Volunteer underwater recovery team stretched to limit amid funding crunch

As Alberta remains one of two provinces in Canada without a RCMP underwater recovery team, a volunteer civilian group fears it won't be able to continue its work in this province because of financial roadblocks.

"I fear for the future and I fear for Albertans' safety," Luke Jevne, president of the Underwater Search Team, said in an interview.

The registered non-profit has been collaborating with Alberta RCMP since 2013 to help recover drowning victims and wreckage. The work has meant grieving families can be reunited with their deceased loved ones.

Conversation around dive and rescue capabilities came to the forefront in mid-August after an Edmonton teenager died after falling into a pond at Rotary Park Outdoor Waterpark in Whitecourt, Alta.

Members of the Underwater Search Team recovered the body of Hassan Mohamed, 14.

"It can be emotional when you deal with children or there's the family involved," Jevne said.

The team has made nine recoveries so far this year. In the summer of 2021, it responded to 19 recoveries.

Currently the group scrapes by, operating each year on $5,000 to $10,000 in donations. But expenses add up. A new engine for the team's rescue truck will cost $35,000, Jevne said.

To continue operating sustainably, the team would need at least $800,000 in annual funding, he said.

That would ensure the team could hire at least four full-time paid members who could respond immediately to calls for their services.

"We obviously have a passion to be there for all Albertans, but it's too exhausting using our own personal resources," Jevne said.

He said the group has been pleading with the province to provide it with funding. And while he remains hopeful, he said the group will not be able to continue its work without more money.

Alberta sees an average of 30 fatal drownings each year, and about 160 non-fatal emergency department visits, according to the Lifesaving Society, Alberta and Northwest Territories Branch.

For the Underwater Search Team, an average recovery takes a day. But it is not uncommon for the team to dedicate days of unpaid volunteer time to set up a dive.

Jevne, a carpenter by trade, said it is not financially sustainable to continue volunteering while also covering equipment expenses.

Scott Johnston, a spokesperson for Alberta Municipal Affairs, said funding is available for volunteer dive groups that meet specific criteria.

He pointed to the Ground Search and Rescue Training Grant program, which provides funding to ground search and rescue and technical rescue groups serving Albertans.

"Eligible costs under this grant program do include some skills training and courses related to boating and swift-water rescue," Johnston said in a statement.

"Eligible groups, including those which undertake any water-related search and rescue activities, would need to review the criteria to determine how it aligns with the type of training they need. In order to be eligible for funding, groups must be members of the Search and Rescue Alberta Association."

Jevne said the Underwater Search Team is having conversations with Search and Rescue Alberta about joining the association.

Dangers of recovery 

To join the Underwater Search Team, divers must be certified by the Professional Association of Diving Instructors and then pursue additional in-house training.

Due to the dangers associated with the work, Jevne said the team has not been able to secure insurance for divers when they are in the water.

"We do have insurance for when we are on scene for liability. Unfortunately, because it is so dangerous, no insurance company will touch a public safety diver for life or disability [insurance]," he said.

"We can't see anything; everything is all by done by feel. We don't know what's under the water. So we have to take all the precautions possible."

Once a body is recovered, it is bagged and brought up carefully to the surface. Divers then need to disinfect themselves and their equipment due to the dangers of being in water contaminated by a decomposing body.

Due to the stresses of the work and the specialized nature of the job, Jevne said the team has difficulty attracting and retaining volunteers.

The RCMP has underwater recovery teams in all provinces except Alberta and Prince Edward Island.

"The qualifications and training required to join the Underwater Recovery Team are quite extensive and costly," RCMP spokesperson Robin Percival told CBC in a statement.

"In Alberta, they have found contracting their underwater recovery services out to commercial or civilian divers to be the most sustainable option for their division."

For other territories and provinces such as the Northwest Territories, Yukon, Nunavut and P.E.I., underwater recovery services are provided by the province closest to where the call originates.

In his search for support, Jevne has reached out to local politicians, including Maskwacis-Wetaskiwin MLA Rick Wilson.

In an interview, Wilson said he is working with the dive team to put together a funding package of what it will need to operate and stay sustainable.