Thank you, Mr. Chair.
The Search and Rescue Volunteer Association of Canada is a national organization representing all provincial and territorial ground search and rescue associations, known as GSAR associations. All of these associations and their 300 teams are totally made up of volunteers.
SARVAC is a federally incorporated charitable organization providing oversight, education, and support. We foster, coordinate, and encourage excellence in volunteer search and rescue organizations in Canada. Our vision is to have a national community of skilled search and rescue volunteers whose contributions are valued and supported by the public and all levels of government.
SARVAC has over 9,000 volunteer searchers, team leaders, and search managers who respond to an average of 1,900 calls a year. Combined, they volunteer 142,000 hours in searches, 63,000 hours in training, 10,000 hours in prevention, and 19,000 community hours in ground search and rescue every year.
The Search and Rescue Volunteer Association of Canada, the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association, known as CASARA, and the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary are the three lead organizations for volunteer search and rescue in Canada.
For many years SARVAC has championed the provision of a tax credit to recognize the value of the GSAR volunteers who give so much of their time and effort to searches, training, and maintaining a readiness to search for missing people. The new search and rescue volunteers tax credit is therefore truly recognized as a welcome benefit to GSAR volunteers who commit their personal time, effort, and equipment to finding lost persons in their communities. The new tax credit is recognition of the important role played by search and rescue volunteers in contributing to the security and safety of our citizens and visitors to our country.
For the purpose of determining the cost savings that a volunteer imparts, a value of $25 per hour was assigned to various government agencies. These figures are now 10 years old. This means that by using the skilled search and rescue volunteers, there is a huge reduction to the financial burden of governments to carry out SAR missions.
To be eligible to qualify for the new tax credit, a volunteer must have put in 200 hours or more of volunteer time. This will require that all volunteer time is properly documented to ensure that clear supporting records are kept to show primary hours, which include searching, training, meetings, and on-call; and secondary hours, which include maintenance of equipment and prevention, for a minimum of 200 hours required to qualify. Of these, 101 hours must be made up of primary hours.
GSAR volunteers place themselves at risk any time they are responding to a search for a missing or a lost person. Searches often take place in rough terrain, poor weather, and can happen day or night. Searchers are trained in search techniques, first aid, rescue and recovery, navigation, and survival. They offer themselves as a professional resource to policing agencies in Canada.
Thank you very much.