Parliamentary Committee Notes: Humanitarian Workforce Program
Date: May 11, 2022
Classification: Unclassified
Fully releasable (ATIP)? Yes
Branch / Agency: EMPB
Proposed Response:
- The Government of Canada is providing up to $150 million between 2021 and 2023, through the Humanitarian Workforce Program, to respond to COVID-19 and other large-scale emergencies. This money will fund the deployment of the Canadian Red Cross and other NGOs for relief efforts, as well as capacity-building, to enhance their readiness to respond to disasters and protect Canadians in times of need.
- This funding builds upon a previous initiative early on during the pandemic to support the urgent ramp-up of Canadian Red Cross resources, in response to COVID-19 outbreaks, as well as relief efforts related to floods and wildfires.
- The Humanitarian Workforce Program has funded the deployment of the Canadian Red Cross and the Search and Rescue Volunteer Association of Canada in response to Request for Federal Assistance from provinces and territories when surge capacity is needed to support resources on the ground.
- These efforts have helped to provide health human resources, such as nurses, epidemic prevention and control teams, contact tracing assistance, and support to long-term care homes and shelters in communities with COVID-19 outbreaks in the Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.
- The Government of Canada is also supporting the capacity building of humanitarian NGOs in Canada to ensure their continued readiness and response capacity in the face of all-hazard events, including natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Financial Implications:
- The 2020 Fall Economic Statement provided $150 million over two years, starting in 2021-22, to the Humanitarian Workforce Program.
Background:
Building on previous initial investments early on in the pandemic, Fall Economic Statement 2020 announced that the Government would provide up to $150 million over two years, beginning in 2021-2022, to support the Canadian Red Cross (CRC) and other Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in building and maintaining a humanitarian workforce to provide surge capacity in response to COVID-19 outbreaks and other large-scale emergencies. The Humanitarian Workforce (HWF) program aims to fund a scalable civilian workforce that can be rapidly deployed in emergencies, broadening the resources available to respond to human-induced and climate-related disasters in Canada, and reducing the reliance on the Canadian Armed Forces in disaster response. The program funds NGOs that possess specialized skills and expertise to respond to a variety of events that could initiate Requests for Federal Assistance (RFAs) from provincial and territorial governments (P/Ts).
Two streams of funding are available from the $150 million envelope. Stream 1: Emergency Readiness – Capacity Building, and Stream 2: Emergency Response (Deployments). Program authorities for year one of the program (until March 31, 2022) were established on June 16, 2021, with $40 million available in funding for Capacity-Building, and $43.2M for Emergency-Response (Deployments). Program authorities for year two of the HWF have been extended until March 31, 2023, with $42 million available in funding for Capacity-Building, and $23.2 million for Emergency-Response (Deployments).
Stream 1: Emergency Readiness – Capacity Building funds NGOs to build on their recruitment, training, equipment and organizational readiness to allow them to rapidly deploy on short notice for emergency response. In the 2022-2023 fiscal year, as of April 28, 2022, $34.9 million has been committed under stream 1 through agreements with the CRC, St. John Ambulance, the Salvation Army, and the Search and Rescue Volunteer Association of Canada (SARVAC). Stream 2: Emergency Response (Deployments) funds the deployment of NGOs in response to RFAs from P/Ts when surge capacity is needed to support resources on the ground. In the 2022-2023 fiscal year, as of April 28, 2022, $0.1 million has been committed under stream 2. Since the beginning of the Program, as of April 28, 2022, $11.3 million has been committed under this stream, and there has been a total of 13 deployments by the CRC, including support for Health Human Resources (HHRs) in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut; support to Long-Term Care Facilities (LTCFs) in Ontario and Nova Scotia; contact tracing, shelter support and epidemic prevention and control in Northwest Territories; and vaccination support in Nova Scotia and PEI. The Search and Rescue Volunteer Association of Canada has also deployed once in Ontario.
This funding builds upon previous time-limited funding to scale up the capacity of the Red Cross for urgent relief efforts. In May 2020, the Government announced a commitment of up to $100 million to help the Red Cross meet increased demand due to COVID-19, and to support future flood and wildfire relief efforts. An additional $70 million was announced in December 2020. This funding is administered under the Government of Canada’s existing contribution program: the “Supporting the Canadian Red Cross’s Urgent Relief Efforts Related to COVID-19, Floods and Wildfires” program.
Contacts:
Prepared by: Dominik Breton, Program Manager, (343) 549-2208
Approved by: Trevor Bhupsingh, Assistant Deputy Minister EMPB, (613) 993-4325
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