Vanguard Magazine

aRCTiC www.vanguardcanada.com FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 33 improving! adventurers and cruise ships in search of new exotic and exciting destinations. Many of them are ill-prepared to venture that far north in an area with extremely limited infrastructure and challenging communications. It has been widely reported that the Arctic is warming at twice to three times the rate of southern locations. There is increasing evidence that arctic storms are getting stronger. They increase the risk for adventurers and ships that run into problems because of a fire, loss of power, or loss of steering capability. A 2019 incident involved a large cruise ship that lost power in a storm and was being pushed to shore in Norway. The Viking Sky, with some 1,300 people on board, started to evacuate passengers by helicopter. Heavy seas and strong winds made the evacuation extremely difficult because the cruise ship lifeboats could not be used safely. Several helicopters managed to extract some 400 passengers by the time the crew managed to restart one engine and avoid running aground. A similar situation in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago could easily turn into a disas- ter given the paucity of infrastructure and the distance from major SAR assets. Marine Search and Rescue in Cana- da is the responsibility of the Canadian Coast Guard. Until recently, most marine search and rescue responses would have been conducted by the Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers that deploy every sum- mer in the Arctic, mainly in support of the community annual sealift re-supply operations, or by vessels of opportunity. The Coast Guard ships, which are often equipped with a helicopter and a rigid in- flatable boat, can provide a rapid response to incidents especially if within the range of their helicopters. They can also sail at best speed to reach the site of an incident. Since 2017, they have been deployed to the Arctic sooner and departed later, which increases their availability for SAR. On the land, the territorial govern- ments of Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut are responsible for locating missing people. In the Arctic, that task is normally delegated by the governments to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who are contracted to provide commu- nity policing. One of the most effective community-based resources they can call on is the Canadian Rangers of 1 Cana- dian Ranger Patrol Group. These vol- untary members of the Canadian Forces Reserves have earned an outstanding rep- utation in support of their communities. Their intimate knowledge of the land and weather conditions is unmatched. When a person is reported as missing the Ca- nadian Rangers are often one of the first agencies to be contacted for help. They generally do this on a voluntary basis as members of their communities, but they can be formally tasked to do a search in which case they are compensated. The search and rescue for missing and over-due aircraft or aircraft accidents that trigger an Emergency Locator Trans- mitter (ELT) is the responsibility of the Royal Canadian Air Force. The RCAF maintains a Major Air Disaster response capability that can be parachuted to sup- port a major SAR operation anywhere in Canada. Based on the assessment of the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC), SAR assets will be dispatched to investigate the situation or locate the missing aircraft. This is typically done with CC-130 Hercules aircraft tasked as primary SAR assets. The Twin Otters of 440 Squadron based out of Yellowknife and CP-140 Aurora based in southern Canada have a secondary SAR role and could potentially be tasked as well. The JRCCs can also call on community-based assets of the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association (CASARA) to support a given search effort. Unfortunately, the Hercules and Twin Otter aircraft rely heavily on vi- sual search methods and lack many of the more sophisticated electronic search sen- sors to support the searches. This is about to change. SAR Improvements So where are the improvements? Let's start with international co-operation. On 12 May 2011 in Nuuk, Greenland, the Arctic Council members consisting of Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States established an international treaty called the Cooperation On Aeronautical And Maritime Search And Rescue In The Arctic. The members of the Arctic Coun- cil are all too familiar with the scarcity of search and rescue assets in the Arctic and the challenges posed by the huge dis- tances and the weather. They agreed to increase the coordination and sharing of SAR assets. As depicted below, Canada will be responsible for a very large area that goes all the way to the North Pole. With arctic countries agreeing formally to help one another there is an increased likelihood of better outcomes. Canada will surely benefit from American and Russian ships that are frequently present in the western part of the Arctic and from Danish ships on the eastern part of the Arctic Archipelago. A recent example of this benefit was the assistance provided in Inshore Rescue Boat station crew in Rankin Inlet are now on the water for the 2020 season. Photo: Canadian Coast Guard

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