Emergency Management
Public Safety Canada (PS) plays a leadership role in Canada’s emergency management (EM) system by coordinating EM activities among federal institutions and in cooperation with the provinces, territories, and other entities. PS helps Canadians and their communities protect themselves from emergencies and disasters through a range of initiatives and functions supporting the four components of EM: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery.
PS provides financial assistance to provincial and territorial (PT) governments through programs such as Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA). The Government Operations Centre (GOC) supports response coordination among departments for events affecting the national interest and manages Requests for Federal Assistance (RFAs), which any PT may submit to the federal government to provide support in response to an emergency event that escalates beyond their capabilities.
Climate change and the growing frequency of floods, wildfires and other environmental, natural, and human-induced disasters are leading to significant increases in rate of occurrence, severity and cost of disasters in Canada. Response and recovery has cost the federal government an estimated $8.5B through the DFAA since 1970. More than one third of these costs have been realized in the past six years alone. As such, the leadership role that PS plays in Canada’s emergency management system is becoming increasingly important in order to ensure an all-hazards and whole-of-society approach to strengthening Canada’s resilience. There are many links between emergency management, disaster risk reduction, and climate change adaptation which are fostering discussions beyond traditional EM circles.
Relevant Platform Commitments
- Dedicate $500 million to train at least 1,000 firefighters and allow provinces and territories to invest in the equipment needed to fight wildfires and keep firefighters safe.
- Support and expand Indigenous-led fire crews and build capacity to better incorporate Indigenous traditional knowledge strategies in fire management.
- Support retrofits and upgrades to protect against extreme weather.
- Partner with the insurance industry and the private sector to develop strategies to reduce insurance premiums by finding cost-effective ways to better protect communities and homes from climate impacts, like floods and wildfires.
- Take action to protect homeowners who are at high risk of flooding and don’t have adequate insurance protection, by creating a low-cost national flood insurance program.
- Support provincial and territorial disaster response and recovery efforts with $1.9 billion over five years.
- Work with provinces and territories to complete flood maps for higher-risk areas in the next 3 years, improve standards in areas like flood mapping, and support increased mapping of areas in Northern Canada at risk of wildfires.
- Create a nation-wide flood ready portal so that Canadians have the information they need to make decisions on where and how to build their homes and communities, and how they can protect their homes and communities from flood risk.
- Lead international efforts to establish a global coalition to respond to wildfires and other climate emergencies.
- Finalize and apply a climate lens to ensure climate adaptation and mitigation considerations are integrated throughout federal government decision-making.
- Finalize Canada’s first National Adaptation Strategy by the end of 2022; support projects to protect against the impacts of climate change such as wildfire mitigation activities.
Further Information
As outlined in the Emergency Management Act (2007), EM in Canada is a shared responsibility, which relies on ongoing cooperation and communication among all levels of government. PT governments and local authorities provide the first response to the vast majority of emergencies. The Government of Canada provides resources, reimburses costs and provides leadership to prevent/mitigate, prepare for, respond to and recover from major emergency events. PS provides leadership in EM through the promotion of standards/best practices and the development and implementation of policies, plans and a range of programs.
Emergency Management Strategy
The Emergency Management Framework for Canada (2017) aims to guide and strengthen the way governments and partners assess risks and work together to prevent/mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from the threats that pose the greatest risk to Canadians. The Framework aligns with key international agreements, including the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, to advance disaster risk reduction priorities and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Building on this foundation, the Emergency Management Strategy for Canada (2019) was approved by FPT Ministers responsible for emergency management and established five FPT priorities to strengthen the resilience of Canadian society by 2030:
- Enhance whole-of-society collaboration and governance to strengthen resilience;
- Improve understanding of disaster risks in all sectors of society;
- Increase focus on whole-of-society disaster prevention and mitigation activities;
- Enhance disaster response capacity and coordination and foster the development of new capabilities; and
- Strengthen recovery efforts by building back better to minimize the impacts of future disasters.
