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Search and Rescue consider a withdrawal of services

Concerns over liability in wake of recent lawsuit
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Search and Rescue volunteers already have to worry about a lot of different things when immersed in a rescue - changes of weather, the ruggedness of the terrain, the possibility of avalanches, and the safety of their targets and follow team members. Now you can add to that the threat of a lawsuit if something goes wrong.

Whistler Search and Rescue (WSAR) will meet with four other local SAR groups tonight (Wednesday) to discuss how to respond to concerns over liability, and how to provide services until they get the right assurances from the province.

"We plan to devise a common position in seeking a longer term resolution with the Crown," said Whistler Search and Rescue manager Brad Sills on Tuesday night after local search and rescue society members met to talk over the situation.

At tonight's meeting will be Search and Rescue representatives from the North Shore, Lions Bay, Squamish, Pemberton, and Whistler.

Sills, who has been involved in search and rescue for over 30 years, said he might have to resign from his position as WSAR manager after learning that there was a chance that he could be held personally liable if the Society was sued.

He has stepped back from that position as WSAR seeks some clarity around the issues.

At the meeting, said Sills, "There was unanimous decision to move forward with support for Golden Search and Rescue in obtaining a proper and legal defence paid for by the province of British Columbia."

The issue of liability came up following a lawsuit that was launched against the Golden and District Search and Rescue Association after the death of Marie-Josee Fortin.

She and her husband Gilles Blackburn, who launched the lawsuit, skied out of bounds near Kicking Horse Mountain Resort outside of Golden in February. Fortin died of hypothermia after the couple spent a week lost in the wilderness.

Two days after she died Blackburn, who had stamped S.O.S. signs into the snow, was rescued.

Blackburn is also suing the RCMP, Kicking Horse Resort, the attorney general of B.C. and other defendants.

It is the first time a rescue association or society has been sued and it has sent organizations around the province into a frenzy of insurance form checking.

It is estimated that one third of the 80 SAR groups in B.C. do not have third party liability coverage for members, directors and executives, putting their personal property at risk.

If SAR groups are called out on a rescue and receive what is known as a task number from the Emergency Control Centre (ECC) of the Provincial Emergency Program (PEP) then all members are covered unless negligent. They also have Workers Compensation Board coverage.

However, it is up to each individual SAR society or association to indemnify their own organization, including the executives and directors.

In response to the lawsuit Golden, Kimberley and Fernie immediately suspended their search and rescue operations. Since then Kimberly has come back on board after ensuring that all the appropriate insurance is in place.

In a letter to PEP the Golden SAR stated: "Our organization holds directors liability insurance and it is our understanding that our policy will cover this lawsuit. "However, we feel that the province or the authority with jurisdiction should be assuming this responsibility, as many SAR teams in this province carry no liability insurance."

It asked PEP to respond to three questions: who is entitled to coverage, to what extent are they covered, and through what mechanism is that coverage provided?

The letter went on to say: "We hope you can understand the directors of this society are unwilling to accept the legal liability for operational tasks. Until the directors of the society are satisfied with the coverage provided by the province or by other tasking agencies, regretfully, our assets are non operational. Our volunteers are unwilling to assume that kind of risk."

B.C.'s new Solicitor General weighed in on the issue Monday from Victoria, saying his staff is arranging a meeting with the president of the B.C. Search and Rescue Association (BC SARA).

"I have reached out to the (president) of the Search and Rescue Association and we are going to be meeting in the next couple of weeks," said Kash Heed.

"They do an absolutely outstanding job. They are volunteers, the work that they do is needed here in the province, and we respect their work and we appreciate their work."

Don Bindon, BC SARA's president, said he was looking forward to meeting with Heed.

"My meeting with the Minister is not to seek things from the Minister but to provide information," he said.

Work is already underway, said Bindon, to address some of the issues raised by the Golden lawsuit. Rescue groups which do not have third party liability insurance are being reached to ensure they understand the ramifications of the decision. If it is a question of not having enough funds to cover insurance they are looking at ways to remedy this.

"From a public safety issue (people) are no more at risk now than they were before," said Bindon, adding that it is also up to those going into the backcountry to prepare themselves properly.

Closer to home, Pemberton's SAR team does not currently have insurance for its society; it lapsed unintentionally. But following a meeting Tuesday night members decided that they would still respond to calls.

Team leader Dave Steers said members are concerned about the issues the Golden lawsuit have raised and especially the uncertainty around coverage. And, he said, it is something the government needs to address immediately or it will likely have an impact across B.C.

"Most SAR volunteers are pretty dedicated people and what they need is absolute certainly as to where liability lies... and nobody at this point seems to understand where that is," said Steers, while acknowledging that the province is working hard on the crisis.

"You may face across B.C. certain members opting out until they understand just what they are getting themselves into.

"It appears that (the Province) will protect a member on a task who has signed in, unless they were negligent, and that scares the hell out of me because how do you determine negligence."

Said Sills: "If PEP is saying that this is what Search and Rescue Societies must have then they should provide it for us.

"It is absolutely insane that we have to go out and fundraise on our own time to protect ourselves from liability for volunteer work. It is ludicrous.

"There is not, in my opinion, a search and rescue volunteer who is willing to put his house, her business, her or his marriage on the line for this."

Sills said the general understanding has been that the insurance held by rescue associations and societies was a third line of defence and the province was the real gatekeeper.

"Anyone who is familiar with legal action knows that one line of defence doesn't offer much comfort," he said.

"It is just simply not worth it. We hang our lives out there as it is. To hang our wives' and our children's future out there, and our employees' future... well that is unacceptable.

"We can't operate this way. Unfortunately somebody is going to bear the brunt of this and my advice would be to stay out of the woods."

Tim Jones, search manager for North Shore Rescue, said he understands Sills' position, but expecting the province to pay for insurance for associations and societies is a non-starter.

"I understand (Sills') position but the reality is the Province is not going to do it," he said.

The clear need for association or society insurance may also reduce the number of volunteers in small communities where there is limited funding.

"There are some teams in the province who will have to make a decision about if they are going to get a brake job on a rescue vehicle or pay for SAR insurance," said Jones.

"That $2,500 bucks may not seem like a lot to everybody but you have guys who are busting their ass trying to put together a search and rescue team and now they have to pay private insurance.

"I think we are going to have a problem."

Jones said the Golden lawsuit has also brought home the need for rescue groups to get a task number for every call. even if the call is just for advice - as it is so many times.

This will create more work for all the stakeholders. But, he said, it also fortifies the organization's safety net for members in case of a lawsuit.

Steve Bachop, director of management services and programs for PEP is urging SAR groups to keep talking with the province about this issue so that a compromise can be found.

"Whenever a team is engaged on a task they are covered," he said, adding that the issue of insurance for rescue associations and societies was raised in the 1990s and has been raised by PEP more than once.

"The Province does not provide any third party indemnification to any other society or association in B.C. and that is really the heart of the issue here.

"We absolutely totally value the work that (SAR does)... we want to work with them to try and identify any gaps and I think at end of day it may require compromise on the part of both sides."