Tragedy highlights need for search and rescue unit

‘He Walked This Far’ is the name of a national campaign that has been inspired by the death of Burton Winters.
The 14-year-old boy was found dead several days after the first call had gone out that he was missing in the harsh environment of a Labrador winter.

Now a whole community has rallied to encourage a search and rescue unit be established permanently in Labrador.

Burton’s stepmother, Natalie Jacque, said “We need to take a stand and honour Burton’s legacy, and to ensure that more innocent lives are never taken away. A Primary Response Search and Rescue Unit must be stationed in Labrador and remain here. A SAR that is adequately staffed with leadership that allows the SAR staff to do their job properly and to save lives. In honour of Burton, we are pleading for change.”

On Jan. 29 at about 1:30 p.m. Winters dropped off his cousin by snowmobile at his grandmother’s house in Makkovik. Following the tracks from there it appeared that Burton then headed out towards the sea ice.
That evening when Burton hadn’t returned home, the call was made to look for the young boy. People from Postville, with the help of others from surrounding communities, started searching by foot and by snowmobile as fast as they could.

The Makkovik RCMP detachment was called at about 7:30 p.m. that night and were told that Winters hadn’t come home.

It was about three hours later that RCMP Makkovik called the Canadian Armed Forces Search and Rescue team located in Gander, Nfld to provide air support to continue the search the following day.

The Department of National Defense didn’t send in any aircraft earlier because of bad weather and mechanical problems with the helicopters. A private firm was contracted to complete the search, and it located the snowmobile and the body of the young boy two days later.

Many vigils were held for Burton Winters and prayers have gone out to the family.

‘We stand United’ is one of many thousands of comments that have appeared on a social media page called ‘The Burton Winters’ Rescue Center in Labrador’. It has more than 33,000 members on the page who are calling for the search and rescue centre so no other family will have to endure the pain of losing another relative like this in the future.