Canada's Emergency and Disaster Preparedness

Local First Responders | Communication | Mitigation | Enforcement | Conclusion

Presentation to the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance
Canada Safety Council, May 2, 2000

The Canada Safety Council is this country's national not-for-profit safety organization. Our mission is to lead in the national effort to reduce preventable deaths, injuries and economic loss with a focus on traffic, work, home, community and leisure. Our main programs address education and public awareness, and are supported by behind-the-scenes activities to further the cause of safety.

As a safety organization, our priority is accident prevention. However, we emphasize that Canadians must protect themselves from serious injury should an accident occur. Seat-belts are a prime example. Wearing your seat-belt won't prevent you from getting into a crash, but it will probably save your life if you are involved in one.

Prevention is also the focus for emergency and disaster preparedness. The top priority is to prevent a disaster from happening, and, if that is not possible, to mitigate its impact.

I would like to use traffic safety as a model. In the early 1970s, about 7,000 Canadians were killed every year in crashes. This would have to qualify as a national disaster, although the deaths did not happen all at once in a single catastrophic event. Last year, despite more than twice the number of vehicles and licensed drivers, there were less than 3,000 fatalities. Governments at all levels have invested considerable resources to make this progress possible.

What we call the "three Es of safety" apply just as well to emergency and disaster preparedness as they do to traffic safety:
- Engineering: engineer roads and vehicles to prevent and mitigate accidents.
- Enforcement: develop appropriate legislation and enforce it.
- Education: educate the population on risks and how to avoid an accident.

In general, an emergency is an imminent or unexpected threat on life or property. A disaster is a catastrophic event. Our nation must be prepared for various types of large scale emergencies and disasters. For example:
- Extreme weather: e.g. floods, tornadoes, severe winter storms.
- Natural events: e.g. earthquakes.
- Transportation: e.g. plane, bus and train crashes; multi-vehicle pile-ups on highways.
- Industrial accidents: e.g. chemical spills, nuclear waste accidents.
- Large fires: e.g. extensive forest fires; industrial fires involving dangerous substances.
- Mass murder/attempted murder: e.g. shootings, bombings, poisoning.
- War.

In some instances, losses can be minimized if the emergency is identified immediately or if measures have been taken to prevent or control a predictable catastrophe. However, once an incident has occurred, resources must obviously be dedicated to response. We will focus on prevention, as we believe many benefits can be realized at that level.

The federal government has invested and continues to invest considerable resources to prevent disasters from occurring in the first place. For instance, our firearms legislation is one of the reasons Canada has far fewer mass shootings than the U. S. We know the transportation of dangerous goods is a high priority through the Canada Safety Council's involvement with the Transport Canada committee.

Reasonable safety countermeasures are the key to prevention programs. The government is to be commended on its commitment to prevention.

Local First Responders

The Canada Safety Council works with police, firefighters and others, who are also first responders to local incidents. They handle day-to-day emergencies such as 9-1-1 calls, and will be called upon if there is a major emergency or disaster in the community.

Major disasters are in fact mostly local in nature. Local agencies are the first responders. With events such as a major hotel fire, mass shooting or multi-vehicle crash, there may be no time or opportunity to call in the Armed Forces or other outside help before significant damage is done.

To be prepared for the unexpected, communities must have strong, well-funded police, fire and ambulance services. The services which handle the small scale emergencies also handle the catastrophes. They must be adequately staffed and trained, because they are always the first line of defense, which may be aided after the fact by National Defense.

We recognize the need for fiscal restraint at all levels of government. However, expenditures and cutbacks must be planned with safety as a top priority. Budgets for police, fire and ambulance services must not be compromised, and these services must be part of the decision making process whenever safety is at issue.

To use taxes for the greatest public benefit, local governments need an integrated plan for public safety which serves the community as a whole. The priority must be to implement proven safety measures and maintain essential services. Expensive but politically expedient projects (traffic calming is an example) must not take priority over operational support for vital agencies.

