Ontario Request for Federal Assistance
Date: June 4, 2021
Classification: Unclassified
Fully releasable (ATIP)? Yes
Branch/Agency: EMPB
Issue:
The Province of Ontario sent a request for federal assistance on April 24, 2021 for health human resources, logistical and operational support.
Proposed Response:
- The Government of Canada is committed to providing assistance to provinces and territories to protect and support Canadians during the global COVID-19 pandemic.
- Should a province or territory make an official request for federal assistance (RFA), there is a well-established process in place for managing RFAs, through the Government Operations Centre, that includes interdepartmental consultation and coordination of all departments as required. Since January 2020, the Government of Canada has supported 84 Requests for Federal Assistance.
- On April 24, the Province of Ontario requested federal assistance for health human resources as the number of new cases in Ontario continued to escalate.
- In response to this request, the federal government was prepared to deploy 62 federal health human resources, up to 3 multi-purpose medical assistance teams from the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), and fund the redeployment of the Canadian Red Cross (CRC) to augment or relieve staff within medical care facilities.
- In addition, the CAF provided airlift of medical personnel from Newfoundland and Labrador.
- As the situation in Ontario has improved, all CAF assets have been drawn down. Several federal and CRC nurses remain deployed.
- There has been outstanding collaboration between the responding organizations from all orders of government in response to this emergency, and I want to thank all those on the front lines who continue battle to keep Canadians safe.
Responsive lines
- Emergencies are managed first at the local level. If they need assistance at the local level, they request it from the provinces or territories. If the emergency escalates beyond P/T capabilities, the provinces or territories seek assistance from the federal government.
- The Government of Canada’s pandemic response provides provinces and territories with two streams of federal assistance. COVID-19 federal surge capacity requests for federal assistance are managed by Public Safety Canada for emergency management support and the Public Health Agency of Canada for public health support, respectively.
Background:
As of April 8, 2021, the Province of Ontario (the Province) declared its third province wide Stay-at-Home order as COVID-19 cases continue to rise at an alarming rate. This order is intended to help save lives, prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed, protect in-person learning and keep children in schools, allow for more time to vaccinate Ontarians, and stop the spread of COVID-19 in communities. Currently, many hospitals in Ontario are at or past full capacity and temporary buildings are being used to expand hospital capacity in several locations in Ontario. The Sunnybrook mobile health unit in the Great Toronto Area received one patient on 26 April, 2021.
On April 24, 2021, the Province of Ontario sent a request for federal assistance (RFA) for health human resources, logistical and operational support effective immediately until June 30, 2021. Assessments to be conducted every 4 weeks with first assessment to be conducted no later than May 31. The RFA was approved on April 25.
The request from Ontario included the following:
- Redeployment of medical personnel, including nurses and other applicable health care professionals, from NGOs such as the Canadian Red Cross and any federal departments that can support;
- CAF medical, nursing and other applicable health human resources to augment and/or relieve staff within medical care facilities, including critical care unit beds within hospitals, and bolstering critical care capacity within the Greater Toronto Area including Mobile Health Units being deployed at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and Hamilton Health Sciences Centre;
- CAF resources to provide general duty, administration and logistics support tasks; and,
- Consideration for federal support to source larger oxygen tanks in a configuration that would allow for placement in ambulance style vehicles for acute care long distance land transport.
In response to this request, the federal government deployed federal health human resources, provided support from the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), and funded the redeployment of the Canadian Red Cross (CRC) to augment or relieve staff within medical care facilities. In addition, the CAF provided airlift of medical personnel from Newfoundland and Labrador and possibly other jurisdictions.
The CAF was prepared to deploy up to 3 multi-purpose medical assistance teams (MMATs), which are scalable healthcare provider teams primarily composed of Nursing Officers and Medical Technicians as well as additional CAF members for general duty support as applicable. The MMATs will be rotated in and out of the province rather than deployed simultaneously to ensure that CAF support is sustainable.
On April 27, Royal Canadian Air Force personnel flew medical personnel from Newfoundland and Labrador to Toronto to help in Ontario medical facilities.
The CRC has deployed 14 nurses to Ontario hospitals.
Background on Requests for Federal Assistance
Public Safety Canada is working with federal, provincial and territorial partners, through the Government Operations Centre (GOC), to ensure ongoing coordinated responses to COVID-19, natural disasters or other incidents. The GOC is supporting the Public Health Agency of Canada, which is the federal government lead for the response to COVID-19.
The Government of Canada pandemic response provides provinces and territories with 2 streams of federal assistance. COVID-19 federal surge capacity requests for federal assistance are managed by Public Safety Canada for emergency management support and the Public Health Agency of Canada for public health support, respectively.
There is a well-established process in place for managing RFAs, through the GOC, that includes interdepartmental consultation and coordination of all departments as required. The GOC has established an RFA Secretariat to receive, evaluate, and prioritize all RFAs. The GOC convenes consultation with implicated departments to review RFAs, as required.
Since the start of the pandemic, the Government of Canada has responded to 84 COVID-19-related RFAs. Specific to Ontario, the federal government has provided support for safe isolation sites for temporary foreign workers, CAF and the CRC for long term care facilities, 2 mobile health units, and Canadian Rangers in a number of small communities.
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