Lögberg-Heimskringla - 17.12.1993, Side 6

6 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 17. desember 1993
Coast Guard
by Roger Newman
Gimli officials want the federal
coast guard cutter “Avocet” to
be based at the town wharf,
but they were told recently that the
Canadian Government does not bear
the primary responsibility for water
safety on Lake Winnipeg.
During a Gimli meeting to discuss
searph and rescue operations, coast
guard representatives maintained that
searches are the responsibility of the
RCMP which has a policing contract
with the Manitoba Government.
The meeting was organized by
Gimli Mayor Bill Barlow in the after-
math of last summer’s tragic incident
where neither the Silver Harbour
Rescue Station nor the Gimii Coast
Guard Auxiliary were called out to an
accident that claimed the lives of four
boaters. Attending the meeting were
representatives of the town, the coast
guard the RCMP, the air search and
rescue unit, the coast guard auxiliary
and the Gimli firefighters rescue boat.
Barlow said in an interview that
the town made a “strong case” for
relocating the Avocet from Selkirk to
the shores of Lake Winnipeg during
summer. Other spokesmen for the
coast guard auxiliary and the fire-
fighters called for lake searches to be
better organized in future. But coast
guard officials responded by saying
that this applies more to the RCMP
than it does to them.
“It would seem that the coast
guard and the armed forces have the
equipment but not the primary
responsibility for searches on the
lake,” said Barlow. “The RCMP have
the responsibility but not the equip-
ment. We asked about transferring
the responsibility to those who are
equipped because the alternative is
that the RCMP would have to buy the
equipment.”
Barlow said coast guard officials
initially took a hard line during the
meeting. But a ray of hope appeared
when they said the new Liberal
Government has not made a final
decision on whether the Avocet will
be based on the lake or more than
two hours away in Selkirk.
“We are going to pursue this,” said
Barlow. “The issue has become clear
and we will be talking to the new
minister and to Jon Gerrard, our new
MP for Portage-Interlake.”
Meanwhile, the participants in the
recent meeting are planning a second
gathering to develop plans for better
organized searches next summer.
Currently, the Edmonton coast guard
station directs Lake Winnipeg search-
es, but there is some feeling that the
responsibility should be shifted from
an inland base to either Trenton or
Thunder Bay.
“I don’t care who controls the
searches - I just want them to be well
co-ordinated,” Ken Arnason, the cap-
tain of the Gimli firefighters boat,
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saga unfolds
said in an interview.
Gimli Harbourmaster A1 Johnson
said the recent meeting helped to
convey local concerns to search orga-
nizers. “A lot of things were put on
the table and a lot of the higher-ups
now know about them,” he said.
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