[SARA-Members] Meeting with Ministers

Thu Jul 9 07:11:10 MDT 2009

Thanks for these efforts.
This is very important - and confirmation of existing coverage and standardization will make individual SAR groups better aligned and able to ensure that members and boards are adequately covered to conduct operations.
Cheers, Marc
Hinton SAR

From: Julie Aardema [mailto:jaardema at shaw.ca]
Sent: Tuesday, July 07, 2009 7:31 PM
To: "Undisclosed-Recipient:;"
Subject: Fw: [SARA-Members] Meeting with Ministers

----- Original Message -----
From: monica<mailto:mavada at cruzinternet.com>
To: sara-members at castrov.cuug.ab.ca<mailto:sara-members at castrov.cuug.ab.ca>
Sent: Tuesday, July 07, 2009 6:58 PM
Subject: [SARA-Members] Meeting with Ministers

Hi,

Over the last month there has been a lot of media interest surrounding the lawsuit involving Golden Search and Rescue and the subsequent withdrawal of Golden SAR's services.  SAR Alberta has been pressing the insurance issue with government of Alberta both through AEMA and the Minister's office.  Meetings were also held with the Solicitor General,  and MP and federal Minister of Labour Rona Ambrose.  Following are summaries of each of those meetings.

SAR Alberta will also be sending out a letter to all the MLA's in the province explaining how SAR works in this province and the important role search and rescue has at a community level. We are encouraging all teams to contact their MLA's this summer to discuss with them the various issues around SAR.

Don Drebert and myself also meet with Colin Lloyd of AEMA and discussed how our two organizations can better move forward. I will be sending out a separate email that summarizes that discussion.

If you have any questions on the information below please contact your regional rep or myself.

Sincerely,

Monica Ahlstrom
President SAR Alberta

Meetings with Ministers

Over the last two weeks meetings have been held with two provincial Ministers and one federal one on the insurance issue. Following are summaries of those meetings.

Ministers

Minister Ray Danyluk - Minister for Municipal Affairs
Alberta Emergency Management Agency  (AEMA) falls under his portfolio
June 24, 2009

On June 24 VP Don Drebert and President Monica Ahlstrom met with Minister Danyluk to discuss the insurance issue in regard to search and rescue. Two of the Minister's staff members were also present. We presented the Minister with the insurance coverage options available for search and rescue from the SARVAC program that was set up in conjunction with Algoma insurance. Algoma has quoted that to cover all the teams in the province with liability insurance, directors and officers insurance and extended disability it would cost around $75,000 plus tax for $2 million liability or around $90,000 plus tax for $5 million liability. We also mentioned that there was a initiative underway by SARVAC to have the insurance covered nationally.

Minister Danyluk noted that he did not want to duplicate service as it was his understanding that individuals are covered when they are tasked by the RCMP and the municipalities. This is not entirely true - the RCMP policy from Ottawa does provide for coverage for various volunteers when under the direction of the RCMP and search and rescue would be under that coverage - so according to the RCMP there would be liability protection - but only when you are tasked. Golden is being sued for not responding - they didn't respond because they were not tasked.... So they therefore would not be covered. There also needs to be more research on whether or not you are covered when you are tasked by the EPS or Calgary Police. The coverage also does not extend to the society itself which is considered a legal entity under the law. So if you are an individual on a board you would not be covered if you did not have extra insurance.

The Minister was also told that you are covered by the municipality when you go out on a disaster. In speaking with Jubilee Insurance - this may not be the case either, SAR Groups that have coverage with Jubilee are definitely covered but how groups are covered by a municipality when they are tasked needs to be clarified, at least to SAR Alberta and the groups. It was pointed out that it may be cheaper in the long run to have every team in the province covered by the Algoma or another broad policy than to try and fix all the gaps that exist by individual policies.

Though we asked the Minister to consider the Algoma insurance coverage for the whole province - it was decided that some time would be spent looking at all the options and what is actually going on now. A number of teams do have insurance coverage through Jubilee insurance which is an insurance program set up by the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties. The teams under this policy have at least $15 million coverage - Jubilee is looking at their coverage to ensure that there are no gaps for search and rescue volunteers.  Having all the teams covered by Jubilee may be another option.

The Minister also noted that a bill is being put forward, Bill 49, that will protect volunteer fire fighters from being sued in the first place. There was some suggestion that this could be an option for SAR as well.

Because the insurance issue is complex we agreed that SAR Alberta will work with the Executive Assistant to the Minister Ethan Bayne, and with the Executive Director of Operations for AEMA Colin Lloyd, to research all the options and find a solution.

However, the issue can't drag out for any length of time as it is neither fair nor appropriate for the government to expect SAR groups and individuals to continue to expose themselves to the risk of a lawsuit without support.  Colin Lloyd, has committed to working on this issue directly -however, he is away until the 13th of July.  The Minister's Assistant has been researching the issue as have I.  By the end of July there should be some meaningful decision made on this issue. SAR Alberta will seek written confirmation on all the insurance issues and policies.

Outcomes:

 1.  AEMA, the Ministers Office and SAR Alberta will research all the options and come up with a solution to the insurance issue.
 2.  SAR Alberta is and will remain under Municipal Affairs through AEMA - and AEMA will work with SAR Alberta to give search and rescue the administrative support it needs

Overall it was a positive first meeting with a willingness on all parts to work through the insurance issue

Solicitor General and Minister of Public Security Fred Lindsay
June 30, 2009
Minister Fred Lindsay - SAR Alberta President Monica Ahlstrom

Minister Lindsay and I met on June 30 to discuss the SAR insurance issue. Minister Lindsay happens to be the MLA for the region in which I live. He was interested in the insurance issue and was given the information on the Algoma insurance. He asked if Minister Danyluk had offered to cover the cost of the insurance.  I noted that all the options were being reviewed and that Minister Danyluk was trying to avoid duplication of coverage. Minister Lindsay understood that but suggested we get everything in writing from all parties involved, including the RCMP.
I asked that the Solicitor General and his department make a conscious effort to stay in the loop with search and rescue as we are a major resource for the police in this province. He asked that he be kept informed on the insurance issue and had asked for more information on the work SAR does in particular in respect to evidence searches.

I will be gathering that information, with help from the statistics Rodney Dietrich gathered earlier, and will be sending Minister Lindsay the information early next week.

MP and Minister of Labour Rona Ambrose
SAR Alberta President  and Past President SARVAC - Monica Ahlstrom
July 2, 2009

Minister Ambrose is the federal Member of Parliament for the area in which I live. She was interested in knowing more about the insurance issue - not only from a provincial perspective but also from a federal one.

I gave her an overview of the situation in Alberta and SAR Alberta's meeting with Minister Danyluk - she suggested that I also meet with Solicitor General Fred Lindsay - and was glad to hear that I had already done that.

The discussion centered around SARVAC and the role that it plays nationally and how their could be a national solution to the insurance issue through the National SAR Champion - the RCMP.  She was interested in the various political entities involved in SAR at the federal level and noted that having an agency like the National Search and Rescue Secretariat could help cut through the many jurisdictional issues at the federal level. She noted jurisdictional issues are a common problem that affect a lot of issues within government.

She has asked her staff to pass on information around the insurance issue to the Minister of Public Safety - the RCMP fall under that Ministry federally. She is also going to encourage that Minister to meet with the President of SARVAC to discuss the insurance issue and the issue of the national champion for GSAR. She noted she will be watching to see how the issue is handled in Alberta as well.

SARVAC will be sending me some follow up information to pass on to Minister Ambrose.

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