Should careless land travellers be charged with negligence?

If someone triggers a search and rescue through carelessness, should they be charged with negligence? (FILE PHOTO)

It’s a relief, of course, that we’ve rescued Pauloosie Keyootak and his family members.

Now the question should be, how do we stop people going out on the land without necessary equipment and without taking necessary precautions?

Willful incompetence endangers more lives. Remember Sgt. Janick Gilbert of Search & Rescue, aged 34, from Baie-Comeau, Quebec?

He too had loved ones and family. He died near Igloolik during the successful rescue of two Inuit hunters, David and Lester Aqqiaruq. They pushed their luck in conditions that should have kept them at home.

There’s a reason for weather reports, and hunters need to use them to look beyond immediately observed conditions. But at least the Aqqiaruqs had a SPOT with them, unlike Keyootak.

One way to get the message across would be to charge Keyootak under the Criminal Code:

219 (1) Every one is criminally negligent who,

(a) in doing anything, or

(b) in omitting to do anything that it is his duty to do, shows wanton or reckless disregard for the lives or safety of other persons.

Colin Alexander
Ottawa

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