About us

Founded in 2002, the Québec Association of Search and Rescue Volunteers (AQBRS) is a non-profit organization composed of teams of search and rescue volunteers operating throughout the vast territory of Québec.

 Even though the Association’s main activity is the search of missing people, we also have the objective to offer educational and preventive services in order to train individuals to step in when life threatening situations affect the lives of the Quebecers, such as flooding, earthquakes, tornados, ice storms, or any other natural disaster.

The Association’s goals are the following:

• To represent its members in provincial and national cases;
• To assist its members in local or regional cases, if required;
• To offer social and educational services in order to train individuals to respond in search and rescue situations;
• To promote, all across the territory, the emergence of groups of volunteers ready to respond in search and rescue situations or during emergency measures;
• To promote exchanges between members, amongst themselves and the public authorities, and to provide mediation services to avoid or to settle conflicts;

•             To promote and ensure the upholding of a certain level of service by establishing minimal standards of expertise for the volunteers.

   

Our members’ presence all over the province means that we usually perform our search missions jointly with the Sûreté du Québec (Quebec Provincial Police) and municipal police services.  However, our teams are also available to assist any other public authority or federal or provincial organisation that may request our help.

It should be noted that every team of the Association remains independent regarding their decision to take part in a search or any other event to which it has been asked to attend.

Our members:

The Association recognizes two categories of members, which are:

The members:

Structured group involved in the Search and Rescue field¸ whose obligations meet the terms of the admission requirements and maintain its status as stated in the “Statutes and General Regulations” section.

The honorary members:

The honorary members consist of natural or legal entities recognized by the board of directors for their involvement and their services to the Association or to the Search and Rescue field.