Emergency Management and Programs Branch Overview
Branch Background
Pursuant to the Emergency Management Act, Public Safety Canada (PS) has the legislative mandate to build a safe and resilient Canada by providing national leadership in emergency management (EM) in the development and implementation of policies, plans and a range of programs.
The Emergency Management and Programs Branch (EMPB) supports this mandate by working with other federal departments and agencies, provinces and territories, national and regional Indigenous organizations, as well as other stakeholders, to advance an integrated policy, programmatic, and coordinated approach across the four components of EM:
- prevention and mitigation of disasters and their impacts;
- preparedness (e.g. training, exercises and planning);
- response to incidents; and
- recovery (to rebuild infrastructure and communities in order to reduce vulnerability to future hazards).
EMPB, with approximately 530 employees, is composed of three directorates: 1) Policy and Outreach; 2) Programs; and, 3) Government Operations Centre (GOC), including the Federal EM Modernization Project.
In addition, the Branch is also responsible for the Department’s regional offices located across Canada. With presence in 13 locations (one or more in each province and one in the Northwest Territories), these regional offices serve as the primary point of contact for the Department at the regional level and play an important role in building and maintaining partnerships for emergency management operations and in supporting communities through program delivery.
Key Files and Responsibilities
Emergency management is a core responsibility of the Government of Canada and a collective responsibility of all federal government institutions. The federal government has statutory responsibilities for coordinating EM activities among government institutions and in cooperation with the provinces, territories and other entities. As disasters in Canada continue to increase in frequency, severity and costs, the leadership role that PS plays in Canada’s emergency management system is becoming increasingly important in order to ensure a whole-of-society approach to strengthening Canada’s response and resilience.
In December 2021, the Prime Minister mandated the President of the King’s Privy Council and Minister of Emergency Preparedness to exercise leadership and coordinate efforts to strengthen emergency management in Canada, ensuring a strategic, integrated and proactive approach across all hazards, including public health emergencies. The Minister works closely with provinces, territories, municipalities and Indigenous partners to take strong action to prepare for future emergencies, including extreme weather events caused by climate change, with a focus on proactive prevention/mitigation efforts and ensuring robust response and recovery capabilities.
The Policy and Outreach Directorate (POD) is responsible for enhancing the resiliency across Canada’s EM system. This includes leading the policy and program development function for the range of EM responsibilities under the EMA: prevention/mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery through developing, coordinating and enacting interdisciplinary policies and programs to reduce disaster risk for Canadians.
Guided by the Emergency Management Framework for Canada (2017) and in collaboration with provinces and territories (PTs), in 2019, the Directorate led the publication of the Emergency Management Strategy for Canada: Toward a Resilient 2030. The strategy is a collaborative, whole-of-society roadmap to strengthening Canada’s ability to assess risk, prevent and mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters. Furthermore, it identifies federal, provincial and territorial priorities that will strengthen Canada’s resilience by 2030.
Other key initiatives underway include:
- Exploring options for a low-cost national flood insurance and potential relocation program to better protect homeowners at high risk of flooding, and without adequate insurance protection.
- Reviewing the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangement (DFAA), concluded in Fall 2022. The DFAA provides significant financial assistance to PTs in the event of large-scale natural disasters when response and recovery costs exceed thresholds specific to each province and territory. Facing significant rising costs and impacts of disasters in recent years, PS undertook a review of the DFAA to ensure the program can remain an effective, comprehensive system available to PTs for disaster recovery and to support the safety and well-being of Canadians.
- Development of a Canada-wide Flood Risk Awareness Portal, which will provide Canadians with the best available flood risk mapping and modelling outputs, as well as resources and suggestions on how best to protect their homes and communities.
- Capacity building, readiness and deployments in the provision of humanitarian support for Canadians, in response to COVID-19 and other large-scale emergencies and disasters in Canada, such as wildfires and floods. This includes funding the Canadian Red Cross and other NGOs through the Humanitarian Workforce Program.
- National coordination for Canada’s search and rescue (SAR) system and supports Canada’s participation in the international COSPAS-SARSAT programme, including national SAR initiatives (e.g., Northern and Arctic SAR, SAR prevention, data collection and analysis, support of SAR volunteers), and the development of Canada’s National Heavy Urban Search and Rescue (HUSAR) program in alignment with the UN’s International Urban Search and Rescue Working Group (INSARAG).