The National Risk Profile and Flooding
PS promotes a common federal view of disaster risk though the development of a National Risk Profile (NRP) to help identify capability improvements that keep pace with a changing risk environment.
Historically, flooding has been the most costly natural hazard in Canada. Efforts are underway to mitigate future flood risk through developing Canada-wide flood maps, the development of a low-cost national flood insurance program and a national action plan to assist homeowners with potential relocation for those at the highest risk of repeat flooding. PS is also developing a comprehensive flood plan which will bring together five component parts. First, the development of federal minimum flood hazard areas which will enable Canadians to better understand where there are hazards associated with floods. Second, the development of a national flood insurance program is underway in order to meet an existing gap in insurance offerings and, thirdly, is coupled with a strategic relocation program which will enable those at highest risk of repetitive flooding to find safe ground. Fourth, this proposal will also bring forward options for new all-hazards mitigation and adaptation programming following the sun-setting of the National Disaster Mitigation Program in March 2022. Finally, the proposal will also provide recommendations for post-disaster financial assistance, through the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements, currently under review.
Government Operations Centre Modernization
PS is working to modernize federal capabilities and practice including reinforcing the role of the GOC. A key activity of this project is to renew the Federal Emergency Response Plan (FERP) which is the Government of Canada's "all-hazards" response plan. The FERP is designed to harmonize and coordinate federal emergency response efforts with those of the PT governments, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector.
Emergency Communications for First Responders and Public Awareness
Engagement and collaboration among EM partners continues in order to establish a Public Safety Broadband Network (PSBN) to facilitate resilient and technology-enabled communications in emergency situations for Canada’s emergency responders and public safety personnel. In addition, the modernization of public alerting capabilities to warn the public of imminent or unfolding hazards through cell phones, television and radio is an important tool for Canadians – it provides warnings and a call to action through the National Public Alerting System (NPAS), publicly known as Alert Ready. [Redacted] First responder associations have long been strong supporters for the implementation of a PSBN in Canada and are now advocating to strengthen the NPAS including further extending alerting authorities to first responder agencies.
To support public awareness and further increase the understanding of disaster risks, the Department has also launched an Emergency Preparedness Public Awareness Campaign. The campaign aims to protect Canadians by focusing on concrete actions that individuals can take to better prepare against the risk of natural disasters and emergencies.
Provincial/Territorial and Stakeholder Perspectives
PS maintains a network of partnerships with other federal government institutions, PT emergency management organizations, first responders and voluntary organizations (e.g., Canadian Red Cross), industry representatives (e.g., Insurance Bureau of Canada), and other stakeholders and communities supporting a whole-of-society approach to emergency management that leverages resources and capacities at all levels across the country.
PS has worked alongside PT governments to co-create an Action Plan for 2021-22 (subject to FPT ministerial approval) that will advance shared priorities under the Emergency Management Strategy. PT partners have, through the Canadian Council of Emergency Management Organization (CCEMO), stated their three main collective EM priorities as: [Redacted]. These priorities and federal EM priorities have been reflected in the current Action Plan and are to be reflected in future iterations of the Emergency Management Strategy for Canada Action Plan.
As well, PS, in collaboration with other government departments, has been supporting PT partners in their pandemic response through the deployment of various surge support tools and resources, including the deployment of Canadian Red Cross workers across the country. PS is taking a long-term approach to continue providing this support to Canadians when necessary, by building and maintaining a humanitarian workforce, which uses the Canadian Red Cross as well as other non-governmental organizations (NGOs). This work includes engaging with other federal partners on the government’s relationship with NGOs, like the Canadian Red Cross, and framing those relationships in the context of Canada’s long-term and future emergency management needs.
Finally, in the development of the NRP, PS held virtual risk assessment sessions between March and April 2021, which involved hundreds of whole-of-society experts from across Canada. Participants were tasked with examining scenarios on flooding, wildland fires, or earthquakes, while considering the implication of these hazards in a pandemic setting.
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