Members of the North Shore Rescue team haul an injured boy scout to a waiting helicopter during a recent rescue. (North Shore Rescue)

B.C.'s solicitor general says he is hopeful a deal can be reached with the province's search and rescue groups over liability insurance coverage, but it's not yet clear if that is enough to bring all the groups back into service.

Solicitor General Kash Heed met with the B.C. Search and Rescue Association Wednesday night in Victoria after two of the volunteer search groups withdrew service and several others threatened to follow suit, over demands the province provide better insurance coverage.

The province covers liability insurance for individual searchers, but previously said the search societies, which run the non-profit services, should pay for their own coverage, something the volunteer organizations rejected.

Heed says both sides have now exchanged ideas, and more research is being done.

"We are going to let staff work on a few ideas, and hopefully in the next month or so, or even sooner, we'll be able to come up with a some resolution," said Heed.

Don Bindon, president of the B.C. Search and Rescue Association, said he was pleased with the solicitor general's assurances and is hoping that will encourage teams in Golden and Cranbrook to resume rescue services.

"We are encouraging the two teams that are currently out to return, and we believe … the current situation should allow them to be comfortable with coming back," said Bindon.

The insurance coverage issue surfaced when the non-profit search society in Golden was named in a lawsuit filed after a Quebec woman died and her husband waited nine days for rescue in the B.C. backcountry earlier this year.

With files from The Canadian Press