Emergency Management in Canada and BC

By Col (Ret) F. Paul Crober

Consider this a primer on emergency management in Canada, particularly as it affects British Columbia.

First, note that the (federal) Emergency Preparedness Act gives major powers to provinces to enact legislation necessary and ensure that citizens are protected from hazards before, during and after natural hazard events such as earthquakes, floods or fires. Added recently to those are health hazards such as West Nile virus and SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), etc as well as possible consequences of terror events such as death or injury by chemical/biological agents or explosive devices (CBRN).

Despite CNN reports during Hurricane Katrina coverage, the arrangement in Canada is not too dissimilar from our southern neighbours with municipalities and states having primary responsibility for protecting their citizens in emergency events. The provinces usually require municipalities (and Regional Districts in BC) to have and practice emergency plans for hazards.

Since the Filmon Report, issued after the 2003 Fires in BC, the teeth in provincial legislation have been sharpened and these plans are now inspected by Provincial Emergency Program (PEP) regional managers. Funds are available from the federal government through JEPP (Joint Emergency Preparedness Program) where hundreds of thousands of dollars are made available to municipalities and First Nations through a competitive but rational process each year.

Priorities for JEPP are decided at a national level annually, and these assist in determining who receives funding. Additionally, the monies are spread around from year to year to ensure proper provincial coverage. Anywhere from 50 to 75 per cent of the funding is federal, the rest is provincial or municipal – mostly the latter.

Municipal requirements are to improve training of emergency and other generic staff, the enhancement of their emergency operations centres and the development and collective exercising of plans. Also, they have available to them another federal/provincial program that will assist in picking up costs for “events”. It is called the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA). For instance, the advance federal cheque of $100 million for the BC Forest Fires was issued about one month after the fires were out. More will follow once the province has added up its recovery costs.

Next are the stages of emergency or “consequence” management. Although the terror aspect has added new terms and exigencies to the mix, generally the accepted stages are:

Mitigation – what can be done to prevent the disaster or “mitigate” its consequences (such as strengthening major Lower Mainland bridges for the catastrophic earthquake)?

Preparedness – what you do to prepare for an event, either individually or collectively (such as Emergency Operational Centre training, survival kits, etc)

Response – the actual response during or immediately after an event by individuals and all levels of government required to respond (depending on either the seriousness of the event, its nature, or its constitutional requirements).

Recovery – the stage at which individuals and governments begin to recoup and proceed back to their dwellings, to work, to school, etc. and all of the associated activities that will make that possible, including physical re-building of infrastructure. This is the longest stage, especially after a serious event (think about the recovery time for the US Gulf Coast).

Before touching on the federal responsibilities, you should be aware of the depth and capabilities of PEP. British Columbia has a program to be envied, some of which has been improved since the 2003 Fires. BC was the first jurisdiction in Canada to adopt and adapt the Incident Command System (ICS), an emergency management doctrine now in wide use across Canada. A higher level version was adopted last year as national doctrine. BC has a robust headquarters, capable of planning for all kinds of disasters as well as coordinating with the federal government, the military, municipalities and its six subordinate regions.

These regions have recently been upgraded in terms of physical Emergency Operations Centres (EOCs) as well as higher level and more staff. The province also created the TEAMS concept (Temporary Emergency Assignment Management System), wherein other provincial ministries’ staff members are cross-trained in generic emergency management. This, again, is a “surge requirement” concept being adopted by other provinces and the federal government.

As for the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada, significant enhancements have been made to the national headquarters’ ability to track events. Hopefully, political leaders are not caught short as they were in the power outage. This has been done partly by adopting a well-tested emergency doctrine called ICS or NERS (National Emergency Response System) as well as by hiring several Canadian Forces officers for the Government Operations Centre, including its director. As well, there have been significant improvements to the ability of the government to fund and train first responders in chemical, biological, radioactive/nuclear (CBRN) response.

Note that there are five branches, each with an assistant deputy minister, within the federal department. Regional operations fall under the Emergency Management and National Security (EMNS) Branch and is headed by the senior ADM (SADM).

Much work remains to bring the regional offices up to standard. This includes hiring more people, hopefully with the relevant qualifications, as well as training other government departments’ personnel for operational “surge” requirements. It will also involve new construction of survivable fed/prov EOCs in the Vancouver and Victoria areas.

(Note that BC is the only regional office of PSEPC to have two locations provincially. This is because the main client, PEP, and the provincial government are on the Island and those, with whom they must coordinate, the federal government regional HQs, are in downtown Vancouver with few exceptions such as the Navy and Air Force.)

The work to upgrade regional PSEPC capabilities has been delayed significantly by internal departmental re-organizations and the realization that the Public Service hiring system is not a flexible tool in this regard.

Members will have the opportunity to hear the regional director, Paul Crober, when he speaks to RUSI VI at the Nov. 9 meeting.

Col (Ret) E. P. Crober is the Regional Director, BC/Yukon Office, Emergency Management and National Security Branch, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada.

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