N.L. search and rescue times too slow, committee told

A fishermen's union representative and a woman whose brothers died in a marine tragedy off the coast of Newfoundland told a federal committee that the Canadian military must be able to respond to emergency calls more quickly.

Speaking at a public hearingby aparliamentary standing committee on national defence Monday,Ryan-Guysaid she wants the military to improve its response times round the clock and on weekends.

"To me it's unbelievably wrong, and I've been fighting for [shorter response times]. I've been an advocate of it ever since this happened. It was a false sense of security that night," said Johanna Ryan-Guy, whose two brothersdied after the Ryan's Commander fishing boat capsized in 2004.

The militaryis expectedhave a search-and-rescue crew off the groundin under 30 minutes after receiving a call, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays. At all other times, it'sexpected to bein the air within two hours.

In an email to CBC News, the commanding officer of Gander's 103 Squadronsaidthe military'ssearch-and-rescue response times are, on average, much better than those targets.

"Average airborne time Monday to Friday is 18 minutes, and the average airborne time during quiet hours is 50 minutes," wrote Maj. Steve Reid.

A spokesman for the Fish, Food and Allied Workers (FFAW) union echoed Ryan-Guy's concerns at the hearing in Gander, N.L.

"Our jobs don't stop at 4 p.m. Our livelihoods continue," said the FFAW's George Feltham. "We have to work around the clock when we're fishing to secure a living, and we wouldn't expect no less of the [Defence] Department."

The committee is scheduled tocontinue the publichearings,in St. John's on Tuesday.

According to a news release on the federal government's website, the committee will be visiting Canadian Forces and Canadian coast guard search-and-rescue facilities in Gander and St. John's, and in Greenwood and Halifax inNova Scotia fromMondaythrough Thursday.

"These visits are in relation to its study initiated in spring 2010 on search- and-rescue response times due to the concerns being raised following the Cougar Flight 491 crash off the coast of Newfoundland in 2009," said the release.

Seventeen people died after a Cougar helicopter carrying offshore oil industry workers crashed into the ocean east of St. John's on March 12, 2009.