Six search-and-rescue leaders—both current and former—have penned a lengthy, six-page letter accusing staff and leadership at Emergency Management and Climate Readiness (EMCR) of poor conduct and bad behaviour towards B.C.’s volunteer search-and-rescue community.
The letter, which was addressed to Premier David Eby but shared with the Official Opposition, MLAs and the media, was penned by former, recently-fired chief executive of the BC Search and Rescue Association (BCSARA), Dwight Yochim, and signed by another five current and former SAR leaders, including from Whistler and Squamish.
Yochim, who was removed by the BCSARA board on Friday, Jan. 5, accused the EMCR of showing a “systemic attitude of disrespect and institutionalized bullying of search-and-rescue volunteers,” as well as a lack of good faith, communication or collaboration.
“It is critical that the government act quickly to correct its relationship with the search-and-rescue community and respect this free life-saving service by engaging it in a professional and collegial manner that upholds the values of British Columbians and does not include bullying, intimidation, and threats,” wrote Yochim in the letter.
President of Whistler Search and Rescue, Brad Sills, was one of the signatories of the letter.
He said the accusations are based very much in reality, and that much of it comes down to EMCR being a new ministry.
“This is a newly formed ministry … It's staffed with all-new people,” said Sills in an interview with Pique.
“There is a tremendous amount of inexperience—so that’s a gateway for mismanagement—and unfortunately new people to government, not accustomed to working with the public, particularly volunteers, who are quite unlike employees.”
Sills’ comments echoed those of Yochim in the letter, which regularly cited the number of SAR groups across the province (78), the number of volunteers working within those groups (more than 3,400), and the nature of the organization in that they are volunteers giving up time.
“The SAR community feels tremendously disrespected,” said Sills.
He said it appears the provincial government has long planned to marginalize BCSARA, citing the passage of the Emergency Management and Disaster Act, which passed third reading in the provincial legislature in November 2023, and came into effect shortly afterwards.
Sills referred to the act as a “lightning rod” for the current issues.
“The SAR community had no consultation in its formulation. It’s a very broad-based act and what it does is it marginalizes what had previously been a collaborative effort,” he said.
“Obviously the ministry knew this was coming over the last couple of years, and we only now have realized what they were doing was getting us ready for what was coming. For the past three years, we’ve felt this very ambivalent attitude towards us, and underappreciation for everything that we do.”
POLITICAL DEALINGS
Asked whether the tensions are degrading local search and rescue groups’ ability to serve communities, Sills said local groups have always taken care of their own training and safety standards, but there are problems developing due to the changing relationship between the province and BCSARA, particularly since the province started to fund SAR groups in 2019.
“What they started doing was degrading everything. They started offering fewer training courses because now they had to pay for them, and then they started not really paying attention to safety standards, and there’s a number of documented cases where they have knowingly not told the SAR community of instances where volunteers could be at risk,” he said.
Sills said a major issue is the province changing requirements so search-and-rescue groups have to apply to register as public safety service providers for a three-year period, renewable—something he suggested is beyond the pale, considering how long some search-and-rescue groups have operated without such a requirement.
Sills said Whistler SAR was one of 12 groups on the South Coast of B.C. to balk at the requirement.
“The agreement has always been that we have been treated with respect as an equal partner in this. And they said, ‘well, if you don’t, then we’re going to declare you non-taskable, and we’re not going to fund you anymore,’” he said.
That response just proved how political the government was being in its dealings with search and rescue, said Sills.
“The province was perfectly prepared to leave the entire South Coast region without any kind of search-and-rescue service, that’s just how political they are now,” he said.
For Whistler SAR, Sills said the threat fell flat.
“My response to that was, well, with or without your permission, we at Whistler Search and Rescue will continue to provide these services,” he said.
“We’ll have to fund it entirely ourselves, and we’ll do it without the benefit of workers compensation and third-party liability, but we will continue providing the service, because that’s what we do.”
SEEKING ACCOUNTABILITY
Besides Whistler, representatives from Squamish, Houston, Fort St. James and Prince Rupert joined Yochim in supporting the letter.
Sills explained the letter was expediated by the ousting of Yochim last Friday, and there is still more support for their concerns being gathered.
“The province put so much pressure on our association to get rid of [Yochim] because he was advocating on our behalf, which was his job, that they fired him,” he said.
“We will now be going to the minister with what we believe will be the majority of SAR teams in the province stating that we want, first, an audit of the way the ministry has been conducting themselves, and accountability for the actions, including putting a gun to our head and saying we have to do things that are patently offensive; and two, a guarantee that in the future we will have parity in all regulation forming.”
So far, Sills said the group has received nothing but “crickets” from the government in reaction to the letter, “except the statement that the acting minister made yesterday that he was going to go back to BCSARA with some corrective actions. That’s kinda like the fox in the henhouse.”
The Acting Minister for Emergency Management and Climate Readiness, George Heyman, acknowledged the importance of search-and-rescue volunteers in a written statement released to Pique, and said he hopes the government and BCSARA can reestablish the trust and relationships needed.
“The concerns raised in this letter are very troubling, and I intend to meet with the BC Search and Rescue Association this month to discuss and address these concerns,” he said.
“Additionally, we are actively working to strengthen our collaboration with the BC Ground Search and Rescue Groups to ensure they have all the support they need in their life-saving efforts.”
A SIMPLE FIX
For Sills, he said it is a pretty simple fix.
“If the province wants to enjoy the support of the 3,400 search-and-rescue volunteers, they’re going to have to listen to us, and they’re going to have to respect what it is that motivates us to provide this service,” he said.
“We don’t need to get tangled up in a whole bunch of bureaucracy and political stuff. If that’s what the province wants to do, then the societies can fold, and they can take it on as a paid service because they want employees. It's just contrary to why people volunteer for things.”
In the letter, Yochim and his co-signers listed some solutions to repair the relationship and ease current tensions.
“An audit of EMCR’s conduct and practices is required to provide corrective action to a ministry that is known to abuse and degrade public partnerships and search and rescue relationships. This audit should include external experts and members of the SAR community,” he wrote.
Yochim and his co-signers pointed to the model used in New Zealand, which they said gives their volunteers authority over setting standards for search and rescue, and doesn’t leave it in the hands of bureaucrats, a model he described as “far safer and more efficient and responsive.”
“Until this situation is corrected, both rescue subjects and SAR members are at risk as EMCR’s practices directly and indirectly impact public and volunteer safety as well as the ability to respond to all types of calls for help,” he wrote. “Advances in search-and-rescue techniques will also continue to be unnecessarily stalled for long time periods, if not years.”
Notably, the president of BCSARA released a statement on Tuesday, Jan. 9, distancing the association from Yochim and the letter.
“Mr. Yochim is a former employee and did not represent BCSARA when the letter was sent,” said Chris Mushumanski in the statement.
“I’ve been at the table with EMCR over the past year and beyond for hundreds of hours resolving some challenging topics. Certainly from time to time there is a difference of opinion, however we have a resilient working relationship. The team at BCSARA commits to examining any concerns and working collaboratively with EMCR.”
Sills dismissed Mushumanski’s statement.
“We certainly take exception to our president’s comments,” he said.
“We feel that his decision-making is unilateral and it exposes the problem that we’re faced with, with a far too comfortable relationship between the money that the government provides to us, and the ability to actually provide the service.”
