Canadian Core Capabilities List
About the Canadian Core Capabilities List
The Canadian Core Capabilities List (CCCL) is a list of 38 emergency management (EM) capabilities endorsed by the Senior Officials Responsible for Emergency Management (SOREM) on June 20, 2019 to support initiatives which advance the Emergency Management Strategy for Canada: Toward a Resilient 2030 (EMS or "EM Strategy"), including the National Risk Profile (NRP). An initial 2021-2022 Interim Action Plan to commence implementation of the EM Strategy was approved by Federal, Provincial and Territorial (FPT) Ministers in March 2022. It references the value of Capability-Based Planning (CBP), supported by the CCCL, as an evidence-informed process for reducing risk and building resilience.
CBP for EM respects jurisdictional boundaries while increasing interoperability and supports a more integrated planning approach to priorities within Canada. The CCCL was co-developed by FPT governments and captures a comprehensive range of functions within the EM system across the five EM Strategy priority areas.
Each entry of the CCCL is associated with the priorities of the EMS and can be linked with one or more of the four pillars of the Emergency Management Framework for Canada (EM Framework): prevention/mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery.
The five priority areas of the EM Strategy are:
- Priority 1: Enhance whole-of-society collaboration and governance to strengthen resilience
- Priority 2: Improve understanding of disaster risks in all sectors of society
- Priority 3: Increase focus on whole-of-society disaster prevention and mitigation activities
- Priority 4: Enhance disaster response capacity and coordination and foster the development of new capabilities
- Priority 5: Strengthen recovery efforts by building back better to minimize the impacts of future disasters
This strategic planning approach addresses uncertainty in the risk environment, by creating a common framework for measuring, coordinating, and mobilizing resources.
The CCCL Reference Guide
The following table provides an overview of each of the 38 CCCL entries.
Capability |
EM Strategy Priority Area |
EM Framework Pillar(s) |
CCCL Definition |
---|---|---|---|
Whole-of-Society Interoperability |
Priority 1 |
All |
To develop shared interoperable standards, guidelines and competencies for emergency management (EM) in Canada. |
Whole-of-Society Governance |
Priority 1 |
All |
To establish and maintain a whole-of-society governance structure to advance the resilience of the emergency management system in Canada. |
Whole-of-Society Collaboration |
Priority 1 |
All |
To jointly enhance resilience together with all sectors of society. |
Indigenous Collaboration |
Priority 1 |
All |
To jointly enhance resilience with Indigenous peoples, built on recognition of rights, respect, co-operation, and partnership as the foundation for transformative change. |
Risk Assessments |
Priority 2 |
All |
To collect, process, assess potential threat, hazards, risks, resilience, vulnerability, capabilities and associated impact factors. |
Intelligence Information Sharing |
Priority 2 |
Prevention/Mitigation and Preparedness |
To share timely, accurate and actionable knowledge and information concerning threats or hazards among EM Partners as appropriate. |
Hazard Monitoring and Early Warning |
Priority 2 |
Prevention/Mitigation and Preparedness |
To provide hazard monitoring, prediction, forecasting, modeling and early warnings. |
Public Information and Awareness |
Priority 2 |
Prevention/Mitigation and Preparedness |
To deliver timely, current, and accurate public information and awareness to all sectors of society. |
Critical Infrastructure Resilience |
Priority 3 |
Prevention/Mitigation and Preparedness |
To take actions to increase resilience of critical infrastructure assets and networks. |
Property Resilience |
Priority 3 |
Prevention/Mitigation and Preparedness |
To take actions to increase resiliency of public and private property to effectively support the needs of all sectors of society. |
Public Infrastructure Resilience |
Priority 3 |
Prevention/Mitigation and Preparedness |
To take actions to increase resiliency of public and private property to effectively manage risk transference due to climate impacts and other factors. |
EM Planning |
Priority 3 |
All |
To develop, validate, and maintain emergency management, continuity of government, and business continuity plans. |
Security and Interdiction |
Priority 3 |
Prevention/Mitigation and Preparedness |
To identify, discover, locate, halt, intercept, apprehend or secure critical threats to all sectors of society. |
Structural Risk Reduction Measures |
Priority 3 |
Prevention/Mitigation |
To adapt, eliminate or reduce the risk of disasters through structural mitigation measures (e.g. construction of floodways and dykes, fire break), taking into consideration best practices in design, and applying projected climate data where relevant. |
Non-Structural Risk Reduction Measures |
Priority 3 |
Prevention/Mitigation |
To adapt, eliminate or reduce the risk of disasters through non-structural mitigation measures (e.g. building codes, land-use planning, fire smart protocols), taking into consideration best practices in design, and applying projected climate data where relevant. |
Natural Environment Risk Reduction Measures |
Priority 3 |
Prevention/Mitigation |
