Improving Disaster Resiliency in Canada
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Transcript Improving Disaster Resiliency in Canada
Ian Becking
My background
What I am talking about today
Disaster Management in Canada
What is resilience?
Key Lessons from the last 25 years
◦ Concerning People
◦ Concerning Process and Policy
◦ Concerning Technology
Concluding thoughts
1983 to 2014 Canadian Army full and
part time – retired as Lieutenant Colonel
◦ 2008-2009 served in Afghanistan
1990 to 2008 – Canadian Government
◦ Agriculture Canada – Training and Exercise
Officer
◦ Emergency Preparedness – Operations Officer
◦ Public Safety Canada – Manager
Geomatics/Director Operations
2009 to 2013 – Emergency Management
Consultant
2013 to present – Managing Emergency
Exercise program for Government of
Canada
This is based on my experience
These are my views
This is not the Government of Canada`s
policy or position.
Hopefully this will show that progress has
been made in Canada but there are still
important lessons to be learned by Taiwan.
Individuals have a responsibility
◦ Often need assistance
Municipalities (Cities, townships) respond
next (fire/rescue, ambulance and police)
Adjacent cities respond as requested
Provinces support when municipal resources
exhausted
Federal government responds at the request
of the province and support...unless
The emergency is mandate for a federal
response (foreign animal disease for
example)
The military can support at the request of the
provinces
The majority of emergencies are dealt with at
the municipal level with a smaller percentage
getting support from the provinces.
A lot of discussion and research is dealing
with the topic of resilience
Some governments are still trying to
determine what exactly it is
UN definition is good:
The ability of a system, community or society exposed to
hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate to and recover from
the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner,
including through the preservation and restoration of its
essential basic structures and functions.
A resilient community will get back on its feet
faster
Can be better economically
Less requirement for government intervention
Allows the focus of the response to shift to
vulnerable populations
Decisions by elected policy makers to divert
resources from those uses to the relief of
harm from uncertain future threats can be
seen as wasteful. In contrast, once a disaster
occurs, officials are rewarded for responding
quickly to the relief of victims.
Budgeting for Disasters: Focusing on the Good Times by Marvin Phaup and Charlotte Kirschner OECD
Journal on Budgeting Volume 2010/1
While governments would LIKE to devote
money prior to the event, the policy benefits
may be hard to realize
Difference between lesson learned and
lessons “collected”
Lessons are learned when behaviour is
changed either through training, legislation
and enforcement or a change in policy
Collecting lessons into great databases is no
longer acceptable
Making the same mistakes over and over is
no longer acceptable
People;
Process
(or governance); and
Technology
The
key lessons in the three
categories will be discussed that
ultimately lead to improved
resiliency.
Everything starts with people
From Municipal first responders to provincial
and federal officials – they all need to train
and to practice together
People need to be trained, individually and
collectively (through exercise programs)
Elected officials need to be involved
Vancouver Olympics Exercise program
◦ Brought three levels of government in a progressive
inclusive exercise program
◦ All hazards not just a security exercise program
◦ Dealt with the response to natural and human
induced emergencies.
◦ 1st national exercise program since late 1990s
Canada used to have a Canadian Emergency
Preparedness College – closed for a variety of
reasons and training devolved to provinces
Demand for training taken up by Community
Colleges
Public Safety working to develop a national
standard and a common capability set
Particularly important for large scale events
where support from neighbours is requested
Trained people need to operate in a defined
well understood process that supports and
enables the response – not hinders it
A particular challenge the further removed
from the incident scene you are.
The Canadian military is moving away from
rigid hierarchical, monolithic organizations –
yet EM is still very structured and hierarchical.
Social technologies and public expectations
will challenge this rigid system
Establishment of the Government Operations
Centre – 2003 to 2005
◦ Role is to provide strategic level coordination
and direction on behalf of the Government of
Canada in response to an emerging or occurring
incident affecting the national interest.
◦ Central element of a revised federal approach to
managing emergencies and rationalizing a
complex system
The Federal governments all-hazards
response plan.
Guides a comprehensive and harmonized
federal response to emergencies that require
an integrated Government of Canada
approach.
In conjunction with the response efforts of
provinces/territories, non-governmental
organizations, the private sector, and
international partners.
Based on the tenets of the Incident Command
System.
Prime Minister
Premier
Cabinet Committee
(Operations)
Direction
and Guidance
Strategic
Coordination
Operational/
Tactical
Coordination
Other Federal
Operations Centres
Private Sectors
& NGOs
International
Partners
Provincial Ministers
DM Committee
Provincial DM
ADM Public Safety /Operations
Committee
Provincial ADM
Government
Operations Centre
(GOC)
Federal
Coordination Group
Provincial Emergency
Operations Centre
Federal Regional
Offices/Resources
Municipal Emergency
Operations Centre
The Canadian Centre for Security Sciences
Partnership between Public Safety and
Defence Research and Development Canada
(DRDC)
CSS’s Role is to employ Science and
technology(S&T) as a strategic enabler
for federal government’s public safety
and security agenda by focusing on
outcomes based investment in
technology supporting public safety
across Canada
Improved research
◦ Measurement of exercises and training
Targeted investment based on research
◦ Social Media and Emergency Management Exercise
Support to key technologies
◦ Multi-Agency Situational Awareness System (MASAS)
Learn lessons don’t merely collect them;
Incorporate these lessons into a training
system that is nationally standardized;
Ensure that a well designed national
governance model for emergency response is
understood and tested
Appropriate development of technology that
is relevant and useful for emergency
responders
Questions?