My name is Calvin Pedersen. I'm a long-time search and rescue, or SAR, volunteer in Cambridge Bay and Kugluktuk, a former MLA for my community and a Canadian Ranger for 22 years. I have travelled approximately a quarter of a million miles on snowmobile, ATV, boat and on foot in my lifetime. Currently, I serve as a volunteer with Kugluktuk search and rescue. We have a ground SAR team and a coast guard auxiliary unit, although it's generally the same people in both. Through the dedication of all of our volunteer responders, we conduct SAR operations year round, but we are a small community with a small volunteer pool, which means that most of our members wear many hats. Some are GSAR, Coast Guard, volunteer fire and Canadian Rangers.
Look at Jack Himiak, our coordinator. He does all of the administration, the paperwork. He leads the fundraising and manages all ground and marine searches, alongside his full-time job.
Each community is extremely lucky to have a Jack—a jack of all trades, if you will—along with dedicated individuals to help when the time comes. Volunteer burnout is a real problem, made worse by a heavy caseload that is only increasing; a lack of training, equipment and funding; and no mental health supports for responders. We almost always know the people we are searching for or the bodies we are recovering.
We also have to deal with slow response times from southern-based SAR assets. This is true for all emergency and disaster events in our communities. Outside help is always hours or days away. Communities must be prepared to go it alone for extended periods. The Northwest Passage is getting busier, and increased traffic equals increased emergencies. This includes small pleasure craft, like that New Zealand sailing boat that was first spotted by Inuit marine monitor, Bobby Klengenberg, of Cambridge Bay in 2020.
These greenhorns will almost certainly add to our SAR workload. This traffic includes cruise ships with hundreds on board. If a cruise ship ran aground near our community, we would be the first responders and they'd be off-loaded into our community. Do we have the capacity? What if they eat all of the food in the community, or the rescue sucks up all of our fuel? What if they are injured? We don't even have enough medical assistance for our own community members. This is a big worry.
There are many SAR and emergency management challenges to overcome. Would federal SAR assets based in the region, particularly aircraft, help? Sure, but emergencies are always local. We need to build capabilities and resilience from the ground up. I'm a lead researcher on the Kitikmeot Search and Rescue project, working with community responders and academics Peter Kikkert and Whitney Lackenbauer to better understand the challenges we face and develop possible solutions. Our work has generated several cost-effective solutions that we think would make a big difference.
First, establish a permanent Inuit Nunangat or northern search and rescue round table that would bring community responders together with territorial and federal practitioners to work through the challenges and plan for complex scenarios like a mass rescue operation in the Northwest Passage. Inuit already feel responsible for these waters, so give us some responsibility for the planning.
Second, we need greater support for preventative search and rescue activities, including land safety courses and wilderness first aid built into the educational curriculum, which I had when I was young. Let's bring these courses back. They will decrease the number of searches for community members.
Third, our community responders need sustained funding and support. These groups save lives, while also providing the safety net we need to move, live and work safely on the land, water and ice. These groups support Canada's wider aims. Better protection of the passage by Inuit groups would show that we are here, we live here, and these are Canadian waters.
Finally, we believe it is time for the establishment of a community public safety officer program in Nunavut and across Inuit Nunangat. This program would provide communities with full-time public safety officers responsible for SAR prevention, preparation and response, and all-hazards emergency management and emergency medical services. Such a program would build off the local knowledge, Inuit qaujimajatuqangit, and the community relationships of the officers, while providing the space for the development of new capabilities.
They could lead the land safety classes in schools, make sure emergency plans aren't just gathering dust on the shelf, train volunteers, coordinate searches, conduct debriefings, drive the ambulance, work with private industry and perform a wide range of other emergency tasks.
Thank you for your time.