About the Association

Established in 2002, the association québécoise des bénévoles en recherche et sauvetage (AQBRS) is a non-profit organization made up of volunteer search and rescue groups, working across the vast territory of Quebec.

While the primary activity of the groups that make up the Association is the search and rescue of missing persons, we also aim to provide education and prevention services with a social character to train individuals to intervene in situations where the lives of members of the Quebec community are threatened, such as floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, ice storms or any other natural disaster.

The objectives of our Association are as follows:

• Represent its members in matters of provincial and national scope; 
• If necessary, assist its member groups in matters of local or regional scope;
• Provide social and educational services to train individuals to intervene in search and rescue situations;
• Promote, throughout the territory, the emergence of groups of structured volunteers ready to intervene in search and rescue situations or during emergency measures resulting from a disaster;
• Promote exchange between members, public authorities and provide, if necessary, mediation services to avoid or resolve conflicts;
• Promote and ensure the maintenance of a level of quality service by establishing minimum standards of competence and service delivery applicable to its member groups and the searchers who compose them.

The presence of our members throughout Quebec means that we usually carry out our search missions jointly with the Sûreté du Québec and municipal police services. However, our groups of volunteers are also available to assist any other public authorities and federal or provincial organizations that request it.

Note that each of the Association's member groups remains independent in its decision to participate or not in a research operation or any other event for which it is requested.

Our members:

The Association recognizes two categories of members, namely:

The members:

Structured and involved group in the field of search and rescue whose obligations meet the admission conditions and which maintains its status as mentioned in the general “statutes and regulations”.

Honorary members:

Honorary members include natural or legal persons whom the board of directors recognizes for their involvement and the services they have rendered to the Association or in the field of search and rescue.