In particular, prevention programs must not be cut - for example, school programs which teach young people to prevent and respond to emergencies, recognize risks and protect themselves and others from harm. We are pleased to note that many schools now offer first aid instruction. This must continue and expand.

The Canada Safety Council offers resources to help police, health educators, firefighters and others teach children about safety. Funding for these programs is usually tight, so they rely on the Canada Safety Council to help them deliver their safety message by providing materials free of charge. We, in turn, find sponsorship from the public and private sector, including some federal government departments. Elmer the Safety Elephant is the Canada Safety Council's trademarked character, and we are pleased to say that a major private sector sponsor is now funding many Elmer programs.

This Council is a partner with Transport Canada and the Railway Association of Canada in Operation Lifesaver, a safety program that reaches ½ million elementary school children a year, delivered by railway police and volunteers. There has been an impressive drop in train-related injuries and fatalities since its inception. This is an example of a program funded jointly by the public and private sector, which has prevented many (formerly commonplace) tragedies, a cost-effective investment of taxpayers' money.

We encourage the federal government to support non-government organizations which develop risk awareness among children and youth and prepare them to deal with emergencies. The subject matter must not be restricted to large scale incidents. Preparing children for all risks and emergencies should be the issue. An investment in child safety education will go a long way to creating a culture of risk awareness, providing skills and awareness to handle a major incident.

To summarize this section of my presentation, preventing and preparing for small-scale accidents and emergencies is critical if Canada is to prevent and prepare for large-scale catastrophes. Governments at all levels must put a priority on adequate funding for agencies responsible for emergencies on a day-to-day basis, and preventive education programs.

Communication

At the local level, one of the big challenges is to inform the public as soon as the danger is identified, to allow people to protect themselves. A system must be in place to localize urgent alert messages automatically; communication is critical in an emergency or disaster.

The private sector can help alert a specific community of extreme weather or other emergencies. In addition to existing alliances with radio stations and others, implementing all-channel alert capacity for cable television would increase the reach of urgent information. Such a system is being proposed to the CRTC by a Canadian company, Pelmorex Communications, whose technology can intercept all channels distributed by a cable company and overlay a warning message on the television screen to alert viewers to an impending emergency, no matter which channel they are watching.

Such capability has existed in the U.S. for many years. We understand this new Canadian technology is more cost-effective than the U.S. system, which was put into place during the Cold War. In the interest of public safety, we hope the CRTC will approve the Pelmorex application. Canada has long been a world leader in communications technology, and must ensure the most effective communication systems are in place to protect its citizens.

Mitigation

The Canada Safety Council endorses proposals for further investment in mitigating natural disasters. In this regard, we reference the analysis of the Insurance Bureau of Canada and the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction, which call upon government at all levels to invest in mitigation. The government's own consultations support the recommendations of these organizations, which represent private insurers, including:
- Commitment from all levels of government to create a pool of funds for projects to increase the capacity of local communities to evade extensive damage caused by severe weather and earthquakes. The federal government's new infrastructure program should include provisions to encourage investment in improved protection from natural disasters.
- Expansion of the current disaster recovery financial assistance arrangements to allot a reasonable percentage of response and recovery costs (e.g. 15 per cent) to protect against a future disaster. This type of program is already in place in the United States.

Enforcement

Governments have the responsibility to enforce and promote legislation to prevent and mitigate catastrophes. Such measures include:
- Regulations on dangerous substances.
- Building regulations and codes.
- Control of human factors, such as firearm accessibility and terrorist activity.

I would like to emphasize that legislation will not achieve its intended purpose unless it is enforced, and unless the population is aware of it.

Conclusion

Canada has a good track record for effective emergency response and recovery. We urge this Committee to keep in mind that our country's ability to address large-scale catastrophes is founded on our ability to address day-to-day ones. This requires a strong local infrastructure (services as well as structures) and an informed, educated public.