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 (PTs), 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:

EMPB, with approximately 530 employees, is composed of three directorates:

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 EM 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 PTs and other entities. As disasters in Canada continue to increase in frequency, severity and cost, the leadership role that PS plays in Canada’s EM 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 EM in Canada, ensuring a strategic, integrated and proactive approach across all hazards, including public health emergencies. The Minister works closely with PTs, 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.

Policy and Outreach Directorate

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 Emergency Management Act (TAB C): prevention/mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery through developing, coordinating and enacting interdisciplinary policies and programs to reduce disaster risk for Canadians.

The directorate also provides overall leadership in Federal-Provincial-Territorial (FPT) Relations, including supporting you as co-chair, along with your Manitoba counterpart, of the FPT Ministers Responsible for Emergency Management table. This table is expected to have its next meeting in December 2023.

Guided by the EM Framework for Canada (2017) (TAB D) and in collaboration with PTs, in 2019, the Directorate led the publication of the EM Strategy for Canada (TAB E): 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.  It is Canada’s current approach to implementing the United Nations Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. Furthermore, it identifies FPT priorities that will strengthen Canada’s resilience by 2030. The 2021-22 Federal-Provincial-Territorial Interim Action Plan, created to advance defined outcomes within the EM Strategy, was published in March 2022. More recently at the June 2023 FPT Ministers Responsible for Emergency Management meeting, it was agreed that the 2021-22 Interim Action Plan would be extended until December 2023.

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. PS, through POD, led a Task Force on Flood Insurance and Relocation that included FPT partners, industry stakeholders, and engagement with Indigenous communities, and has produced a public-facing, statement-of-fact report that was published August 2022.

The Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangement (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. The Review, which concluded in Fall 2022, included three streams: 1) internal policy research, audit, and evaluation; 2) extensive engagement with PTs; and, 3) an external Expert Advisory Panel that was stood up by the Minister in Spring 2022 to provide strategic recommendations on the program. Work on a modernized DFAA program is currently underway, and engagement with PTs on this issue is expected to continue to Fall 2023. Once new Terms and Conditions for the program are approved (expected Winter 2024), PTs will have approximately one year to prepare for the transition to the new program. During this time, PS will support PTs with training, transition support, and guidance to facilitate a smooth transition, and elements of this support will continue once the new program is launched.

Connected to this work is the 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. This Portal will aim to increase the percentage of Canadians who are aware of their flood risk, as well as the percentage of Canadian homeowners who implement mitigation measures, contributing to increased flood resilience at the residential and community level and reduced financial impacts on Canadian homeowners in the event of a flood. This will meet a key PS mandate letter commitment to provide centralized access to flood risk information to Canadians through an online Flood Risk Awareness Portal, including resources and suggestions on how best to protect homes and communities.

Through engagement with non-governmental organizations, POD is working to support 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, which was established in 2021. This program, which helps eligible organizations build capacity and to deploy resources to support the response to Requests for Federal Assistance, was recently extended until March 31, 2026. The Directorate also leads work to develop and implement joint initiatives with PTs to match donations to appeals set up by not-for-organizations to support emergency responses. In 2023, this has included initiatives with both Nova Scotia and Alberta to match donations to specific Red Cross Appeals, and an initiative with the Northwest Territories to match donations to the NWT United Way. To support the potential development of longer term pan-Canadian model to build leverage civilian response capacity across all sectors of society, the POD will be leading broad consultations, which are expected to launch in early Fall 2023.

