Mission and Mandate

What drives the association?

The British Columbia Search and Rescue Association, was registered in 2002 as a non-profit society and enhances the provision of volunteer search and rescue services in the province by facilitating access to funding, educating the general public on outdoor safety, and providing volunteers with a common link to information and resources. The Board of Directors approved their revised purposes and bylaws in January 2007.

The BC Search and Rescue Association Directors are comprised of search and rescue volunteers from all over the province and agency representatives from:

  1. Emergency Management BC (EMBC)
  2. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)
  3. The British Columbia Association of Municipal Police
  4. The Justice Institute of BC (JIBC)
  5. The British Columbia Ambulance Service (BCAS)
  6. The Fire Chief’s Association of BC

Together, the volunteers and agency representatives make up the Board of Directors for the BC SAR Association.

Constitution & By-laws in PDF format

The purposes of the Society are:

  1. to provide public education, prevention programs and awareness of ground and inland water search and rescue and safe outdoor activity;
  2. to provide occupational health and safety support and programs to volunteer Ground Search and Rescue Groups and volunteers recognized by the Provincial Search and Rescue Advisory Committee (or its successor organization, if any) within the Province of British Columbia;
  3. to solicit, receive, control, administer and distribute funds and gifts;
  4. to own and dispose of property, both real and personal;
  5. to liaise and interact with SAR organizations in other provinces, countries, and at the federal/national levels;
  6. where appropriate, and whereso indicated by an operational needs analysis, to assist municipalities and organizations in the start-up and creation of new Ground Search and Rescue Groups; and
  7. in the event the Society is dissolved, all of its present and future assets, property and interests shall, after payment of all debts, be paid given and transferred to such other ground and inland water Search and Rescue charitable organization as shall be selected by the members of the society. This provision is unalterable.