A Mountain View County (MVC) resident has received a prestigious national award for his longtime volunteer work in search and rescue operations and development in the region and beyond.
Richard Smith is the recipient of the Governor General of Canada Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers, which recognizes exceptional volunteer achievements by Canadians.
The MVC reeve presented the medal to Smith on behalf of the Governor General during a ceremony in council chambers on Jan. 9.
The ceremony was attended by provincial and national search and rescue officials, as well as local supporters.
A Water Valley resident, Smith has more than 35 years' experience in the fields of search and rescue and emergency management, said Reeve Bruce Beattie.
As an RCMP member for more than 20 years, Smith was involved in search and rescue, both in operations and in the development of policies and training standards, he said.
Smith spent several years working for Clearwater County public safety, Clearwater Emergency Management Agency, as well as being an active member of Rocky Mountain House, Sundre and Didsbury search and rescue groups, he said.
Smith was a founding member of Search and Rescue Alberta, and was instrumental in the development of the former Shell Canada Burnt Timber Gas Plant property into a provincial search and rescue training site, he said.
For more than 30 years Smith has been a volunteer teacher of programs such as search and rescue management, basic search and rescue skills, incident command systems, and emergency management, he said.
“Richard’s extensive actual experience in search and rescue mission, emergency management incidents, combine with his backcountry experience to provide others with an expertise that is practical, comprehensive and relevant to a wide variety of situations,” said Beattie.
During the medal presentation ceremony, MVC councillor Greg Harris, a former Calgary police officer, recalled a time when Smith led a suspect manhunt in the city.
“We had a sad incident where a police officer was killed during a chase trying to stop a car,” said Harris. “The suspects abandoned their car and went into a half-urban, half-brush area next to the Bow River. Richard volunteered his services to man-track those individuals and I was able to accompany him.
“What followed over the next few hours was one of the most impressive displays of man-tracking, particularly in an urban environment, that I have ever seen or will ever see.”
Scott Wright is the president of the Search and Rescue Volunteer Association of Canada, representing about 9,000 volunteers.
“Frequently we talk about search and rescue being about we do so that others may live. In Richard’s case we change that just a little bit perhaps to, others live because you have. Thank you Richard.”
Monica Ahlstrom is the president of Search and Rescue Alberta.
“On behalf of all of the volunteers in Alberta we’d like to thank Richard for his unwavering dedication to search and rescue and to everything that he has done for search and rescue in this province and throughout this province,” said Ahlstrom.
Reeve Beattie commended Smith and other search and rescue volunteers for their efforts in the region.
“On behalf of Mountain View County and I think Canada, thank you very much,” said Beattie.
For his part, Smith thanks his fellow search and rescue members and other stakeholders.
“It’s been an honour and a privilege to work with such great community-minded souls in search and rescue, and municipal, provincial and federal governments for so many years,” said Smith. “I appreciate the contributions of you all. It means so much.”
Smith has co-authored five books on search and rescue over the past 20 years, and has been the recipient of numerous other provincial and national awards, said Reeve Beattie.
