Question: Do you use dogs in your searches?
Answer: No, currently we do not. We work with the police and they have a canine unit. Ontario Search and Rescue Volunteer Association (OSARVA) offers K9 certification.
Question: Do searchers get paid?
Answer: No, all searchers are trained volunteers. All searchers have their own equipment and must arrange to get to and return from searches, training, and meetings.
Question: How old do you have to be to be a searcher?
Answer: Eighteen.
Question: If a member of my family gets lost what number do I call?
Answer: You call the Thunder Bay City Police if the lost person is in the city or the Ontario Provincial Police if outside the city. The Police then call us.
Question: Do you do air searches?
Answer: No, we are trained to do ground searches. Air searches in the Thunder Bay region are handled by the Northwestern Ontario Air Search and Rescue Association (NOASARA).
Answer: All funds are raised by members and managed by our board of directors. We do not get any permanent funding from any one body of funders.
Question: How is your organization run?
Answer: We have a twelve member elected Board of Directors that run LSRU’s business, we have a constitution, and we have an appointed Area Commander and two appointed Deputy Area Commanders who are in charge during searches. We also have qualified trained trainers. We meet monthly, and have yearly elections.