They can cost money, but here in Toronto the fees are either waived or drastically reduced for poor families. Also, many of the high schools here have pools and swimming sessions are part of the PE curriculum. Even in elementary school, a couple of times a year we were bused to pools for basic swimming lessons.
Hey Squawk...no doubt the lessons in Canada are free or close to it! What DOESN’T the poor taxpayer foot the bill for up here? I wasn’t sure how far along the happy handout trail America has come - they aren’t as bad as us. Their tax freedom day is still in April, IIRC.