By Sgt. Peter Moon
THUNDER BAY – The Canadian Rangers of Northern Ontario have received an award from the commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police recognizing their value in search and rescue operations for missing and overdue persons.
“I wish to express my gratitude for the professional and outstanding work being done by the (3rd Canadian Ranger Patrol Group) in Ontario,” Commissioner Vince Hawkes said in the citation for the award. “The OPP is truly grateful for the valuable relationship we share and look forward to our continued camaraderie and partnership.”
OPP Superintendent Brent Anderson made the award on behalf of Commissioner Hawkes to Lieutenant-Colonel Matthew Richardson, who commands the Rangers of Northern Ontario, at a ceremony at the 4th Canadian Division Training Centre at Meaford, near Owen Sound, in front of a graduating class of Rangers and invited guests.
“It shows the strength of the partnership between the Rangers and the OPP,” said Colonel Richardson. “It is a partnership that is appreciated on both sides. The OPP like what we do for them and we appreciate what the partnership does for us.
“It helps us to save lives and the Rangers are proud of the fact that, as a result of their local knowledge and their training with the OPP and the army, they are able to go out and find missing people and save lives.”
There are 570 Rangers, who are part-time army reservists, in 25 remote and isolated First Nations across the Far North of Ontario.
The award citation said the Rangers provide “vital services and support to their First Nations. The Rangers have frequently provided assistance to the OPP on numerous occasions, consistently offering tremendous insight, knowledge and expertise.”
It said members of the OPP’s elite Emergency Response Teams “take pride in sharing their skills (with the Rangers) by facilitating Basic Searcher and Search Manager training for 3rd Canadian Ranger Patrol group members. The Rangers are well-equipped to respond, and possess crucial, dependable local knowledge that is regularly relied upon in order to successfully locate and render aid to lost/missing persons.
“Their proficiency ensures that ground search resources are effectively deployed to remote and isolated areas in Northern Ontario. They undertake search and rescue and humanitarian operations in a timely and effective manner, which has supported (OPP Emergency Response Teams) on many occurrences. This contributes to the preservation of public safety and, ultimately, saves lives.”
The training the Rangers receive from, the OPP is basically the same that members of the OPP’s Emergency Response Teams receive in search and rescue.
The Rangers have a unique relationship with the OPP. They are the only Rangers in Canada who receive police training in search and rescue and have a formal agreement to do search and rescue on behalf of the police. The OPP is the lead agency for search and rescue in Ontario, a role assumed by the Quebec provincial police in Quebec and the RCMP in the rest of Canada.
While the OPP has prime responsibility for search and rescue in Ontario, assembling a trained OPP search and rescue team and getting a plane to fly them into a remote First Nation may take up to eight hours or longer, depending on the weather. By then the Rangers have usually found the missing person or persons.
The search and rescue training the OPP provides for the Rangers is of huge value, said Colonel Richardson. “It allows the Rangers to learn valuable skills that make them better citizens by being able to provide an invaluable service to their communities. It makes them indispensable in emergency life and death situations like search and rescue.
“You can’t put a dollar figure on the value of the OPP training. The OPP gives us the time of their officers and the benefits of their specialist training. And the Rangers save lives every year. It is a tremendous partnership.”
