Hi Henry,
Over the years we have a few presentations by the Coast Guard and we have been warned that shooting flares off when it’s not an emergency can get you in a lot of trouble, for good reason. I would like to find a proper, reliable solution that all club members can use now that the Coast Guard doesn’t take them anymore. Coast Guard (rightly) commands us to buy and carry flares but then doesn’t provide us with an easy way to get rid of them. It’s a conundrum. The RCMP in Maple Ridge, where I live, will take them and they said that the fire department also does but I heard from another club member that when she asked at the N Van Fire Dept, they wouldn’t take them. I’m going to go to my local fire dept and check.
I also checked with the local Search and Rescue, as Randy Chatterjee suggested, and their reply was that training protocols prohibit the use of expired supplies. I will post this again with Randy’s response.