News
SAR technicians almost all based in southern Canada
Nov. 1, 2010, Ottawa - Search and rescue technicians are almost all based in Southern Canada, even though most of Canada's remote and hard-to-reach areas are in the North, according to the Conference Board of Canada's Waiting to Be Rescued map, the latest in its Here, the North series.
November 1, 2010 By Carey Fredericks
"While our search and rescue technicians are trained in Arctic rescue, they are not based in the North," said Gilles Rhéaume, Vice-President, Public Policy. "As the North becomes busier, as a result of a growing number of flights taking polar routes, increased maritime shipping in Arctic waters, and greater economic development, there will be increasing demand for search-and-rescue technicians to serve the North."
As the map shows, virtually all search-and-rescue technicians are stationed in Canada's Southern regions. CFB Trenton, for example, which commands search and rescue operations throughout most of the North, is closer to Quito, Ecuador, than it is to the Canadian military base at Alert, Nunavut.
Waiting to Be Rescued is the eighth map in the Centre for the North's Here, the North series. The maps are designed to illustrate similarities and differences between Canada's North and South and among northern regions.
