The former executive director of the B.C. Search and Rescue Association is calling on Premier David Eby to intervene over his concerns the Emergency Management and Climate Readiness agency is failing to address safety issues and is bullying volunteer search and rescue groups through intimidation and repeated threats to have their funding rescinded for non-compliance.
In a letter sent to Eby on Monday, Dwight Yochim says the provincial ministry has shown a “systemic attitude of disrespect’ to the 78 SAR groups in B.C. and their 3,400 members, who provide such services as ground searches for missing people, swift-water extraction and avalanche rescues.
Calling it the “Ministry of No,’ Yochim also claims the province agency is ignoring advances in technology that could be used to minimize search times and enhance rescue abilities that save lives.
In his letter, Yochim says BCSARA raised concerns about training standards for an aviation practice performed by SAR members in the province 200-300 times annually. For two years, he made repeated requests for EMCR to conduct an audit that would apply to all SAR groups who have that capability. It was later revealed in a committee meeting that the audit was complete and there were safety concerns identified that required corrective action, but Yochim claims EMCR kept the results of that audit hidden from the BCSARA board.
In May, BCSARA asked the Joint Health and Safety Committee to work with the Air Support Committee to address the safety issues highlighted in the audit but Yochim said nothing has been done.
“When EMCR staff were confronted, the response was not one of concern about the findings of the safety audit, which were not positive and required corrective action, but instead the concern was that BCSARA was now aware of the audit results,” said Yochim.
EMCR recently issued a notice to the SAR community about a new rope rescue device, indicating there was involvement from the Joint Health and Safety Committee and Joint Training Committee, but Yochim said neither committee was actually consulted, which is a violation of CSARA policy.
“EMCR staff often go out of their way to not involve the BCSARA board regional directors and BSCSARA staff, which allows them to misuse their authority and circumvent any feedback or possible resistance to their intentions,” said Yochim.
He says SAR managers are getting bogged down with heeding requests for monthly reports which until last year were required only twice a year. Each group is also now required to submit time sheets to show when its members were contributing. BCSARA submitted 220 pages of reports in 2023 that took about six weeks of staff time to compile.
Yochim estimates the voluntary services SAR groups provide as first responders would cost the province $189 million annually. The province provides $6 million per year, shared among the 78 groups.
Since 2019, with the announcement of alternative support model funding and EMCR’s implementation of a director of SAR, Yochim says the relationship between the SAR groups and the provincial government has soured, punctuated by a "litany of stalled programs, ineffective policy and an increasing combative attitude towards volunteers by EMCR staff.”
EMCR’s slow adoption of new technology approved for SAR use has forced teams to find ways to circumvent restrictions and an extraordinary measure was used this past weekend to locate the wreckage of a helicopter crash, which killed a pilot east of Revelstoke.
Yochim said SAR teams used a PEPAIr drone equipped with 200X zoom camera equipment which has infrared capability and can locate targets on the ground with GPS to find the crash site. The SAR community is unable to access that drone directly because the government has refused to approve it and had to go straight to the police and Joint Rescue Coordination Centre to use it in the search.
“This had to be done without EMCR’s knowledge as they refused to work with BCSARA,” said Yochim.
“It’s impacting search and rescue negatively in the province, if you’ve got a change it might take month or years before they come around and allow you to do something. They don’t want us to recommend things and it really stifles season and rescue.”
One other tool Yochim says SAR groups should be using involves software that scans videos provided by aircraft or drone, which can indicate unusual objects on the ground which might be worth further investigation. Four years ago, he put out a notice to the SAR community of his intention to conduct a webinar to educate members how to use the software, which was promptly shot down by EMCR because the software was not approved.
“Rather than having an open mind and rolling up their sleeves and working with us, they called my president and complained that I had worked on this and spent time to draft this up,” Yochim said. “They were more concerned about the fact I’d spent any time on it than there’s a new technology that could actually save lives.”
SAR groups are also prohibited from using Artemis, a device that turns a cell phone into a beacon that can help locate lost people in areas where there is no cell service.
Under a new edict issued by the government in November, following introduction of new legislation for emergency management, SAR groups were required on short notice to register as public safety providers. Failure to do would result in those groups not being able to continue providing their services.
“In an ultimate a show of arrogance, there was no apparent plan for the possibility that teams would not sign, which would leave areas of the province and the public completely unprotected,” said Yochim.
“EMCR simply replied that they would task other teams from other parts of the province as if those teams would leave their homes and families to travel long distances to another area without question – a notion that many teams said they would be unwilling to do.”
For three years, there’s been a ban on SAR groups adding any new capabilities until the province completed a needs assessment study, which has yet to begin, according to Yochim, and won’t be complete until 2027.
In 2022, BCSARA members contributed 440,000 hours of service on 1,500, tasks which Yochim says saved more than 1,000 lives.
A 25-year manager of Coquitlam SAR, the 61-year-old Yochim served 4 1/2 years as BCSARA executive director until he was fired from his job last week, a dismissal he says was without cause.
He says BCSASA was originally set up 20 years ago to advocate for SAR groups and members but that advocacy role has been taken away by the ministry. Volunteer board members feel powerless to stand up to EMCR staff, who expect them to do what they ask of them.
“There’s no respect for those volunteers, and it’s sad,” he said.
He says B.C. should consider the New Zealand SAR management model, which gives volunteers the authority to set standards for search and rescue practices and takes that task out of the hands of provincial bureaucrats.
Yochim says Eby has to consider reassigning key EMCR staff to other ministries to be replaced by those with professional credentials, leadership skills and consultative mindset.
“The bureaucrats in EMCR need to get out of the way and adopt the New Zealand model and allow the volunteers to set the standards, it’s much more efficient and much more resilient and they adopt new technology quicker,” said Yochim. “It’s proven to be a much safer way than what is the current structure right now.
“This is the best bang for their buck and there’s no way they could do this without volunteers. I hope it’s repaired and the relationship in one of mutual respect, eventually.”
