Rankin Inlet (Apr 28/03) - More than 50 delegates attended a search-and-rescue (SAR) conference in Rankin Inlet earlier this month.

The conference was attended by representatives from the community, territorial and federal levels.

Eric Doig, the manager of Nunavut Emergency Management, speaks to more than 50 delegates who attended the territory's first major search-and-rescue conference since division. - Darrell Greer/NNSL photo

The meeting was the first one of its kind in Nunavut since division in 1999.

The manager of Nunavut Emergency Management, Eric Doig, said the conference was a considerable undertaking for his department.

"It's been awhile in the making and we're pleased we finally managed to pull it all together," said Doig.

"We had people from almost every Nunavut community attend."

Doig said the focus of the gathering was to create SAR awareness.

He said organizers wanted to ensure everyone went back to their community with information on what SAR really is in Nunavut.

"We had presentations from the various agencies to identify what their roles and responsibilities are.

"Hopefully everybody is now on the same level and knows what it takes to conduct SAR and who's responsible for what aspects."

Another conference objective was to identify the future of SAR in Nunavut.

Doig said the objective is to create a more organized SAR operation

"How do you co-ordinate 27 isolated communities and ensure everybody's at the same level with training, operations and general co-ordination?

"That's the challenge we have to address."

Doig said community input is playing a huge role in the development of a made-in-Nunavut plan for SAR.

He said the organizational effort can't be driven from the South, Iqaluit or regional centres.

"It has to be driven from the local level. SAR is the responsibility of the territory which, essentially, is the people.

"Various departments accept certain speciality roles, but we have to make certain what we do is going to be effective in the communities.

"In short, an effective SAR program has to be built from the grassroots up."

Input from the conference will be part of a preliminary plan scheduled to be completed next month.

"We'll then bring this same group back together to go over the plan in July."