- Engagement with strategic international partners, including the Five-Eyes countries, and with international institutions to advance strategic priorities by leveraging knowledge and best practices. Examples include: developing bilateral arrangements; strengthening cross-border resilience with the US Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) and the Emergency Management Consultative Group (EMCG); advancing other key multilateral partnerships, including the Resilience Emergency Management 5 (REM5), North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Committee on Resilience, Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the G20.
- Working with partners in monitoring the implementation of the Post-Traumatic Stress Injuries Action Plan for public safety officers.
- Developing and publishing results from a National Risk Profile that will enhance our understanding of disaster risks and the capabilities needed to build collective resilience to disasters;
- Implementing the National Adaptation Strategy that establishes a shared vision for climate resilience in Canada, key priorities for collaboration, and a framework for measuring progress at the national level; advancing national SAR initiatives in Canada.
- Leading policy and program development with respect to interoperable emergency communications, such as continuing to strengthen the National Public Alerting System and building a Public Safety Broadband Network.
In addition, through outreach and engagement activities, EMPB fosters relationships with key partners, including other federal departments and agencies, PTs, municipalities, Indigenous communities, academia, volunteer sector, private sector and civil societies, to raise awareness, promote a common approach, and strengthen the emergency management system.
The Programs Directorate, with the support of its 13 regional offices, delivers departmental programming related to search and rescue, and emergency management. In addition, to emergency management programs, the Programs Directorate also supports the Minister of PS in delivering programs related to Indigenous policing, crime prevention, preventing gun and gang violence and countering radicalization to violence. Programs Directorate works with Portfolio Affairs and Communications Branch and the Crime Prevention Branch in setting the objectives of these programs. In the last fiscal year (2022-23), the Directorate delivered 675 agreements (including 159 amendments), with 590 payments processed for approximately $2.9B under programs such as the DFAA ($2.4B), First Nations and Policing Program ($178.5M), and the Memorial Grant Program for First Responders (MGP, $41.7M).
The Government Operations Centre (GOC) supports national EM response by coordinating the federal response to events, and advances pre-event preparedness through EM planning, exercises and monitoring activities. The Emergency Management Act (2007) gives the Minister of PS responsibility for exercising leadership relating to emergency management in Canada by coordinating, among government institutions and in cooperation with the PTs and other entities, emergency management activities.
The GOC provides leadership for integrated federal emergency response to all-hazards events (potential or actual, natural or human-induced, accidental or intentional) of national interest. It offers coordination and emergency management response and preparedness expertise to allow lead departments to focus on fulfilling their mandates. While situated within EMPB, the GOC operates on behalf of the Government of Canada, and is an asset for the entire federal government. This includes support to the Minister of Emergency Preparedness in coordinating the federal response to PT requests for assistance to address local or regional emergencies, including PT requests for federal assistance to law enforcement agencies (ALEA). Specifically, the GOC provides 24/7 monitoring and reporting, national-level situational awareness, warning products and integrated risk assessments, as well as national-level planning and whole-of-government response management.
The GOC provides support and situational awareness for an integrated whole-of-government response when:
- A PT requests federal support to deal with an event that affects national interest;
- An event affects multiple jurisdictions and/or government institutions and requires a coordinated response as it falls outside of routine operations;
- An event directly involves federal assets, services, employees, statutory authority or responsibilities; or
- An event affects confidence in the government or other aspects of the national interest.
The GOC is one of the key leaders and Federal capacities under the Federal Emergency Response Plan (FERP), which is being renewed currently and which also lays out how other departments have EM responsibilities within their policy and legal mandate areas, where they are the lead department. The GOC can provide generalized or specialized assistance to a lead department in response to an emergency, and provide a support function.
Each year, in consultation with FPT and science based departments, the GOC completes a risk assessments fore fire and flood seasons, and planning processes in advance of the Floods and Wildfire seasons with the intent to increase federal preparedness to support PTs. It also coordinates the development of interdepartmental and/or multijurisdictional EM exercises, with all levels of government, first responders, non-government organizations, to enable enhanced response coordination and reinforces preparedness through the coordination of the GOC National Exercise and Continuous Improvement programs.
Key EMPB Partners
Key partners include: the Canadian Red Cross; the Insurance Bureau of Canada; Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs; Paramedic Chiefs of Canada; Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police; National Indigenous Organizations; Federation of Canadian Municipalities; Salvation Army; St-John’s Ambulance; Search and Rescue Teams, including HUSAR Teams; United States Department of Homeland Security, United States FEMA and United Nations Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).
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