Tsartlip First Nation (“Tsartlip”) is partnering with Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue (“RCMSR”) to provide Search and Rescue training to Tsartlip community members.
Tsartlip has a strong need for training in Search and Rescue to ensure the safety of community members, help keep visitors to Tsartlip territory safe, and to address environmental safety concerns caused by rundown boats and oil spills. The need for Search and Rescue support will continue to grow as more community members go out on the water to practice Douglas Treaty rights to hunt and fish as formerly and is particularly critical given the recent community member who tragically passed while on the water.
That’s why the Tsartlip Stewardship Department is working with RCMSR to ensure community members are properly trained. Tsartlip community members participating in training include John Harper, Franklin Samson, and Richard Underwood. Community members are training up to three times a week alongside RCMSR volunteers working out of Brentwood Bay.
Tsartlip is involved in four types of Search and Rescue training provided by RCMSR. The first two types include Crew Member Training – which focuses on basic first aid – and Advanced Crew Member Training. The third type of training is Rigid Hull Inflatable Operator Training (“RHIOT”), and the fourth is Coxswain Leadership Training, where students learn “Seamanship and Boat-Handling abilities in order to maintain safety for Crews” implementing Search and Rescue efforts.
Thanks to this training and the vessels and safety equipment already owned by the Tsartlip Stewardship Department, trained Tsartlip community members now have the tools and skills necessary to help with water-related incidents including oil spills, missing persons, injuries, accidents, boats in distress, kayakers in distress, and canoers in distress. Additionally, trained community members have a better understanding of the ability to rescue, how to self-rescue, and when to ask for help.
The Stewardship Department is enthusiastic about the ways this training can support the community. Michael Desjarlais, Tsartlip’s Ecological Restoration Coordinator, shared, “We train for Search and Rescue events and hope that they never happen, but if they do, we’ll be ready for them.”
Will Morris, Director of Stewardship, also spoke to how Search and Rescue training will support the community:
“Reaction time to an emergency situation is important. So, by doing regular drills we have a much stronger chance of rescuing community members and visitors to the territory in a reasonable time frame.”
Morris looks forward to using this training not only to protect the community but also to protect the environment. He says:
“This training goes far beyond just drills. We are also looking at the challenges with derelict boats and spills within our territory. This falls within the directives of the Stewardship Department by addressing the cumulative impacts of environmental stress on our territory. Search and Rescue initiatives go hand in hand with oil spill protection.”
Tsartlip looks forward to continuing Search and Rescue training initiatives to protect the community and environment. To learn more about these initiatives, subscribe to the Tsartlip newsletter.
