The Fifth Estate

Lost On The Ice (40x16)

: 06, 2015

It has been another brutal winter for much of Canada. In Labrador, it's the second coldest winter on record. The extreme cold is a reminder of how precarious life can be for people who live in remote regions and who rely on Canada’s search and rescue service when things go wrong. In late February, a Labrador teenager died after he walked away from his remote village and got lost on the ice. No one reported him missing for days so it’s doubtful even the best rescue service would have made a difference. But his death was a powerful reminder of 14-year-old Burton Winters, who got lost in a blinding blizzard but might have been saved if Search and Rescue had sent a military helicopter. Our story then raised serious questions about Canada’s search and rescue system – questions that three years later remain largely unanswered.