Provincial Emergency Program (PEP) Air leads the sombre 2026 event in honour of search and rescue volunteers who have died in the line of duty.
A provincewide volunteer air search and rescue organization with more than 400 members who provide tens of thousands of hours of service each year, the organization boasts highly-trained volunteers who search for missing persons, aircraft or other targets using privately-owned aircraft.
PEP AIR provide safety-aware crews and aircraft to assist Canadian Forces search and rescue, RCMP, and B.C. ground search and rescue groups.
The 412 B.C. volunteers with the organization under Civil Air Search and Rescue Association under PEP Air, committed 41,273 hours to training (27,284), tastings (4,377), meetings (9,093) and administration last year. They drove 41,370 kilometres, offered up 59 registered aircraft, 26 drones and were tasked out 50 times through the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre and the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Canada.
Search and rescue, by ground, air or sea, is inherently dangerous. March 2 is Search and Rescue Volunteer Memorial Day, marked with an annual wreath laying ceremony at the stone memorial dedicated in 2017. Standing in the Garden of Honour on the south side of the B.C. legislature grounds, it bears the names of 17 search and rescue personnel who lost their lives during searches over the past 50 years.
The event starts shortly after noon, to allow members of the legislative assembly to join during their break.
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The monument was carved from 17,000 pounds of granite, and symbolizes the 17 names inscribed on it:
Lyle Saunders, Provincial Emergency Program Air (PEP Air), Merritt, 1967
Gary Daniels, PEP Air, 1967
Reginald Richard Hunt, PEP Air, 1970
Benjamin Hunt, PEP Air, 1970
Norman Wilson, PEP Air, Alert Bay, 1970
John Craig, PEP Air, Cranbrook, 1983
Bob McGregor, North Shore Rescue, 1989
Marcel Andrie, Lions Bay Search and Rescue, 1994
Bill Bing, PEP Air, Nelson, 1996
Sheilah Sweatman, Nelson Search and Rescue, 2011
Angie Nemeth, Halfmoon Bay, 2012
Victor E. Hanuse, PEP Air, Alert Bay, 1970
Cynthia Griffith, PEP Air, Cranbrook, 1983
Eric Buss, Bulkley Valley Search and Rescue, 1991
Rick Dendys, PEP Air, Nelson, 1996
Rick Ayotte, PEP Air, Nelson, 1996
Beatrice Sorensen, Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue, Halfmoon Bay, 2012