Transcript
In September 2019, they hosted two live Search and Rescue demonstrations to test their emergency response systems.
“Now, for the past two days, we've been involved in showing how EMSA has improved the safety and our community here through funding from Transport Canada.”
During the search and rescue demonstrations, participants were told a community member’s husband did not return home after a day of hunting.
The first demonstration was conducted without use of the EMSA tools.
It was not successful…
“They left the dock at 8:30 a.m., proceeded to go look for the hunter (the overdue traveler) and by 3 p.m. they were weren't able to locate him. So we called off the exercise, just due to safety reasons and we didn't want to actually put anybody in any real danger.”
For the second demonstration, the community used the tools and technology provided through the EMSA initiative.
“So on day two we used all the tools available to us through the pilot project and the stuff we were able to purchase in the community.”
“We did the same scenario pretty much the same distance we had the boat but just in a different location.”
“From the time the call was made till the time they spotted the boat was an hour and seven minutes.”
“So that there shows you what a powerful tools we were able to purchase through this funding. And it'd be a great initiative, in my opinion to see it all over the ISR and actually everywhere in the north, because when you come from a small community you are so close that any time you lose anybody, the whole community feels it...”
“And to know that they have this system in place now and the hunters who are using our equipment go out they have that assurance that somebody is always looking after them or looking out for them.”
“The whole community of Tuk is behind this program 100% and they're very thankful for the opportunity to be a part of it.”
“I care a lot for this community When you care for a community and its members, you want to do everything possible to protect to ensure their safety, and to be able to do that from sitting in offices. Something I never thought would be possible.”