'We have to have a plan': New and old searchers on P.E.I. take part in major mock operation
'We have to have a plan': New and old searchers on P.E.I. take part in major mock operation
Prince Edward Island’s Ground Search and Rescue (P.E.I. GSAR) tested out some new equipment and learned new search management roles in a major mock operation Saturday.
It started first thing in the morning at a marsh conservation park in Stratford.
“You got to keep our skills up,” said P.E.I. GSAR President George Williams. “It’s not just our ability to search for subjects and the clues they leave behind, such as footprints, but it’s also important for our planners.”
“We have a command post where our planners go in and they have to figure out the appropriate areas we want to search. We just don’t go off willy-nilly into the woods. We have to have a plan.”
The planning component is particularly important for this exercise. It’s a brand new team, just back from a five-day course on advanced management techniques they’ll be putting to use Saturday.
“How do you look for searching data, planning data?” said search manager Frances Gertsch. “How do you use statistical and theoretical searching information to really hone on where the subject probably is?”
It’s not just the team that’s new -- PEI GSAR is also putting their new Geographic Information System through its paces.
“So we’ve been able to get that set up over the last two years,” said Gertsch. “We’re testing out the ability to track, use field maps, collect clues from the field, and send them back through cell networks to our command post so they can use it for search planning.”
Field roles are getting a workout too. This is the first time out for some of the searchers, putting the skills they’ve been learning to the test.
“They have to learn basic skills on how to move and carry goods in the woods. They have to know how to dress and what to bring with them, have to know how to navigate with a map and compass, said Williams. “They have to have their first aid training as well, and we teach them basic searcher skills on what to look for and how you search for a subject.”
The subject is an actor hiding out in the park, safe with the support of some GSAR members.
The skills the new members learn here and the experienced members sharpen up are going to serve them well the next time they’re called to an actual emergency.
A senior government official says a Canadian military assessment team is on its way to Turkiye in the wake of a devastating earthquake that's killed thousands.
A man has been arrested and two children are dead after a driver crashed a city bus into a daycare in Laval, Que. Wednesday morning. The deadly crash sent multiple children to area hospitals and parents scrambling to find their kids shortly after they dropped them off for the day at the Garderie éducative Sainte-Rose, north of Montreal.
Condolences are pouring in on Parliament Hill after a Laval, Que., city bus crashed into a daycare on Wednesday morning, with federal politicians of all stripes expressing their sympathies with the families affected and gratitude to the first responders.
Many Canadians are experiencing strains caused by the increased cost of living and inflation. In his exclusive column for CTVNews.ca, contributor Christopher Liew shares some of the top credits and deductions that you may be able to claim on your income tax return to help you save money.
In a first for the Bank of Canada, it has released a summary of deliberations by its governing council regarding its policy decision to raise its key interest rate target by a quarter of a percentage point to 4.5 per cent in January. Here are five key takeaways from those discussions.
Netflix Canada is rolling out its long-anticipated plans to crack down on password sharing, saying it will begin notifying Canadian users today by email about limitations.
The way respiratory viruses have circulated this fall and winter, most Canadians could probably benefit from a hand-hygiene refresher. Here are the latest hand-washing best practices to apply in your daily life.
Protracted labour shortages in Canada could fuel more rapid wage growth and inflation over time, potentially prompting the need for higher interest rates long-term, a new RBC Economics report released Wednesday said.
The Bank of Canada released a summary of its Governing Council meetings on Wednesday, providing the public and financial institutions with more insight into the central bank’s decision to raise its key interest rate on Jan. 25.
An Ontario lawyer who filed a $229-million lawsuit against his former “sugar baby” for alleged fraud had his case dismissed after the court found he'd become "obsessed" with the young woman when she attempted to end their arrangement.
An Ontario grocery chain said they are seeing an “unprecedented” surge in customers after a recent TikTok revealing the company’s low food prices went viral.
The Calgary Police Service asked residents of a northwest neighbourhood to shelter in their homes as officers responded to a situation Wednesday morning involving a firearm.
A man has been arrested and two children are dead after a driver crashed a city bus into a daycare in Laval, Que. Wednesday morning. The deadly crash sent multiple children to area hospitals and parents scrambling to find their kids shortly after they dropped them off for the day at the Garderie éducative Sainte-Rose, north of Montreal.
Condolences are pouring in on Parliament Hill after a Laval, Que., city bus crashed into a daycare on Wednesday morning, with federal politicians of all stripes expressing their sympathies with the families affected and gratitude to the first responders.
Justin Trudeau has thrown in the towel in the fight to maintain the federal role as gatekeeper of a public, universal, accessible and fair health-care system in Canada, writes former NDP leader Tom Mulcair in an exclusive column for CTVNews.ca. 'That could have tragic consequences for folks on the lower rungs of the social and economic ladder.'
Animal welfare advocates are urging pet owners to spay and neuter their pets after two kittens were found abandoned in a child's backpack in the St. Albert area last week.
The wait is over for ticketholders in the latest Canadian Hard of Hearing Association's Ultimate Dream Home Draw as Pure Country Sudbury morning show hosts pulled the names of the prize winners Wednesday afternoon.
Netflix Canada is rolling out its long-anticipated plans to crack down on password sharing, saying it will begin notifying Canadian users today by email about limitations.
Former London, Ont. high school teacher Dustin Epp, 48, was supposed to appear for his sentencing hearing Wednesday afternoon, but the matter has been delayed until next week due to health-related concerns and to give Epp more time to prepare his legal defence.
A 20-year-old driver from London, Ont. is temporarily without a licence after OPP stopped them for allegedly driving 145 km/h in a 60 km/h zone on Tuesday night.
A thief was siphoning fuel from trucks on York Street in London before a massive fire broke out in a storage yard. U-Haul told CTV News London an explosion occurred at 745 York St. around 1 a.m. Hours later, a photographer from the London Police Service Forensics Division was on scene taking photos of charred vehicles.
The federal government is putting up $500,000 for a feasibility study into a potential search for the remains of two Indigenous women at a Winnipeg-area landfill.
A man has been arrested and two children are dead after a driver crashed a city bus into a daycare in Laval, Que. Wednesday morning. The deadly crash sent multiple children to area hospitals and parents scrambling to find their kids shortly after they dropped them off for the day at the Garderie éducative Sainte-Rose, north of Montreal.
A Saskatoon couple is left feeling powerless to help their family and friends dig out of the rubble following the two major earthquakes in Turkiye on Monday.
Saskatoon's Ward 3 city councillor David Kirton decided to cancel his “Coffee with the Councillor” event scheduled for Saturday afternoon at Confederation Mall because of what he calls threatening phone calls and emails which became a “cause for concern”.
There are more signs that tensions are high in British Columbia’s health authorities as an outspoken doctor on Vancouver Island has faced professional repercussions and nearly all the critical care doctors at a northern hospital have resigned.
Crews are scheduled to begin upgrade work on Vancouver's Granville Bridge next week, but officials are promising the impacts on traffic will be minimal.
The latest B.C. Labour Market Outlook forecasts employment in the province will reach 3.1 million jobs by 2032 – half a million more than there were last year.
Mounties on Vancouver Island say they were in "disbelief" when they saw a senior driving more than 100 km/h through a school zone in Qualicum Beach, B.C.
Charges have now been laid against a tug and barge company and one of its senior officials two years after a tug sank off British Columbia's coast south of Kitimat, killing the captain and one crew member.
