Mr. Speaker, if you find yourself stranded out on the land beyond network reach and with no alternative method of communication, how would you signal for distress? Do you shout into the air or run around with your arms waving when a plane passes by? The lifesaving facts are without communication or knowledge of your whereabouts, the pilots of that passing plane would be searching for your signal in the form of threes: Three blasts of a whistle, three lit fires, even three piles of rocks, anything in the shortest of patterns with the resources you have available. In a life-threatening situation that requires ground search and rescue, this knowledge can make all the difference.
Promoting that knowledge is why the territorial government must support the role of a highly sophisticated network of ground search and recuse, or GSAR, organizations and volunteers that stretches across Canada. Their partners here in the North provide educational services vital in teaching Northerners and tourism outfitters how to stay safe. But, unfortunately, there's no funding made available to them from ECE or ITI, and now the federal government has clawed back their support as well.
Even MACA, who is responsible for public safety, has cut their fund -- has cut funds to the Yellowknife search and rescue team, an organization of highly trained volunteers who now must dedicate time to fundraising instead of training and saving lives. Beyond YKSAR, the GNWT still relies on smaller communities to organize their own ground and search and rescue operations or get help from the RCMP or the armed forces. But the RCMP has no mandate, and the armed forces take precious hours to mobilize.
Mr. Speaker, despite several year-old reviews, ground search and rescue services which found our territory to be the most unprepared out of any Canadian jurisdiction, there are still no commitments to implementing the recommendations. To make matters worse, budget cuts are taking us backwards. If this government is serious about public safety, the Premier must show leadership and bring volunteers and and communities together with the relevant departments and agencies to finally get a real strategy for ground search and rescue to take place. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Members' statements. Member from Monfwi.
