Parks Canada Requiring Rescue Insurance

52weekbreak said:

I thought the article interesting not that it affects motorized back country users as we do not ride inside the parks. What I am thinking is that this could be the first step in making people reimburse for search and rescues. What is everybody's thoughts on being responsible for SAR costs. Fair? Maybe dependent on conditions?

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Grinder said:

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Cdnfireman said:

I don’t have a problem with some kind of cost recovery for mountain rescue services. I think it’s different from the regular rural emergency services provided by rural municipalities outside of “ resort” areas. Normal rural emergency services are used by and paid for by tax dollars in their respective municipalities, whereas resort areas often have a huge influx of recreational users that can put an unfair burden on the resources that the resident taxpayers have to fund.
Often, the mountain rescue services are largely volunteer staffed, and rely on fundraising outside of normal tax resources to cover their specialized training and equipment. I don’t believe it’s reasonable to expect volunteers to show up, work hard, and risk their lives for just the satisfaction of doing an excellent job.
whether it’s insurance, lift ticket surcharges, user fees or non resident licensing fees, the rescue costs and a reasonable amount of pay for the rescuers should be shouldered to some degree by the users of the respective recreational areas.

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Bikeswithtrax said:

I have volunteered to SAR for years, and also am a volunteer fire fighter. It is good to help others if we can.

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snochuk said:

So is this "fee" going to apply to everyone that enters a park or are we going to target specific groups that use mountain and back country crown land?
Canoeists, hikers, cross country skiers, every type of back country user, boaters at remote lakes, fly fishing camper. There have been needs for SAR in all activities in parks.

Their is a vast amount of activities that have required SAR at one time or another inside and outside of parks.
Direct billing a rescued individual will financially destroy a person. A fine if found guilty of stupidity instead of when **** happens???? Chit does happen.
These are still allowed activities on crown land.
Funding should come from the taxes we already pay to support SAR groups and they should be supported far better in their efforts to save lives.
I for one would not support a user fee in this instance as I can not see it ever applied equally to all users.
Every time government at any level collects monies for distribution their is gross waste in administration. Lets not create a new way to waste our money.
We already have a taxation system, draw what is required from there through Parks and Recreation budgets.

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Cdnfireman said:

Unfortunately the SAR services aren’t funded totally by the tax system. There was a show on tv a while back about the north shore SAR in the Vancouver area, they were responsible for grouse mountain etc around Vancouver. Long story short, the volunteers were burned out and quitting, were paying for fuel and equipment out of their own pockets, and were facing being fired from their full time jobs because they were getting called out so often.
A small surcharge on every park pass, lift ticket etc that goes directly to fund SAR services is not gonna break anyone’s budget, and would help fund fuel and equipment costs. It would also pay a few full time salaries for people who would do the day to day busy work, so when volunteers are called, it’s for emergencies, not maintenance etc. Treat and operate SAR the same way a rural fire service is treated.
We all assume that SAR is gonna be there when we need it, but what happens when it isn’t? What happens when the local municipalities say they can’t afford to provide that service? Governments allocate assets where the need is greater, that’s why emergency services are concentrated on urban and not rural areas. That’s why the farther out you go, the fewer emergency services exist.
You may not realize it, but it’s been decided in the courts that the government has no duty of service when it comes to emergency services. That means that when you call 911 and nobody shows up, you can’t sue the government. Municipalities will fund basic services based on budget and needs but are under no obligation to guarantee a timely response, or to provide anything other than basic services.
if you can afford to recreate in the mountains, you can afford a few bucks a year to fund the people who are gonna come to your rescue when, for whatever reason, things go for $hit.

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Mike270412 said:

Let nature take it's course? What happened to people being responsible for themselves? What happened 100 years ago when people got in trouble in the wilderness? They either got themselves out of a bind or they died.

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lilduke said:

if the tax payers can pay 500g for megan Markle to have full time security, they can pay to fly my ass off a mountain if I should ever need it.

my 2 cents

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