The Search and Rescue Association of Canada has requested a meeting with Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan to ask for $400,000 annually.

Harry Blackmore, the association's president, said the insurance would cover about 12,000 volunteers from 338 ground search-and-rescue teams across Canada. Provinces and territories could chip in later, he said.

"If we can get the federal minister to kick in on it now and get it put in place because disasters are going to happen,'' Blackmore said from Newfoundland.

"Teams are being used for more and more stuff. We are saying ... enough is enough. It is a reason we are starting to lose people,'' he said.

"People are getting very, very worried. You go out at 2 o'clock in the morning to find someone who is lost, and the next thing, something happens and you are sued and lawyers are coming after you for everything they can get.''

Federal public safety officials were not immediately available for comment.

In August, the British Columbia government became the first province to offer liability insurance to its search-and-rescue volunteers. The province acted after a search society in Golden, B.C., suspended operations when it was sued by a Quebec man whose wife had died while backcountry skiing.

The B.C. case has brought the issue of liability insurance for search-and-rescue volunteers to a boil across Canada.

On Monday, a group in Nova Scotia warned it may be forced to withdraw emergency services if it can't get better insurance protection. The Nova Scotia Ground Search and Rescue Association has given the government two weeks to respond.

In Alberta, officials say their volunteers are growing increasingly frustrated at the provincial government's lack of a response to their request for liability and accident insurance.

A government official said the request is being considered but couldn't say if a decision will be made before spring.

The question is sure to be a hot topic this weekend when more than 170 volunteers representing 40 search-and-rescue teams in Alberta gather for training in the cold, wet and snowy Rocky Mountain foothills.

"We don't want to be put in a position where we say we are going to have to withdraw our services. It is frustrating that there has been very little dialogue on the issue,'' said Monica Ahlstrom, president of the Search and Rescue Association of Alberta.

"If they (the government) had to pay for search and rescue it would probably be in the millions of dollars.''

Carole Smith, a spokeswoman for the federal National Search and Rescue Secretariat, said Ottawa pays for insurance for civilian groups involved in air and sea searches. Groups involved in ground and inland waterway searches fall within the jurisdiction of the provinces and territories.

This is a prevailing concern,'' she said from Ottawa. ``Volunteers shouldn't have to worry about such issues when they are giving their time and expertise to help others in their time of greatest need.''

Blackmore said ground teams just want the same arrangement as those involved in sea and air searches. That would include having Ottawa cover operational and administrative costs, including accident and liability insurance for volunteers, their teams and directors.

The Mounties, who depend on volunteer searchers during emergencies, support the association's request, said Sgt. Robert Lajoie, officer in charge of the RCMP's national search-and-rescue program. But he noted the difficulty of federal-provincial jurisdictional issues

Still, he said, initial discussions are underway.

"We see the importance of having this. And sometimes you have to look beyond the horizontal responsibilities and try to bring it under one umbrella, although it takes time and proper negotiations,'' Lajoie said from Ottawa.

"The volunteers are important to us, and this isn't something we are turning a cold shoulder to.''