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The family of a boy who drowned near Nutimik Lake in 2023 is calling for change after two brothers drowned in the same spot late last weekend.
Danish Habib is the father of Usaid Habib, a 12-year-old boy who drowned at Sturgeon Falls near Nutimik Lake in 2023 after being pulled into the rapids while his family was on a hike.
“What are they waiting for?” he said. “More people to die before they take any action?”
On Wednesday, the body of Maximo Au Ramirez, 10, was recovered near the falls at Nutimik Lake in Whiteshell Provincial Park. Thursday evening, Lac du Bonnet RCMP confirmed they had found the body of his 13-year-old brother, Aaron.
The recoveries followed a search at the provincial park launched Saturday, involving volunteers, RCMP drone and diving teams, First Nations responders, and the Hutterian Emergency Aquatic Response Team.
“I was locking the stroller down, and my eldest (child) and Usaid both basically just climbed on the rock to see the area,” Habib said, recounting the day his son drowned in May 2023.
“Maybe Usaid was just putting his leg in the water to see the flow or the temperature of the water and that’s when he slipped. Rapids just took him away. It was a split-second thing.”
Habib described his son as the “emotional glue of our household,” adding that he was very close with his mother and an active community member who regularly volunteered.
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Urooj Danish, Usaid’s mother, said her son was energetic, caring and kindhearted.
In addition to the deaths of the Au Ramirez brothers near the lake this year, a 38-year-old woman was pronounced dead in 2025 after being swept into the falls. The parents said hearing about drownings in the same area as their son’s is frustrating for their family.
“As soon as I (heard) about that, it’s devastation (for) one thing. But then, I got very furious and angry and frustrated that there are already incidents (that) happened at the same spot,” his father said.
Usaid’s mother said the lack of reaction makes her feel “hopeless toward the system” and like her community is being failed.
Danish said she met with the Au Ramirez boys’ mother Tuesday, before their bodies were recovered.
“No, I did not know her. You don’t need to know someone. This was a tragedy no one should ever have endured,” Danish said, adding the Au Ramirez boys’ mother “was, obviously, devastated.”
In an interview with Global News Thursday afternoon, before Aaron’s body was recovered, Manitoba’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change Mike Moyes said the province is working on additional safeguards.
“There was an upgrade on signs, and things of that sort,” he said, speaking to safeguards previously added in response to drownings.
“We’re, again, going to assess the risk, which is why the team was down looking at the site and seeing what other additional mechanisms can be put in place.”
Moyes said the Manitoba government is looking to “move really quickly to ensure that Manitobans are safe.”
Safeguard suggestions will be presented to him on Monday, he said.
So far this year, only one drowning-related death has been confirmed in the province, the office of Manitoba’s Chief Medical Examiner told Global News in an email Friday. It cautioned that this figure does not include suspected drownings as those are added to the data set when investigations and reports are finalized.
According to the medical examiner’s office, 33 people drowned in Manitoba last year.
Danish said she isn’t sure what specific safeguards the province should install, but offering something for people who slip to grab on would be a start.
“I’m not the right person to ask what measures exactly need to be taken. I’m just a mother who is grieving, and who is grieving again for another mother,” she said.
“I want something to be done.”
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