Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, December 5, 2007

KIVALLIQ - Kivalliq detachments of the RCMP have a new tool available to the public that could help save lives in the region's unforgiving winter climate.

RCMP Const. Tamara Patterson, of the Repulse Bay detachment, displays the new emergency position indicating radio beacon that sends a signal to mark the location of people in distress on land or in the water. - photo courtesy of RCMP

Each of the Kivalliq RCMP detachments now has four emergency position indicating radio beacons (EPIRB) at its disposal.

The program is a partnership between the RCMP and Nunavut Emergency Management (NEM), which purchased 100 EPIRB's to distribute to RCMP detachments across Nunavut.

Const. Tamara Patterson of the Repulse Bay detachment said the RCMP is working in partnership with NEM to ensure the units are made available to everyone for their safety.

She said the beacons can be carried by anyone going out on the land or boating.

"The units can also be used by searchers during search-and-rescue (SAR) operations," said Patterson.

"It's basically a transmitter unit that gets activated to provide the location of anyone in a dangerous situation who needs a SAR effort.

"The unit can be activated manually, but it also floats and will activate automatically if it ends up in the water."

The radio beacon can help SAR members locate anyone in trouble a lot faster.

Patterson said each unit has been registered with Canadian authorities.

She said when a unit someone has signed out gets activated, it transmits a distinct signal so when a local detachment is called by the responding authority, it can quickly identify who signed out the unit, where they planned to travel and for how long.

"There's a waiver form to be signed to take responsibility for the unit.

"There's also a full instruction manual which the RCMP uses to brief a traveller or hunter on the proper operation of the unit.

"They have to demonstrate they're competent and understand how the unit works before taking it out.

"A family member and/or the RCMP also have to be informed as to the party's estimated time of departure, how long they expect to be on the land or water, where they're travelling and what the purpose of the trip is."

Patterson said the device is well worth the small amount of effort it takes to sign out, and has the potential to save many lives in the Kivalliq.

She said the first time she saw one was in Repulse Bay, and she immediately went on the Internet to learn more.

"They're absolutely amazing and a total asset to any community, especially in the North.

"A teacher and I took one with us when we went out for a recent snowmobile ride.

"You never know what can happen out on the land, even close to town, so it's a lot better to play it safe now than to be sorry later."