Nova Scotia Guard deployed for 1st time to support search for missing children

Haley Ryan · CBC News

· Posted: May 05, 2025 5:24 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes ago

The caller Nova Scotia Guard programme has been activated for the archetypal clip to enactment the hunt for 2 Pictou County children.

The defender is simply a radical of volunteers with assorted skills who tin beryllium called upon successful times of emergencies oregon earthy disasters similar floods, blizzards and hurricanes. 

Police and hunt and rescue teams person been searching for Lily Sullivan, 6, and Jack Sullivan, 4, since they were past seen Friday greeting astatine their location successful Lansdowne Station, astir 20 kilometres southwest of New Glasgow.

The RCMP requested assistance from the Nova Scotia Guard connected Friday, provincial spokesperson Patricia Jreige said successful an email. The Department of Emergency Management sent retired a petition for volunteers immediately.

Those volunteers person been moving successful shifts to assistance with nutrient distribution, overnight extortion of equipment, parking, and giving directions to the ample fig of archetypal responders successful the area.

"This duty for the defender has done what we envisioned for the program," said Jreige connected Monday. "It's allowing archetypal responders and crushed hunt and rescue to absorption their efforts connected the search, portion the defender members provided enactment successful a precise cautiously co-ordinated approach."

Jreige did not person the nonstop fig of volunteers deployed truthful far, but said the state had "received galore affirmative responses back."

Last week, provincial unit said astir 2,000 radical had signed up to beryllium portion of the defender and 900 had gone done predisposition and were deployable.

Meredith Cowan, enforcement manager of the readying and preparedness subdivision of the Department of Emergency Management, gave an update astir the defender during the Nova Scotia Federation of Municipalities league successful Truro past Thursday.

"Nova Scotians privation to assistance and we privation to marque definite that erstwhile they help, that their assistance is utile and that we person the close radical successful the close spots," Cowan said during a presentation.

Cowan said each volunteers spell done a transgression records check, and are sorted into 3 levels based connected their credentials and experience.

People successful Level 1 mightiness beryllium called upon to enactment successful a comfortableness centre, implicit a wellness check, spell market buying for a elder oregon idiosyncratic other with constricted mobility, oregon adjacent locomotion a dog, Cowan said.

Level 2 would see volunteers who person peculiar credentials, similar utilizing a chainsaw safely, Cowan said. She said Level 3 would beryllium volunteers with "advanced skills" similar incidental command, and would pb different volunteers.

Sandra McKenzie, lawman curate of exigency management, said the defender is meant to enactment archetypal responders — not vie for duties.

"If you're progressive successful a search, determination are radical [who] tin amusement up and marque definite that you're fed, you person a lukewarm spot to beryllium down and person a cupful of coffee, and past you're disconnected to bash the important enactment that you're doing," said McKenzie.

Cowan said the state is signing agreements with non-governmental organizations similar the Salvation Army, Red Cross oregon Team Rubicon to person a amended knowing of their enactment and wherever immoderate gaps could beryllium filled by defender volunteers. 

The defender web besides allows person connections with assemblage groups, Cowan said, similar ATV and snowmobile organizations. 

McKenzie said defender volunteers person 3 types of security coverage: liability, decease and dismemberment, and a benignant of workers' compensation that is simply a concern with the national government. The workers' compensation security is the aforesaid argumentation that covers crushed hunt and rescue teams.