Response agencies look back at Resolute air disaster

At a two-day workshop in Iqaluit, police debriefed agencies on the crash of First Air flight 6560 near Resolute Bay Aug. 20.

About 40 representatives from federal and territorial agencies, as well as airlines that serve the north, attended the discussion on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1.

The RCMP have identified shortfalls within the communications network they set up at the crash site, where they set up three separate sites during the crash for information to flow through.

This caused delays in getting updates and information.

But steps have already been taken to improve future communications, Chief Supt. Steve McVarnock said at a press conference Jan. 31.

After every major incident it’s common for the agencies involved to get together and talk about their responses to identify any inefficiencies in their systems and to strengthen their ability to collaborate, he said.

“We know that if we had had the ability to have technicians on the ground sooner, we would have saved ourselves a whole lot of grief in terms of the chain of communication,” McVarnock said.

Participants at the Iqaluit meeting also said they recognized that no single agency has the training, specialized equipment, or resources, to respond to a major disaster in the North.

That’s why responding to a disaster like the Aug. 20 plane crash will continue to a co-ordinated “team Nunavut” or “team Canada” approach, said McVarnock said, noting it was fortunate that the military was conducting a mock disaster training exercise in Resolute Bay and were able to respond quickly to the crash.

Operation Nanook started Aug. 5 when a group of Canadian naval vessels set out from Newfoundland and Labrador with more than 1,100 sailors, soldiers and air personnel from Canada, the United States and Denmark, who took part in missions around Resolute Bay, Baffin Bay and Lancaster Sound.

Because it is unlikely that a disaster of the magnitude of the Aug. 20 crash will ever occur again with so much support already on the ground, those at the Iqaluit meeting said it’s important to continue practicing emergency response efforts together, McVarnock said.