POD, through the National Search and Rescue Secretariat (NSS), provides the coordination and management of national search and rescue (SAR) policies and programs in collaboration with other federal partners (e.g., Canadian Armed Forces, Canadian Coast Guard), PTs, SAR voluntary sector and other external partners. The NSS is also responsible for the management and leadership of Canada’s contribution to the International COSPAS-SARSAT Programme, an international satellite-based search and rescue distress alerting system. Canada is one of four leaders and signatories to the COSPAS-SARSAT Treaty, which includes the United States, France and Russia. The Programme is an intergovernmental cooperative of 45 countries and agencies, and there are over 200 countries worldwide that support as SAR points of contact. Additionally, POD supports the Minister and the horizontal whole-of-government approach to SAR through its leadership of the Interdepartmental Committee on Search and Rescue; advancing national SAR initiatives including strengthening SAR governance, finalizing a National SAR policy framework, re-engaging on Northern and Arctic SAR, bolstering SAR prevention and preparedness, optimizing data collection and analysis, and continuing to support SAR volunteers. POD also supports the continued development of Canada’s National Heavy Urban Search and Rescue (HUSAR) program, including the finalization of a concept of operations to support effective and efficient deployment of Task Forces outside their respective jurisdictions in response to a large scale emergency; as well as undertaking efforts toward national accreditation of the HUSAR teams according to the UN’s International Urban Search and Rescue Working Group (INSARAG) to enhance disaster response and coordination. EMPB supports SAR new initiatives, volunteers, and policy development through approximately $12M in annual contribution funding.

POD is also actively engaged with strategic international partners, including the Five-Eyes countries, and with international institutions to advance strategic priorities by leveraging knowledge and best practices. POD will continue to develop bilateral arrangements to enable and foster trusted bilateral relationships with Australia, New Zealand, the European Union Commission, and to advise on strategic opportunities to engage with key allies and institutions. The Canada-US relationship is a strong priority for Canada and PS is taking a leadership role in strengthening cross-border resilience by working closely with the US Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) and by supporting the CAN-US dialogue through the Emergency Management Consultative Group (EMCG). In addition, POD is currently supporting EMPB and PS commitments by representing Canada in multinational working groups focused on disaster risk reduction and resilience convened by 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.

The Directorate is also leading work to sustain and enhance emergency communications capabilities. This includes ongoing work to develop a nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network (PSBN) for Canada. This would be a secure and dedicated wireless data communications network that can be used by emergency responders and public safety personnel to communicate with each other in emergency situations and day-to-day operations. The advancement of such a network is of high interest to your PT counterparts and the first responder community. A key next step for this pan-Canadian initiative is securing authorities for a governance framework. In this context the directorate will be leading targeted engagement early this Fall on the mandate and form of a national oversight body for PSBN. 

In addition, the Directorate is leading collaborative work with PTs to sustain and enhance the effectiveness of Canada’s National Public Alerting System. This key EM capability sends out warnings of imminent threats through wireless devices, television and radio so immediate action can be taken to protect lives and properties. There are a number of calls, including from the Mass Casualty Commission, to increase its effectiveness, including ensuring consistent use and strengthening the systems governance. FPT Ministers Responsible for Emergency Management have collectively called for work to strength the sustainability and use of the system, including exploring alternative governance and funding model. The Directorate leads collaborative work to deliver on these commitments.

Other efforts include working with partners in monitoring the implementation of the Post-Traumatic Stress Injuries Action Plan for public safety personnel and engaging with key stakeholders to explore its renewal; developing and publishing results from a National Risk Profile (TAB H) that will enhance our understanding of disaster risks and the capabilities needed to build collective resilience to disasters; working with key partners to implement a National Adaptation Strategy (TAB G) 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. Further, the Directorate supports initiatives to raise public awareness including leading national coordination for Emergency Preparedness Week which is held during the first week of May annually, and leading and coordinating the FPT Emergency Management Exemplary Service Awards which recognize excellence in the EM community.

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 EM system. For instance, POD is also actively working on establishing an Indigenous Emergency Management Working Group, a federally-led table of senior officials (PS, Indigenous Services Canada, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, and others) alongside Indigenous partners from Assembly of First Nations (AFN), Métis National Council (MNC), Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), and provincial and territorial representatives to further advance the conversation on strengthening Indigenous EM.

Programs

The Programs Directorate, with the support of its 13 regional offices, delivers 13 programs totalling $1.7B in departmental programming related to SAR, humanitarian workforce support and EM, including disaster financial assistance to PTs. In addition, the Programs Directorate also supports the Minister of Public Safety in delivering programs related to Indigenous policing, crime prevention, preventing gun and gang violence and countering radicalization to violence. In the last fiscal year (2022-23), the Directorate processed  $2.9B under programs such as the DFAA ($2.4B).

