INUVIK
There was no lack of interest in Inuvik's new ground search and rescue team (GSAR) at a meeting March 28.

Frances Gertsch: Helped lead a presentation on the new Inuvik Ground Search and Rescue volunteer team March 27. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo

Twenty-five people showed up for an information session on the team, which is recruiting members until April 11.

The presenters from the informal committee who have been organizing the team, including Jerry McKenna, Frances Gertsch and Vince Sharpe, said they have applied to make it an official society. That application is likely to be approved within the next week.

Other than recruitment, one of the first items of business for the GSAR team will be to hold an official general meeting to establish a formal board.

An application for government funding to help with the team's training and equipment needs is also likely to be approved this month, McKenna said.

Sharpe is likely the most knowledgeable person in the region when it comes to searches. He's participated in many searches over his 46 years in Inuvik, including a fatal plane crash near Tuktoyaktuk about 30 years ago, and is bringing that expertise to the team.

He said he was very pleased to see the turnout to the meeting. He also wasn't bothered that most of the people present had been living in Inuvik for less than 18 months.

He said that means they won't bring any misconceptions and established ideas to the table about the area, which will make them "easier to train."

"I'd be a lot harder to train," he quipped.

Sharpe said most of the people who find themselves lost in the area are on the labyrinth of waterways. In his experience, not too many people sticking to land travel wind up needing GSAR services.

"The land is pretty much wide open, but when I first got here, there were three kids who took off from Grollier Hall," Sharpe said.

Drownings are also a common and unfortunate cause of many searches, Sharpe said.

The day the meeting was held, he helped locate a missing motorist whose GPS SPOT device sent out a distress call.

The location was between Aklavik and Fort McPherson, and Sharpe quickly suggested the person was in trouble along a little-used ice road running between the two communities. That was sound advice, since the man was soon located on that road with his truck stuck in a snowbank.

That's the kind of in-depth local knowledge the team is going to need, Sharpe said.

The organizers reiterated the team will need a diverse network of skills and talents, rather than just people who know the land and can "pound the ground."

Ryan Brooks was one of the people hoping to land a spot with the team. He called himself an "avid outdoorsman" who had participated in GSAR programs while living in Ontario.

He was typical of the people turning out the meeting. Many of them were plainly more interested in the physical search activities than the behind-the-scenes organizing.

Another was Eric Hoogstraten, an avid cyclist and rock climber. He said he had contacted McKenna, who is the senior RCMP officer in Inuvik, about participating in GSAR when he arrived last fall only to find the town didn't have one.

"It's just a natural fit," he said.

Nearly 30 applications have already been submitted, Gertsch said. Another round of applications will likely be opened up in the fall.