About Us

Search and Rescue Regina began in 1994 after the tragic disappearance of eight-year old Ashley Krestianson. Search and Rescue Regina is a member-chapter of Search and Rescue Saskatchewan Association of Volunteers (SARSAV).

Mission

To support the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Regina Police Service, or designated authority in their efforts to locate missing persons or assist in other related emergencies.

Vision

Search and Rescue Regina will transform into a leading search and rescue organization in the service of our community.

What we do

Our trained ground search and rescue volunteer members help others in need in our community by giving their time to train, be activated on missing person missions, and provide safety information to the community. We are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

How we do it

Police agencies request SARAV’s professional SAR volunteers through the Provincial Emergency Communications Center by a text message. The Professional SAR Responders from SARSAV chapters closest to the search are then deployed to the search area.

SARSAV assigns a Search Manager to work in unified command with Municipal Police and RCMP. Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency is also deployed to many searches. SPSA, RCMP, Municipal Police and SARSAV work closely together on Ground SAR missions in Saskatchewan.

In Memory of
Ashley Krestianson
September 9, 1985-July 1984

In 1994 beautiful eight-year old Ashley Krestianson lost her way and, tragically, her life. While wandering with her twin sister Lindsay, Ashley took a shortcut and never returned home.

The massive search for Ashley spawned the development of several community-based search and rescue organizations – all with one goal – to help the RCMP find missing persons. The RCMP realized they needed to train these volunteers to help with searches, and met with representatives from those fledgling community-based search and rescue organizations. From those initial meetings, Search and Rescue Saskatchewan Association of Volunteers (SARSAV) came into existence as the umbrella organization for member-chapters and individual search and rescue volunteers in the province. Under the direction of the RCMP search and rescue volunteers received training, which has grown and evolved over the decades into national standards for search and rescue professionals – paid and unpaid – across the country.

Accountability

SAR Regina operates in Saskatchewan under The Non-profit Corporations Act and is governed by the SARR Constitution and Bylaws, which identify the organization’s name, purpose, membership composition, fees and meetings, duties of officers and wind-up procedures.

Constitution

ByLaws

Code of Conduct

Board of Directors

SAR Regina is a small volunteer-run organization and thus has an operational Board of Directors. We are ground searchers. We are administrators. The volunteer Board of Directors and no member of the Board receives compensation to perform their Board duties. In addition to demonstrating a base of compassion for The Missing, the Board of Directors actively recruits to bring a wide range of specific competencies and professional expertise to the organization.

Sean Hauglum, President
Colin Matechuk, Vice-President/Fundraising
Jessica Walsh, Treasurer
Louise Yates, Secretary

Marius Burger, Director – Equipment
Dawna Henderson, Director – Community Relations
Ericka Keranen, Director – Membership

Our Priorities

To be ready and able to serve, our planning process includes members of File Hills Tribal Council, Regina Police Service, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Saskatchewan Public Service Agency, and Search and Rescue Saskatchewan Association of Volunteers. We have five strategic priorities and a number of objectives that fall under the following broad priorities:

Model inclusion and cultural respect
Build community awareness and partnerships
Recruit, retain, equip and train members
Modernize equipment and leverage new technologies
Support member accessibility and organizational financial sustainability