The records in this accession consist of records of the Rescue Coordination Centre (Trenton). Although one statistical summary dates back to 1957, and there are a few case files for the early 1960s, the bulk of the material relates to the period after 1968.
Search and rescue operations in Canada are a multi-agency responsibility involving the police, the Coast Guard, Department of Transport and the Canadian Armed Forces. There is also the closest co-operation with search and rescue authorities in the United States. For purposes of command and control, co-ordination of search and rescue operations in Canada has been delegated to regional Rescue Co-ordination Centres in Edmonton, Halifax, Trenton, Vancouver, and Victoria employing the facilities of armed forces bases there.
The files have been arranged in 6(six) file blocks, organized by case number, and in general they follow a chronological pattern. The case files included in BLOCK D belonged originally to the general series of cases included in BLOCK E, but were removed from the general file by FCC Trenton because the incidents they deal with developed into relatively major SAR operations. However, they retain their general case number, and thus they could be regarded as being interfiled with BLOCK E. Similarly, the SAR Special Reports included in BLOCK B refer to cases included in either BLOCK D or BLOCK E that assumed major proportions. A researcher should therefore check all three of these file blocks for any particular case; inclusion in one does not preclude inclusion in another.
The contents of this accession are as follows:
¿ BLOCK A: Trenton RCC air traffic control logbooks, Provide flying times, number of flights, times, etc.
¿ BLOCK B: Trenton RCC SAR special reports.
¿ BLOCK C: "Stats 110"; monthly statistical summaries
¿ BLOCK D: Case files. Individual important cases, filed by case number, by year. Include logs, messages, reports.
¿ BLOCK E: General case files. Includes many false alarms, non-starters, and relatively straight-forward cases. Filed by case number, by month. More important or complicated case files removed to BLOCK D.
¿ BLOCK F: Outgoing messages
