inflatable.

Source: RCA Rowing Safely, effective 29 April 2022, quoting the SVR.