History of SAR in Saskatchewan 1940-2006

CASARA National was launched under the umbrella of new SAR secretariate established by federal government in 1983 following the recommendation of Justice Charles Dublin in his report on aviation safety. SAR existed in Saskatchewan before that but under different organizations. Volunteer Regina pilot Ray Korpus was a member of SAR organization called SEMAD active in the1960s and 1970s, which stands for the "Saskatchewan Emergency Measures Air Division", a volunteer branch of the provincial government's Emergency Measures Organization. According to Ray it had a dual purpose: to launch air searches as needed and to provide aerial surveillance in times of disaster like floods he recalls. Training in those days consisted of lectures and studying diagrams at Saskatchewan EMO headquarters Regina located in the old General Motors administration building on Toronto Street west of old GM plant at 8th Avenue and Winnipeg Street. Search patterns were very simple, consisting of rectangles and occasional circles. Jim Feely was also a member of SEMAD during the 1960-70 we need to meet to gather his experiences. Tom Kerr from Weyburn oversaw the transition from SEMAD to CASARA in mid1980s becoming first zone commander.He said Zone 8 was much smaller in size as SEMAD going north only to Trans Canada Hiway. And before SEMAD, there was SCAD, which stood for "Saskatchewan Civil Air Defence". Not too much information exists about that group. Ray Korpus has some personal historic artifacts he saved from the era a SEMAD ballcap and SEMAD jacket Ray offered to make them available for digital photograph. A future project.
Courtesy of: Clarence Demchuk - Zone 8