by Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jan 14/98) - Inukshuk Safety Ventures was born out of a case of temporary insanity that settled in.

At least that's what Victor and Donna MacLeod have to say about their business, which turns three years old this December.

The family-run business specializes in offering a variety of programs, but the most fundamental service delivered by Inukshuk is the first aid and survival training that takes place across the NWT.

"There's a lack of emergency medical facilities and ambulance services, so we do lots of training in the communities. Some of the smaller communities don't even have nurses," says Victor MacLeod.

He says he has provided some form of first-aid training in 45 of the settlements in the NWT, adding that there are more people per capita north of 60 with first-aid training than in any other area in Canada.

Most of MacLeod's extensive survival experience comes from a 22-year stint with the military and 11 years with St. John's Ambulance.

"Basically, I've just fallen into it. I got transferred around the North a lot in the military and I picked it up through Labrador and the Northwest Territories as an adult and as a kid. It's just something I've picked up over many years of living in the North," says MacLeod, 51.

"It's been developed over a long time. I used to travel to geological surveys on Ellesmere Island and I took the opportunity to volunteer to go to other places like Resolute or Eureka or Coppermine (Kugluktuk)."

MacLeod says human error is the No. 1 enemy of wilderness survival.

"The biggest thing you're working against is yourself. People don't realize and they go out snowmobiling for the day and they don't take anything. Or they'll go flying into a small community and they're not dressed for it. How long are they going to survive in -37, especially if they're hurt?"

MacLeod tells people taking his classes to be equipped to spend at least one night outdoors. "It takes at least 24 hours to get a search party organized. There's no limit to how long you can stay outside if you're prepared and you stay healthy. But you've got one day to two at the most if you're not prepared."

Inukshuk Safety Ventures is the first private business in the North to offer first aid and survival training services.