To adapt, eliminate or reduce the risk of disasters through the use of naturally occurring resources or engineered use of natural resources (e.g. restoration/protection of wetlands, fuel management, urban forests), taking into consideration best practices in design, and applying projected climate data where relevant. |
Emergency Public Alerting |
Priority 4 |
Response |
To rapidly issue information regarding immediate threats or hazards to life safety, as well as the protective actions to be taken. |
Emergency Evacuation and Transportation |
Priority 4 |
Response |
To provide transportation, including infrastructure access and accessible transportation services, for response priority objectives, including the evacuation of people and animals and the delivery of vital response personnel, equipment, and services into the affected areas. |
Operational Safety and Security |
Priority 4 |
Response |
To ensure a safe and secure operating environment for responders. |
Specialized Response Resource - Disaster Search and Rescue |
Priority 4 |
Response |
To support and or deliver and sustain search and rescue capability needs in impacted areas. |
Specialized Response Resource – HAZMAT / CBRNE |
Priority 4 |
Response |
To support and or deliver and sustain Hazardous Materials (HAZMAT)/ Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives (CBRNE) capability needs in impacted areas. |
Specialized Response Resource - Flooding |
Priority 4 |
Response |
To support and or deliver and sustain water management capability needs in impacted areas. |
Specialized Response Resource – Wildland Interface Fire |
Priority 4 |
Response |
To support and or deliver and sustain wildland and interface fire capability needs in impacted areas. |
Public Health and Emergency Medical Services |
Priority 4 |
Response |
To provide rapid lifesaving medical services to reduce illness, injury and death. |
Operational Coordination |
Priority 4 |
Response |
To establish and maintain coordinated disaster management and operational structures that integrates all EM partners at all levels (e.g. emergency operations centres (EOC), emergency coordination centres (ECC), and site). |
Operational Communications |
Priority 4 |
Response |
To ensure the means and capacity for timely communication in support of operations among and between all EM partners. |
Emergency Legal and Financial Advice |
Priority 4 |
Response |
To provide legal and/or financial analysis and support to EM Partners as appropriate. |
Emergency Logistics |
Priority 4 |
Response |
To deliver essential commodities, equipment, and services in support of impacted communities (e.g. power, fuel, water, and basic food items). |
Emergency Social Services |
Priority 4 |
Response |
To provide short-term social services to the affected or displaced populations (i.e. emergency lodging, food, clothing, personal services, registration and inquiry, reception centre). |
Fatality Management Service |
Priority 4 |
Response |
Provide fatality identification management and reunification solutions for impacted communities. |
Training and Education |
Priority 4 |
Response |
To conduct training, certification and education to improve the performance, knowledge and interoperability of relevant EM Partners. |
Exercising |
Priority 4 |
Response and Preparedness |
To validate plans and procedures through simulated scenarios to assess emergency activities of relevant EM Partners. |
Critical Infrastructure Restoration |
Priority 4 |
Recovery and Response |
To stabilize and restore critical infrastructure functions, with an emphasis to reducing future risk. |
Psychosocial Health |
Priority 5 |
Recovery |
To provide crisis and behavioral health support for affected persons, with an emphasis to reducing future risk. |
Environmental Restoration |
Priority 5 |
Recovery |
To restore environmental resources in a way that is consistent with communities and cultural priorities in order to reduce future risk in compliance with relevant legislation. |
Cultural Restoration |
Priority 5 |
Recovery |
To restore cultural and historical resources in a way that is consistent with communities and cultural priorities in order to reduce future risk in compliance with relevant legislation. |
Economic Recovery |
Priority 5 |
Recovery |
To return economic and business activities to an acceptable level of functioning, with an emphasis to reducing future risk. |
Property Recovery |
Priority 5 |
Recovery |
To implement public and private property to effectively support the needs of the whole community and contribute to its sustainability and reducing future risk. |
Resources to help improve understanding of disaster risk in Canada
- Emergency Management Framework for Canada (EM Framework)
- Emergency Management Strategy for Canada (EM Strategy)
- Federal, Provincial, and Territorial Emergency Management Strategy Interim Action Plan 2021-22
- Earthquakes Canada
- Canada's Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction
- Federal Flood Mapping Guidelines Series
- Canadian Disaster Database
- Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA)
- Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund
- Climate change adaptation plans and actions
- Climate Data for a Resilient Canada
- National Risk Profile (NRP)
- National Emergency Response System (NERS)
- National Disaster Mitigation Strategy (NDMS)
- Government Operations Centre (GOC)
Contact Us
For more information about the Canadian Core Capabilities List, email: nrp-pnr@ps-sp.gc.ca.
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