Fernie SAR status update

To all members of Fernie and District Search and Rescue:

As you have likely heard there is currently a crisis in BC with PEP and all the SAR groups. This stems from the incident this past winter near Kicking Horse Resort when a couple from Montreal went out of bounds. As a result the wife died and the husband was rescued several days later.

Two weeks ago a law suit was filed by the husband and children of the subject. One of the party's named was Golden and District Search and Rescue.

This suit is the first ever filed against a BC SAR group and, as such, has exposed several loopholes and raised a number of legal concerns. Any SAR member who signs in on a task from PEP is automatically provided with coverage and is free from civil liability (unless there is proof of gross negligence) under section 18 of the Emergency Program Act of 1996.

After meeting with legal counsel, a letter was sent to PEP requesting clarification of a number of issues. Currently it appears that any Director of a SAR group is not covered by PEP and should have third party liability insurance. Fernie SAR has that insurance. However, one of the concerns stems from the possibility that in a high profile case, that liability insurance may not prove to be sufficient and subsequently, the Directors would be personally liable.

PEP has stated that they are not able to support the Directors as they have no "legal relationship" with them. As a result, until these issues have been satisfactorily resolved, the Board of Directors of Fernie and District Search and Rescue have resigned. It is unrealistic to expect anyone to volunteer if that puts at risk their family's financial security.

Please be assured that as a SAR group Fernie is active and, as happened today, we will respond when called upon by our tasking agencies. Any individual member of Search and Rescue need have no concerns about that their personal financial situation may be on the line. This is very much restricted to the Board of Directors.

We expect that this will be resolved quickly to the satisfaction of all concerned.

Thank you to all of our members for your continued support and dedication to Search and Rescue.