Members of North Shore Rescue have been on a tear lately. They’ve already attended more calls than they usually get in a whole year, and it’s only September. The folks rescued from the backcountry – often people who heed the call of the wild unprepared – have much to be thankful for.
But the rescuers are sending out another call for help this week – this one for their own members. They’ve told the province they can’t keep up the pace without more tangible assistance.
As North Shore Rescue rightly points out, as the popularity of the backcountry has grown, the rescue team has essentially become an additional level of highly skilled emergency response – but one that’s expected to perform their tasks strictly as volunteers.
That’s a difficult thing to expect the same people to keep doing without getting anything in return – people who have full-time jobs and families to take care of as well. In fact, most rescuers pay expenses to do their work out of their pockets.
We don’t ask firefighters, police or ambulance paramedics to do their jobs for nothing. Our mountain rescuers aren’t asking to become a professionally paid service. But they are asking the province to up the ante.
Providing more cash so the service could continue on a mostly volunteer basis would still yield amazing value for dollars spent.
The province never misses an opportunity to promote the spectacular beauty of the North Shore as a boost to tourism. But increasingly, that also comes with a cost.
Late team leader Tim Jones spent years advocating for the sustainable future of the team. It’s time for the province to step up and give this more than lip service.
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