It looks to me like Spot worked just as advertised but the RCMP didn't want to go out without knowing everything.
Quote:

“All they do is submit a lat and longitude, so all we get is a location of a distress call but no details,” Sills said. “I don’t think it’s a well thought through technology because it doesn’t give the nature of the emergency.”

I'd think knowing the exact location would be a boon to these guys.