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INUVIK
Inuvik might be a somewhat safer place to wander around by this time next year.

Const. Patrick Faye of the Inuvik RCMP detachment prepares for a snowmobile patrol. Officers with this kind of experience would be an important. - T. Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo

Inuvik RCMP Staff Sgt. Jerry McKenna is looking into reviving the town's ground search committee and the local team associated with it.

"I've been involved in this kind of thing for years," McKenna said on March 8. "We used to have a committee and a team here in Inuvik, but it's kind of fallen by the wayside."

He's working with assistant deputy mayor Alana Mero on the project. She's been involved in the committee during a previous incarnation, McKenna said.

"There is a need for strong search and rescue teams and resources throughout the North," Mero said. "When someone is lost or overdue, the area to be covered in a search is vast and all possible resources are needed for the task.

"While the military may send planes to join the search they will not arrive for eight hours or more. During this time local Search and Rescue teams can be on the ground and water and in the air searching. In the past, Inuvik has relied on a variety of sources to assist with searches."

Mero said Inuvik hosts a Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary (CCGA) unit, which conducts water-based searches.

"Civil Air Search and Rescue Association (CASARA) conducts air searches. In the summer the two groups work together as most searches are on the Mackenzie Delta. During the rest of the year CASARA is the main search organization. We have not had a formal ground search team.

"When the need for a search has arisen, the RCMP have contacted the CCGA, CASARA and asked the Canadian Rangers to assist on the ground. While this has worked in the past it is not the most effective means of organizing and conducting a search as the Rangers may or may not be available."

"We're trying to arrange a meeting with prior members," McKenna said. "There's a possibility of federal funding. There's a lot of really good training available."

McKenna said the key to having a successful ground-search operation lies in the organization, details and training.

Mero agreed with that perspective.

"Searches take place several times a year in this area," she said. "In this region when we think of 'ground' we also need to think of the Mackenzie Delta, particularly when it is frozen in the winter.

"There is a need to have trained and committed volunteers to search by water, air and on the ground throughout the region. It is important that local people be involved in the searches to contribute their knowledge of the land and waterways."

McKenna stressed the need for co-ordinated efforts.

"We have a lot of people who know the area but have no experience doing search and rescue," he said.

Otherwise, despite an abundance of people wanting to help, the area being searched might not be covered properly, or some areas might be gone over again and again while others are missed entirely, or searchers themselves can wind up in trouble and in need of rescue.

In those circumstances, searchers can be become the subject of another search, McKenna said. Worse yet, it's possible that no one might be aware they're missing or in trouble.

That's why training and co-ordination and management are crucial. Participants need to know their roles, and understand the chain of command and communication processes.

He'd like to tap into that wealth of expertise, but it could take months for everything to come together.

"It has good potential, and this is needed," McKenna said.

He envisions the Inuvik team as being prepared to deal with local searches, under the many scenarios that could happen.

This would run the gamut from a missing hunter, trapper or snowmobiler lost in the woods to boating accidents in the summer on the river system.

He's an old hand at both search and rescue operations and emergency management and is looking to share the expertise and his enthusiasm for the topic with the community.

Also key to a successful ground search is training people on the available equipment. McKenna said he's begun working on the RCMP's satellite phones, making sure they're functioning and up to date.

"There's also no point in turning someone loose with a satellite phone to keep in touch if they have no idea of how to use it," he said. "We have to train people on these things."

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