Parliamentary Committee Notes: Mitigating Disaster Risks

Issue

Reducing disaster risk through pro-active investments in prevention/mitigation

Proposed Response

Backgound

Climate-change driven hazards are increasing in both frequency and costs, and are a mounting threat to the safety and economic viability of Canadian businesses and communities. In order to help control escalating disaster costs, Canada is in the process of shifting its approach to managing disasters risks. This involves moving from a reactive government-focused model to a proactive whole-of-society framework with a focus on disaster risk reduction, prevention and mitigation.

Mitigation refers to proactive steps taken to eliminate, or reduce, the risks of disasters in order to protect lives, property, the environment, and reduce economic disruption; these activities are the most effective means of reducing disaster impacts and costs. International studies report benefit-cost ratios for mitigation ranging from $3:1 (Australia) to $10:1 (World Bank). Mitigation includes structural measures (e.g. construction of floodways and dykes) and non-structural measures (e.g. building codes, land-use planning, and insurance incentives).

Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund (DMAF)

The Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund (DMAF) is a national, merit-based contribution funding program that invests in structural and natural public infrastructure projects that increase the resilience of communities at risk of being impacted by natural disasters. The program supports infrastructure projects to help communities better prepare for and withstand natural disasters and climate change impacts. New construction and the modification or reinforcement of public infrastructure are eligible investments under DMAF. The total funding envelope has increased from $2B in 2017 to over $3.8B with new funds committed in 2021, and a recent top-up through the Government of Canada Adaptation Action Plan, released alongside Canada's first National Adaptation Strategy. In January 2023, Infrastructure Canada launched a new DMAF intake for disaster mitigation and adaptation projects. More than $1 billion in federal funding is currently available for disaster mitigation projects to help communities increase resiliency in the face of a changing climate and other natural environmental risk events. This funding is being delivered through one project stream, with a minimum threshold of $1 million and above in total eligible costs.

Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA)

In 2008, the Government implemented new criteria under the DFAA which allows provinces and territories to access 15% of the total infrastructure damage to undertake mitigative enhancements when rebuilding. To date, funding for mitigative enhancements under the DFAA has been paid under five disaster events and the majority of active event files include mitigative enhancements. One disaster event may include several mitigative enhancements.  PTs have until they submit their request for final payment under the DFAA to submit mitigative enhancements for payments.

The program has recently undergone a review, and, as part of this process, in March 2022, the Minister of Emergency Preparedness announced the appointment of an external Advisory Panel tasked to undertake a comprehensive review of the DFAA and bring forward recommendations on program amendments that better align with the Emergency Management Strategy; and, to ensure an updated, sustainable system continues to be available to provinces and territories for disaster recovery. The Minister of Emergency Preparedness received a final version of the panel’s report in fall 2022. A copy of the report was published on the Public Safety website in April 2023.

Budget 2023 provided $48.1M to Implement a modernized DFAA program, which would incentivize mitigation efforts, and identify high-risk flood areas. The design for an updated DFAA program is underway, and engagement on what this new program could include is currently taking place with PTs both online, and in person. Engagement with PTs is set to end later this Summer, as PS works to finalize the new program design in late 2023. The current DFAA conditions expire in March 2024.

Wildfires Mitigation Investments

In 2022 the Government proposed additional action to counter the growing threat of wildfires in Canada, including by providing support to provinces, territories, and Indigenous communities for wildfire mitigation, response, and monitoring. Initiative included, amongst others, $269 million to help provinces and territories procure firefighting equipment such as vehicles and aircrafts; $39.2 million to support the purchase of firefighting equipment by First Nations communities; $37.9 million to train 1,000 additional firefighters and incorporate Indigenous traditional knowledge in fire management; and, $169.9 million to deliver and operate a new wildfire monitoring satellite system.

