Cross-Cultural Roundtable on Security Meeting Summary - Community Resiliency

June 10 - 13, 2011, Vancouver, British Columbia

Participants: The Deputy Minister of Justice Canada, senior government officials from Public Safety Canada and Justice Canada, the RCMP, CSIS and the Center for Security Science, as well as academics and researchers on community resiliency and a representative of the District of North Vancouver, participated in the dialogue with the members.

Issues of Discussion: The 18th meeting of the Roundtable provided an opportunity to review different aspects of community resiliency in the context of national security. Members were provided with an overview of community resiliency theory, as well as the work of the Government of Canada in relation to community resiliency related to emergency management and national security, and current research projects on the subject. Presentations were made on research aimed at examining the capacity of a community to successfully adapt to different threats, as well as on the successful model of the District of North Vancouver with regard to natural disasters. A presentation was made on intimidation in communities. Two of the Roundtable members presented on best practices in community resilience related to the Jewish experience of settling in Canada. Members were consulted on the messaging for the 10th anniversary of September 11th. The members visited the RCMP's Integrated National Security Enforcement Team.

Outcomes: Members recognized the complexity of building community resiliency, but highlighted the necessity for the government to engage in this area even if it does not have all the answers to complex issues. Members highlighted that it is not always possible to wait for a perfect solution as it often does not exist. Members underlined the necessity of:

• involving and educating the community;
• encouraging shared responsibility on these issues;
• making information easily accessible to all;
• bringing in partners from science-based organizations and academic institutions; and,
• encouraging the proactive investigation of risks.

Members highlighted the pressing need for governement to communicate and build bridges with communities to engage them in creating a more resilient Canada. Members encouraged more research into developing a Canadian understanding of how to build resilient communities.

Date modified:

2018-02-06