Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Mar 27/02) - Deciding that the city does not have sufficient resources to maintain a dive rescue program, council axed the program Monday night.

The decision drew words of warning from NWT chief coroner Percy Kinney, who made a last-second presentation to council.

"There is a hole in the safety net, and it will only be a matter of time before we lose some citizens through it," he said.

Six councillors supported the motion, which states that the costs of the program "far exceed initial projections" and that it hamstrings the ability of the Yellowknife Fire Department "to fulfil its existing mandate with current resources."

The decision is not welcome inside the fire hall, where senior firefighter Mike Dunsmore called it "disappointing."

"The fire department is fully committed to the dive rescue mandate, and if council thinks our department doesn't want it, it's formed the wrong opinion," he said.

Council defended the cut on financial grounds.

"It really comes down to dollars. It is a dollar issue," said Coun. Robert Hawkins, who supported the motion.

But the issue is more complex than simply money. Council almost cut the program during budget discussions earlier this year because of a lack of funds. But Kinney secured the needed $14,000 in funding to maintain its operation for 2002. His idea was to use the money to buy some time to come up with more long-term funding.

"We went out and found that and they're cutting it anyways. So I'm a little confused," said Kinney.

Council's readiness to cut the program earlier this year signalled to the fire department that it was dispensable.

"We were disappointed that we didn't see council backing the mandate," said Dunsmore.

The dive rescue program was formed with a $45,000 infusion of municipal money in 1999. The money came on the heels of the drowning of a Yellowknife Correctional Centre inmate, who died while firefighters and Coun. Dave Ramsay watched helpless from the shore. A jury inquest into the death recommended the creation of an underwater rescue team.

At the time, Kinney draped a body bag over the podium at a council meeting while campaigning to get councillors to implement the jury's suggestion. "You can't see it, but that's got a name on it. It's the name of someone who died by drowning in two thousand and something and was buried in the Lakeview Cemetery," said Kinney at the time.

Council eventually adopted the program, and it was added to the services of the Yellowknife fire department. A number of firefighters were trained in underwater rescue. Kinney estimates the underwater rescue resources were used a half-dozen times during the program's life.

Over the years personnel turnover at the fire station forced the retraining of a number of firefighters and the program's expense grew beyond what was originally anticipated. At its inception, the program's upkeep cost was estimated at $4,000 a year. But next year alone, the city estimates it will need to pour $30,000 into dive rescue to keep it afloat.

Corporate services director Tim Mercer said the city hasn't decided what to do with the equipment, but it will likely be sold. It is worth about $20,000.

Mercer said the city originally made incorrect assumptions about the level of training required for the program.

"We found out shortly after beginning the program that we needed to abide by Canadian Standards Association training requirements, which were much more stringent than we initially budgeted for," he said.

However, the money Kinney acquired could have allowed the program to continue, at least for this year. But a closed-door committee meeting with Fire Chief Mick Beauchamp last week changed that.

"The question that was posed to the fire department was whether this is a mandate that's entrenched within the fire division, and it went from there," said Beauchamp.

"From that meeting, the evidence we received is that this is acting as a stressor on our fire department," said Coun. Blake Lyons. "We have a significant turnover in our department, and the hours that firefighters were putting in was one of the reasons why they were looking for other employment. This was coming close to the proverbial straw that was going to break the back."

"I don't believe that the city has given them enough manpower and enough staff to run the program adequately," added Coun. Wendy Bisaro.

The majority of council agreed. Only councillors Ramsay and Kevin O'Reilly opposed the motion.

"I think we owe it to the citizens of Yellowknife at least to see it through to next year when the funding runs out," said Ramsay. "What we're doing tonight is throwing our hands up in the air and saying, 'the fire department wants to wash its hands of this and that's it.'"