$339k rescue for politician ‘business as usual’

Image: Canadian Forces

The Canadian media has highlighted the cost of an air search and rescue operation that was launched after a Nunavut politician went missing with his son and nephew. According to reports, the operation cost the federal and territorial governments precisely $339,139.70, with the Government of Nunavut stumping up $75,507.33 and the Canadian Armed Forces spending the remainder. The figures do not include the cost of the ground portion of the search operation.

However, the fact that one of the three missing was Pauloosie Keyootak, a member of the Nunavut Legislative Assembly, did not affect the handling of the case, stated Kris Mullaly, a Nunavut Department of Community and Government Services representative. Mullaly told reporters ‘it was business as usual’, and the spending fell within the department’s budget.

In mid-March, the trio began a journey of several hundred kilometres from Iqaluit to Qikiqtarjuaq onboard two snowmobiles. After they failed to arrive for a planned stop in Pangnirtung, a ground search was launched and then air assets were brought in. The Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Halifax dispatched CH-149 Cormorant and CC-130 Hercules aircraft from 103 Squadron in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, and 413 Squadron in Nova Scotia. Also involved in the mission were a Twin Otter plane from Kenn Borek Air and a Canadian Helicopters S-61N helicopter chartered by the Nunavut authorities.

The Twin Otter made search flights carrying volunteer spotters from the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association. On 31 March, one of the spotters saw snowmobile tracks left by the party, and the plane landed nearby. However, due to a ruptured hydraulic line, the plane could not take off, so the crew and Keyootak’s group were picked up by a Royal Canadian Air Force Cormorant helicopter that flew them to Iqaluit.