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By Gianluca Arcari

Defence Watch Guest Writer

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(Photo above by Marc DesRosiers/Freelance)

With almost 10,000 Search and Rescue operations across Canada every year, it’s essential that the dedicated personnel who carry out these potentially life-saving operations are trained and equipped to work in all kinds of conditions and terrains. So it might come as a surprise that Canada hasn’t had a standard for ground search and rescue operations before now.

But it should come as no surprise that Canada is among the first in the world to adopt a voluntary, consensus-based standard in this area. We take search and rescue very seriously in Canada, and we’re very, very good at it. And now, with the new standard developed by CSA Group and the Search and Rescue Volunteer Association of Canada (SARVAC), we’ll be even better.

The new standard, unveiled on June 23 after more than two years of collaboration and consultation with all key stakeholders, outlines a set of core competencies that will form the foundation for interoperability and portability of Ground Search and Rescue (GSAR) skills across Canada. The standard encourages a consistent level of knowledge and skills and will be the basis for training programs developed for search and rescue volunteers nationally.