News

National SAR Volunteer Study – Your Voice Matters

Are You a Search and Rescue Volunteer in Canada? Your experience matters. Dr. Jelena Brcic from the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) is leading a national research study exploring the successes and challenges of Search and Rescue (SAR) volunteers across Canada....

GSAR Volunteers Ready to Support Wildfire Response Across Canada

As wildfires continue to impact communities in central and western Canada, trained Ground Search and Rescue (GSAR) volunteers stand ready to deploy through the SARVAC Humanitarian Workforce (HWF) program. Insured and deployable GSAR teams are prepared to assist at all...

Strengthening Canada’s Disaster Response: SARVAC’s First-Ever MIST Workshop Brings GSAR Members Together

Last weekend, 31 GSAR members from Coast to Coast to Coast gathered in Toronto, ON, for SARVAC's first-ever Mission Incident Support Team (MIST) Workshop! This workshop is designed to provide advanced incident management training, enabling participants to take on...

Honouring Excellence: Celebrating Canada’s Emergency Management Exemplary Service Award Recipients

SARVAC proudly celebrates the 129 outstanding individuals and groups recognized by the Government of Canada for their dedication to emergency management! From search and rescue volunteers to resilient community leaders, their commitment to keeping Canadians safe is...

Strengthening National Search and Rescue Leadership – Coast to Coast to Coast

This past weekend in Toronto, SARVAC’s Humanitarian Workforce Program (HWF) proudly hosted its "Train the Trainer" event! The workshop’s mission? To empower champions within each Provincial/Territorial (P/T) Association to amplify SARVAC’s HWF program. These champions...

Strengthening the Ground SAR Role in Canada

This weekend, Ground SAR Groups from the British Columbia Search and Rescue Association will have an opportunity to meet in Chilliwack as a part of a SARVAC project funded by the National Search and Rescue Secretariat New Initiatives Funding entitled: “Strengthening the Ground Search and Rescue Role in Canada”.

New Hug-A-Tree and Survive Video

Exciting news! SARVAC is pleased to launch a newly revised version of the Hug-A-Tree and Survive video which is now available on AdventureSmart.ca in both official languages. The new video incorporates the use of an emergency shelter, which is consistent with the...

Mabel Lake, BC – Missing Women

In the early morning of November 11th, 2015, Vernon Search and Rescue was called out to search for two missing women in the Mabel Lake - Kingfisher area, east of Enderby, BC, Canada. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhvY5F8ncKM

Prince Edward Island Ground SAR

Search and Rescue began on Prince Edward Island in 1995 with the establishment of a search and rescue team in West Prince, P.E.I.. The team was created in response to a missing person's case when trained searchers had to be brought in from out of province.  Cst. Terry...

New Brunswick Ground SAR

What began as a letter published in 1983 in the Fredericton newspaper as a desire to have a trained team to respond to lost person emergencies, turned into the creation of the first New Brunswick team on December 20, 1983.  Since it's initial formation, NB Ground...

Nova Scotia Ground SAR

Search and Rescue in Nova Scotia started officially in November of 1969 after a 5 day search in the Cape Breton Highlands for a father of 5, who was found alive. While he was in the hospital recovering, Cape Breton Search and Rescue was created. Since then another 23...

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