Rescue helicopters belong in Gander: military

Military search and rescue helicopters should remain stationed in the northeastern Newfoundland community of Gander, the Defence Department says in a letter to a judicial inquiry into offshore helicopter safety.

"Recurrent Canadian Forces studies have consistently confirmed the Gander basing of our CH-149 Cormorant helicopters as best meeting the service needs for search and rescue incidents, both marine and aeronautical," wrote Lt.-Col. Grant MacDonald.

The inquiry, based in St. John's and led by retired Supreme Court judge Robert Wells, was called by the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board after 17 people died when a helicopter ferrying oil workers crashed into the ocean 55 kilometres southeast of St. John's.

The disaster provoked calls from municipal and provincial politicians and offshore workers to increase search and rescue capabilities in St. John's, closer to offshore oilfields.

In response to a request from Wells, the military provided a statement on search and rescue roles and responsibilities, even though Wells said the location of Canadian Forces choppers is outside his inquiry's mandate.

Mandate limited

"I'm not allowed to examine or inquire into that and I will not," Wells said Monday.

On Wednesday, he released the statement from the Department of National Defence.

It said the recommendations of the 1985 Royal Commission on the Ocean Ranger disaster, which killed 84, didn't change the mandate of Gander-based helicopters. The royal commission called for a search and rescue helicopter to be based in St. John's, near the oilfields. It said this helicopter should be provided by government or industry, but it didn't suggest moving a helicopter from Gander.

The Wells inquiry is scheduled to call many witnesses this fall and winter but none will be from the Defence Department.

A lawyer representing offshore workers said Monday that if the federal government won't base a fully equipped search and rescue chopper in St. John's then the oil companies operating in Newfoundland and Labrador should.

"If there is a gap in safety ... If the Department of National Defence does not have the resources or the federal government is not willing to alter the distribution of resources, the people who operate the offshore oil industry have to fill that gap," said Randal Earle, counsel for the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union.

The inquiry has adjourned until Monday when a witness from the national Transportation Safety Board will testify.