The Government of Canada enhances search and rescue services on the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland

From: Canadian Coast Guard

News release

July 10, 2019 – St. Anthony, Newfoundland and Labrador

The Canadian Coast Guard plays an essential role in ensuring the safety of mariners and the protection of Canada’s marine environment and coastal communities. Through the Oceans Protection Plan, the Government of Canada is working to improve marine safety and protect Canada’s waters and coasts today and for the future.

Today, the Member of Parliament for Long Range Mountains, Gudie Hutchings, on behalf of the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, officially opened a new Canadian Coast Guard search and rescue station in St. Anthony, Newfoundland and Labrador. MP Hutchings also took part in a dedication to service ceremony for a new 19.2-metre lifeboat stationed in St. Anthony, the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Pennant Bay.

The new station was created under the Oceans Protection Plan to enhance the Coast Guard’s ability to respond to marine emergencies, including environmental response, in the waters off the Great Northern Peninsula. Two existing buildings in St. Anthony, owned by the Government of Canada, were renovated to house the search and rescue station and a technical workshop. A new storage building was built on the site and a new floating dock was constructed to accommodate the CCGS Pennant Bay.

This part of the Great Northern Peninsula was identified as a location that would benefit from increased marine search and rescue capacity. The station operates 24-hours-a-day as a seasonal station, from May to December, depending on ice conditions.

Under the Oceans Protection Plan, the Canadian Coast Guard is also opening new search and rescue stations in Old Perlican and Twillingate, Newfoundland and Labrador. These stations are expected to be operational beginning in the 2019 and 2020 seasons respectively, each with its own dedicated lifeboat.

Quotes

“The new St. Anthony search and rescue station and lifeboat bring a new level of marine safety to the waters off the Great Northern Peninsula. We are ensuring the Canadian Coast Guard’s professional and highly trained personnel have the equipment they need to respond to marine emergencies, including search and rescue and environmental response.”

The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard

“I am pleased to see a renewed Canadian Coast Guard presence in St. Anthony. Our relationship with the sea has formed who we are as a people and plays a vital role in both our economy and pastime activities. This new search and rescue station and dedicated lifeboat deliver on the need for local marine safety resources in Newfoundland and Labrador.”

Gudie Hutchings, Member of Parliament for Long Range Mountains

Quick facts

  • There are 43 Canadian Coast Guard search and rescue stations located strategically across Canada.

  • In addition to the three new search and rescue stations in Newfoundland and Labrador, four new stations are being opened in British Columbia as part of the Oceans Protection Plan. This includes stations in Tahsis, Hartley Bay,  Port Renfrew, and a new station in Victoria which opened in August 2018.

  • Funding for the seven new stations totals $108.1 million over five years, with ongoing funding of $12.2 million creating 56 new positions to provide search and rescue services from these new stations.

  • CCGS Pennant Bay is one of 20 new search and rescue lifeboats scheduled to be built for Coast Guard search and rescue stations across Canada. Three of these new vessels will be stationed in Newfoundland and Labrador.

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Contacts

Marie-Pascale Des Rosiers
Director of Communications
Office of the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans
and the Canadian Coast Guard
Tel: 613-314-4591
Marie-Pascale.DesRosiers@dfo-mpo.gc.ca


Media Relations
Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard
709-772-3375
Media.NL@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

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