Rankin Inlet to host Canadian Arctic’s first inshore rescue station, DFO says

This photo shows the kind of inshore rescue boat which will be crewed by eight Inuit students. (PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CCG)

Rankin Inlet will be the site of a new inshore rescue boat station, which will be the first in the Canadian Arctic, says the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

An interim boat station in Rankin Inlet should fully operational in the summer of 2018, the DFO said in a news release on Thursday, Jan. 4.

It’s expected that the new boat station in Rankin Inlet—the 26th station in Canada—will improve search and rescue capacity in the area and reduce response times.

The station will be operated by Indigenous students from Arctic communities who will initially work under the leadership of an experienced Coast Guard officer until they have enough experience to operate without a supervisor, the DFO said.

“Through this new station, and through the local youth who will operate it, we are providing a strong foundation for the expansion of local maritime search and rescue response across the Arctic,” said DFO Minister Dominic LeBlanc.

Crew members will undergo training alongside their southern-station counterparts in Ontario where they will learn about Canada’s search and rescue system, search patterns, boat handling, marine first aid and radio communication.

Members of the Coast Guard visited Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and the Nunavik last October to talk to people about the new station and recruit potential candidates to crew the boats.

The money for the station comes from the federal government’s $175-million marine safety plan to improve marine safety and protect Canada’s marine environment and coastal communities, which was announced last August in Cambridge Bay.

Input was received from local governments and community leaders on the choice of Rankin Inlet as the location for the station, the DFO said in its release.

More information was promised as construction plans for the permanent station building progress, the release said.