Parliamentary Committee Notes: Speaking Notes for The Honourable Harjit Sajjan
House Defence Committee Appearance:Rising Domestic Operational Deployments and Challenges for the Canadian Armed Forces
November 23, 2023
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I’m pleased to provide a few words as you study rising operational deployments, with respect to emergencies in Canada.
And I’m proud to do so in the context of my new role, as Minister of Emergency Preparedness.
This is a timely matter.
To begin with, this has been the worst fire season in Canada’s recorded history, with over 18 million hectares burned this year.
Over 16,000 firefighters helped fight this year’s wildfires, assisted by over 5,000 international firefighters.
In the last few years, we’ve also responded to several major hurricanes…
The global COVID pandemic…
Atmospheric Rivers that cut B.C. off from the rest of the country…
Ice storms that have left millions without power…
And floods that have displaced and impacted so many Canadians, across the country.
Mr. Chair, as Minister, I help to coordinate, across federal government institutions and in cooperation with the provinces and other entities, Canada’s emergency management activities.
These are guided by the federal plan to respond to emergencies, or the FERP, which facilitates the whole-of-government response.
It is an important tool, but it needs updating.
I can report that we are leading work with partners across Government to update this plan, to take into account the growing frequency of emergency events, the nature of those events, and new technologies.
The new climate-impacted reality is extremely demanding on Canada’s emergency management system:
…On our people; the economy; first responders; all levels of government; and our EM partners across all sectors.
Prior to 2020, the GOC would coordinate on average 5-12 Requests for Federal Assistance per year.
Between January 2020 and August 2023, the GOC has coordinated over 230 of these requests.
Mr. Chair, the National Defence Act outlines cases in which the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) may be authorized to provide assistance in an emergency.
They may perform public service duties and assistance to law enforcement.
As CAF assistance is always considered a resource of last resort, I must specifically request the Minster of National Defence to authorize this.
Given the rise in natural disasters and increased emergency management literacy across all levels of government, we do not anticipate the number of RFAs to return to pre-pandemic levels.
As a result, when requests for CAF resources are received, they must undergo a strict assessment carried out by the Government Operations Centre and its Regional Offices, to ensure, among other things, that all other options have been exhausted.
The GOC will recommend that a request be approved when there is no regional solution and that there is no commercial, local, regional or provincial capacity to address the gap.
There must also be a clearly defined and feasible timeline for CAF deployment, so they are time limited and appropriate for the response phase of an event rather than long-term recovery.
For example, within the context of Hurricane Fiona, assistance from the CAF was sought to provide support with impact assessments, debris removal, and wellness checks, which would fall outside of life and limb response efforts.
The GOC will always look to see if there is other federal capacity that can assist.
But we know that operational demands and response efforts have been significant and sustained.
Though the CAF demonstrated the ability to meet concurrent operational requirements, there have been simultaneous draws on the CAF to support wildfire response in multiple provinces concurrently.
The Government of Canada understands this pressure, and has made important new strides to provide support.
For example, Mr. Chair, in May 2020, the Government announced a commitment of up to $100 million to help the CRC 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.
And, building on this funding, the Fall Economic Statement 2020 announced that the Government would provide up to $150 million over two years to support the Canadian Red Cross and other non-governmental organizations, in building and maintaining a humanitarian workforce to provide surge capacity in response to COVID-19 outbreaks and other large-scale emergencies.
In November 2022, the Government decided to extend the funding towards a humanitarian workforce by providing $108.9 million over three years, beginning in 2023-24.
The Humanitarian Workforce program aims to build 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 ultimately, Mr. Chair, reducing the reliance on the Canadian Armed Forces in disaster response.
This is just a snapshot of some of the work underway to ensure we build on lessons learned from past emergencies, and keep Canadians safe into the future…
…And to make sure we do so effectively, and sustainably. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
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