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Vancouver Feature: Joe Fortes Saves Lives, Wins Hearts
The following article is a feature from our Vancouver Feature series. Past features are not updated. Vancouver’s “Citizen of the Century” was a portly Barbadian-born barman named Joe Fortes. Living in a small cottage near the bandstand in Alexandra Park, Fortes was the first official lifeguard at English Bay beach. He taught hundreds of Vancouverites how to swim.