Emergency Management Strategy for Canada

Federal, Provincial and Territorial (FPT) Ministers Responsible for Emergency Management, who in 2019 approved Canada’s first-ever FPT Emergency Management Strategy for Canada (EM Strategy), which establishes FPT priorities to strengthen the resilience of Canadian society by 2030. The EM Strategy seeks to guide FPT governments and their respective Emergency Management (EM) partners in carrying out priorities aimed at strengthening Canada’s ability to assess risks and to prevent/mitigate, prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters. The EM Strategy seeks to align the efforts of all Canadians, as well as to strengthen overall resilience through five priority areas of activity. These priority areas of activity were approved by FPT Ministers responsible for EM in May 2017:

  1. Enhance whole-of-society collaboration and governance to strengthen resilience;
  2. Improve understanding of disaster risks in all sectors of society;
  3. Increase focus on whole-of-society disaster prevention and mitigation activities;
  4. Enhance disaster response capacity and coordination and foster the development of new capabilities; and,
  5. Strengthen recovery efforts by building back better to minimize the impacts of future disasters.

After approving the EM Strategy, FPT Ministers Responsible for Emergency Management directed the Senior Officials Responsible for Emergency Management (SOREM) to develop and advance a series of Action Plans to advance the implementation of the EM Strategy to 2030. SOREM represents the collection of FPT government organizations who lead emergency management efforts on behalf of their respective jurisdiction.   The Action Plan is intended to advance defined outcomes within the EM Strategy, and to develop the concrete steps that FPT governments, and respective EM Partners, intend to take to advance resilience to disasters within Canada. The 2021-22 Interim Action Plan was approved by FPT Ministers in March 2022 (March 17th, 2022), and published online.

National Risk Profile

The National Risk Profile (NRP) is a deliverable under the Emergency Management Strategy for Canada: Toward a Resilient 2030 and supports priorities to enhance whole-of-society collaboration and governance to strengthen resilience, and improve the understanding of disaster risks in all sectors of society. The NRP is also a mandate letter commitment for the President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Emergency Preparedness, as a means to inform decision-making and planning.

As Canada’s first strategic, national-level disaster risk and capability assessment, the National Risk profile, or NRP, will help increase national resilience to these events. It uses scientific evidence and whole-of-society stakeholder input, including Indigenous engagement, in order to strengthen national resilience to disaster risks.

The first NRP public report was released on May 11, 2023, and focuses on earthquakes, wildland fires and floods, as well as the cascading impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on these hazards. Future rounds will focus on other natural hazards as well as others, such as industrial leaks, and non-malicious and malicious threats.

Flood Insurance and Relocation

December 2021’s mandate letter for the Minister for Emergency Preparedness committed to ‘‘take action to help Canadians be prepared for, and recover from, the impact of floods in high risk areas; Creating a low-cost national flood insurance program to protect homeowners who are at high risk of flooding and do not have adequate insurance protection; and Developing strategies, in partnerships with the insurance industry and private sector, to lower insurance premiums and identify cost-effective ways to protect communities and homes from climate impacts.”

This mandate commitment was actioned through a Public Safety Canada-led task force on flood insurance and relocation, set up in January 2021. The task force brought together representatives from Federal, Provincial and Territorial (FPT) governments and the insurance industry with a view to examine alternative viable options for the insurance program and potential ways that relocation can support risk reduction, and was based on an extensive financial risk assessment and actuarial analysis of flood insurance options for Canada.  Results of this work were published in the August 2022 report &ldquoAdapting to Rising Flood Risk: An Analysis of Insurance Solutions for Canada”, available on Public Safety’s website.

Building on the success of the Task Force work, Budget 2023 announced the following actions supporting flood insurance and flood risk communication in Canada:

Other federal programming

Reducing disaster risk and vulnerability and building resilient communities are objectives supported by the activities of a range of federal departments and agencies. Public Safety Canada is working on creating a new low-cost national flood insurance program, as well as an action plan to assist homeowners with potential relocation. Canada is also working collaboration with provinces, territories and Indigenous communities, we are working to complete flood maps for areas at the highest risk of flooding in Canada. 

Programs and funding across the federal government serve to mitigate the impacts of threats and hazards to Canadians and Canadian communities, including Indigenous communities. Some examples include:

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