Join Us

Absolutely! Our members come from all walks of life and differing levels of skills / experience. A law enforcement or SAR background is not required. Thanks to our professional training plans, members become highly skilled searchers over time in a supportive environment that values teamwork.

Our recruitment process prioritizes teamwork and interpersonal skills over hard technical skills (which will be taught during training)

Our volunteer base is comprised of two main categories.  We couldn’t function without either!

Operational / Active Members are deployed on SAR operations and respond to callouts.  They undertake a 70 hour training course to complete the provincially recognized Ground Search and Rescue course at the Justice Institute of BC among other things.

Associate (resource) members are equally active, just in other ways!  They help the team in a wide range of areas including finance, fundraising, equipment maintenance, training, public awareness and others. They are welcome to participate in training and attend responses in areas of their training but are not expected to attend search and rescue operations.

Although applications are accepted year-round, membership intake generally occurs once a year with successful applicants being invited to a field day where we assess team dynamics and more. The interview is followed by an interview.

Selected applicants are then offered conditional membership as Members in Training (MITs) and are required to:

Have a minimum attendance at operational tasks before applying for Active Member status

Complete an Online Introduction to SAR in BC Course (7 hours)

Complete the In house Ground Search and Rescue Course (min 6 months and 70 hours)

Attend regular training (Thursday evenings with occasional other days)

Have or obtain a minimum 14 hour First Aid Certification (all members are required to maintain at least this level of certification)

Applications are reviewed as they come in (and as our intake teams time permits, during times of high levels of activity for the team it may be several weeks to a month plus) and individuals are contacted generally by phone to setup the next steps.

Field Members:

Search and Rescue is a considerable time commitment.  Field members are expected to commit at least 100 hours per year (more in the first year for additional training.) – this is required to be safe and effective on responses.

• Attending MIT training (during the first year) and a portion of all member training (Thursday evenings gnerally)
• Live within a reasonable radius of our service area (~75 minute drive)
• Respond to emergencies on short notice (this will involve missing work from time to time and overnight responses)
• Abide by the the EMCR and SFSAR Code of Conducts including confidentiality
• Ability to commit at least two years to the team – it’s a major training investment we make in you!

Resource Members:

• Attend general team meetings to be engaged with the team
• Volunteer in a wide range of capacities
• Potentially attend public events (Canada Day, emergency services day)
• Live within a reasonable radius of our service area (~75 minute drive)
• Abide by the the EMCR and SFSAR Code of Conducts including confidentiality

Please take a look at the BC Search Dog Association website – at a minimum you will need to complete the GSAR program and be a member of a BC GSAR team for 2 years prior to being considered for support as a dog handler. We are unable to consider handlers outside of this policy.

Raising a search dog is a massive undertaking far beyond many of our members. Search dogs are not pets who may have an interest, thousands of hours of training are required to train and validate a search dog.