Nearly a dozen Denare Beach residents are fully equipped to assist the RCMP in searches, but they hope they never have to be put to the test.
Jean Champagne, president of the Denare Beach Search and Rescue group, is one of 11 trained to assist the RCMP in searches, whether it is for missing people or evidence in crime cases.
“It’s one of those things you may never need to use, but if you’re called upon, you’re ready to go,” says Champagne, a retired member of the Canadian Armed Forces Reserves and current member of the Denare Beach council.
The group was formed in September 2014 as a local chapter of the Search and Rescue Saskatchewan Association of Volunteer.
The Denare Beach group is ready and able to assist the RCMP in quicker, more efficient searches, although they have not yet been called upon to do so.
If they are needed, the group would receive a call to begin the legwork of a search.
The first 48 hours are the most crucial time in any search or rescue mission. Champagne said RCMP search teams from Saskatoon or Regina would be called in in the event of a search. “So by the time [they] have gotten here, the process will have started,” he says. “We initiate the search ahead of them.”
Champagne says the Denare Beach group, which is just one chapter in Saskatchewan, is like “a support group” for the RCMP.
A retiree from the Reserves, Champagne says his experience helps prepare him for the search and rescue work. “I think it’s something that I want to offer to the population in Denare Beach,” he said. He encourages area residents to join the crew.
Training
The local group, which is affiliated with the Denare Beach Fire Department, went through basic training in September and continues to train on a monthly basis with the fire department.
In larger centres, like Saskatoon or Regina, Champagne says calls are often made to search and rescue groups for assistance in locating someone with Alzheimer’s or someone missing from their home.
Locally, he says, the calls would more likely be to find people who may have gone missing in the large wooded areas while participating in recreational activities such as ATVing or snowmobiling.
“So the training is dependent on the nature of our type of environment,” says Champagne.
Champagne says there are a number of different types of jobs within the search and rescue crew.
He says searchers require special skills to participate.
“They have to be familiar with winter survival, being in the bush and building a shelter,” says Champagne, adding that those skills are a part of the training.
And while these positions are important in the crew, Champagne says support jobs are just as crucial.
“There is always a demand for people in the background to be at the base and make sure the supplies are there as well as transporting the supplies to a drop-off point and cooking for the [crew],” says Champagne. “It just all depends on what capacity a person wants to be involved.”
Getting involved
The search and rescue crew is always looking for new members, and Champagne says the larger the group, the easier to complete any mission that comes up.
All members will complete the basic training course as well as attend the monthly training sessions to keep their skills fresh.
Champagne says the group has not yet been called out to help on a mission, but the crew continues to keep up to date with training.
“We will make sure that people going out know their roles and responsibilities,” he says.
Champagne encourages anyone over the age of 18 who is interested in the search and rescue crew to get involved.
The group falls under the insurance and liability of the Denare Beach Fire Department, but Champagne says those who are not members of the department simply need to complete a security check through the RCMP to be eligible
to join.
“The bigger the chapter, the more interesting training we can do,” he says, noting that training could consist of mock search missions. “We would be able to create situations and make it interesting.”
Those interested in joining the crew can contact the Denare Beach Fire Department.
