On an otherwise pleasant June evening in 2013, a boat with four people on board crashed into an island on Lake Wanapitei, near Sudbury, Ont. Three died. The lone survivor tells of agonizing phone calls to 911 while emergency services marshalled a response.
Some 75 km to the southwest, the tragedy was a wake-up call for Richard Foucault. He lives on Lang Lake, one of eight connected water-access lakes in a 40-km chain. “The OPP has two boats between Manitoulin Island and the North Shore. If one’s available, it’s at least an hour response time,” he says.
And so, the Eight Lakes Response Team (ELRT) was born. It’s a dedicated group of Lang Lake volunteers committed to using their own boats to ferry emergency personnel to remote incidents. They provide both rapid transportation and essential local knowledge for navigating the lakes’ tricky shoals and narrows. “Someone can respond in 15 minutes,” says Richard, who has 60 years of experience on the lake. The volunteers meet the OPP and paramedics at Lang Lake’s main dock, the only major access point to all eight lakes, about 2.5 km from the highway.
Cottage Q&A: Is a lake plan a good idea?
Richard’s wife, Gail, carries an emergency phone 24/7 from May until October or November. Only the OPP and paramedic services have the number. An AED (defibrillator) is available at the Foucaults’ dock. At their own docks, ELRT members keep their boats gassed up with extra lifejackets on board ready to pick up emergency responders when a call comes in. Each boat owner carries extra insurance that covers them for
liability, but it comes with restrictions. “We’re just a taxi service to the EMS,” says Gail. “We’re not allowed to touch anybody, and we’re never allowed to accept any money because it will void the insurance.”
Reaching memorandums of understanding with both the Manitoulin-Sudbury Paramedic Services and the OPP took about a year. Now, the collaboration is “a game-changer,” according to Mike Pilon, formerly the chief superintendent of the OPP’s Northeast Region and now the CAO of the Municipality of West Nipissing. And with encouragement from the Ontario Federation of Cottagers’ Associations, members of the ELRT team are keen to speak to other cottage groups about how to set up similar partnerships. (If your group is interested, you can contact Richard at richardgailfoucault@gmail.com.)
In four years, the phone has only rung once—a wrong number. And that’s good news, says Richard. “If in the end, we save only one life, it will be worth it.”
This article was originally published in the Early Spring 2026 issue of Cottage Life.
Related Story Is Lake Vernon the ice cream capital of cottage country?
Related Story How do you get community buy-in on environmental issues at the lake?
Related Story The incredible professionals that make cottage country work for us