Our History Highlights:

Take a look at the beginning of CASARA until now, highlighting some of the most important years in SAR!

Scroll through the years below & click on the periods you wish to read about!

(1984 - 1990) - The Start of CASARA

(1991 - 1995) - CASARA Makes History

(1996 - 2000) - The North & Recognition

(2001 - 2005) - Into The Early 2000s

(2006 - 2010) - Some New Changes To CASARA

(2011 - 2015) - Steps Using Technology & Awareness

(2016 - 2020) - The Connection Era

Our Brief History...

Civil Air Search And Rescue (CASARA) started in 1986, in partnership with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Each province and territory set up a Member Organization (MO) unit and under each MO is many zones. The majority of MO's sourced the use of volunteer owned aircraft for searches.

CASARA created a National Office in Winnipeg Manitoba, consisting of a National Administrator and an Administrative Assistant and eventually a contracted Bookkeeper and a contracted Communications Officer.

Throughout the years, CASARA has provided over 160,000 volunteer hours from our 2000 members since 1986 to search for missing aircraft, hunters or boaters.

In recent years, CASARA has been asked by RCAF to include humanitarian taskings and trial the use of drones to search for missing persons. CASARA’s volunteers’ sacrifices have been recognized in several provinces and continue to be recognized by parliament.

CASARA continues to assist with search and rescue events throughout the vast regions of Canada.

“That Others May Live”