NORTHERN RESCUERS ALMOST ALL SOUTHERN BASED

www.conferenceboard.ca

OTTAWA, Nov. 1 /CNW/ - Search and rescue technicians are almost all based in Southern Canada, even though most of Canada's remote and hard-to-reach areas are in the North, according to the Conference Board of Canada's Waiting to Be Rescued map, the latest in its Here, the North series.

"While our search and rescue technicians are trained in Arctic rescue, they are not based in the North," said Gilles Rhéaume, Vice-President, Public Policy. "As the North becomes busier, as a result of a growing number of flights taking polar routes, increased maritime shipping in Arctic waters, and greater economic development, there will be increasing demand for search-and-rescue technicians to serve the North."

As the map shows, virtually all search-and-rescue technicians are stationed in Canada's Southern regions. CFB Trenton, for example, which commands search and rescue operations throughout most of the North, is closer to Quito, Ecuador, than it is to the Canadian military base at Alert, Nunavut.

Waiting to Be Rescued is the eighth map in the Centre for the North's Here, the North series. The maps are designed to illustrate similarities and differences between Canada's North and South and among northern regions.

The Centre for the North is a Conference Board of Canada program of research and dialogue. Its main purpose is to work with Aboriginal leaders, businesses, governments, communities, educational institutions, and other organizations to provide insights into how sustainable prosperity can be achieved in the North. Over its five-year mandate, the Centre for the North will help to establish and implement strategies, policies and practices to transform that vision into reality.

For further information:

Brent Dowdall, Media Relations, Tel.: [phone] ext. 448
E-mail: [email protected]