The DFAA is a contribution program which was established in 1970 to assist PTs when response and recovery costs for large-scale natural disasters exceed what each jurisdiction could reasonably be expected to bear on their own. The affected PT can request for financial assistance under the DFAA via a letter from the Premier of the PT to the Prime Minister or from the PT Minister Responsible for Emergency Preparedness to the Minister.

The DFAA is intended to support PTs in:

The Supporting a Humanitarian Workforce to Respond to COVID-19 and Other Large-Scale Emergencies Program (HWF) is a contribution program that provides funding to NGOs so that they may build capacity and deploy to respond to COVID-19 and other large-scale emergencies. This Program supports readiness and specific deployments of NGOs by providing them with targeted funding to bolster their readiness capacity and deployment ability. The HWF strengthens the preparedness and emergency response capacity in Canada by leveraging the contributions of the NGOs. Approximately $81M in funding over three years beginning in 2023-24 was awarded to the Canadian Red Cross, The Salvation Army, St. John Ambulance, and the Search and Rescue Association of Canada for capacity building.

Activity in EM programs has increased significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic. Programs worked closely with the GOC and EM policy areas to deliver humanitarian assistance to NGOs for emergency relief efforts and implementing five (5) donation matching funding agreements; and providing assistance and guidance to PTs as a result of Hurricane Fiona and the 2023 wildfires and recent flooding.

In order to strengthen its capability to deliver a total of 28 programs, the Programs Directorate is reviewing and modernizing its program delivery model, as well as its organizational design, to optimize program delivery efficiency and EM functions.

Response Coordination and Preparedness: The Government Operations Centre (GOC)

The Emergency Management Act (2007) gives the Minister of Public Safety responsibility for exercising leadership relating to EM in Canada by coordinating, among government institutions and in cooperation with the PTs and other entities, activities including planning and response to major all hazards emergencies. This accountability is led by the Government Operations Centre (GOC). The GOC leads national EM response by coordinating the federal response to events, and advances pre-event preparedness through EM planning, exercises and monitoring 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. The GOC provides coordination and EM 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 a critical 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 (RFA) 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 National Security Policy (2004) established the GOC within PS “to provide stable round-the-clock coordination and support to key national players in the event of national emergencies”.

The GOC provides support and situational awareness for an integrated whole-of-government response when:

The GOC is one of the key leaders under the Federal Emergency Response Plan (FERP) (TAB I), which is currently being renewed and describes how other federal 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. Given its leadership role in federal EM, as part of the Mandate Letter Commitments (MLCs) and FERP renewal, the mandate, vision, resourcing, and role of the GOC are all key priorities.

In support of federal EM, including the GOC role, PCO is leading reviews of the RFA process and Federal Operational Centres, which includes a number of studies analyzing the FERP, federal readiness and capabilities in the face of increasing crises from climate change, and the GOC’s role as a key central Canadian coordinating body.

Each year, in consultation with FPT and science-based departments, the GOC completes risk assessments for fire and flood seasons, and planning processes in advance of the floods and wildfire seasons, with the intent of increasing federal preparedness to support PTs. This work produces national risk assessments which are presented at Cabinet cyclically, that highlights the Government of Canada’s Cyclical Event Response Plan.

The GOC maintains a response team on 24/7 watch, including daily situational reporting. The GOC also coordinates the development of interdepartmental and/or multijurisdictional EM exercises to enable enhanced response coordination and reinforces preparedness through the coordination of the GOC National Exercise and Continuous Improvement programs. Key FERP, PT, and FEMA partners are often involved in these exercises.

The GOC leads the delivery of the National Priority Exercise within which all levels of government, first responders, NGOs and military officials work together to develop and deliver exercise activities that simulate emergency scenarios such as natural disasters, health threats or terrorist attacks in order to validate response plans and training as well as to identify areas for improvement. The Continuous Improvement Program contributes to future planning by identifying and integrating the lessons learned from emergency events and exercises.

The GOC, including the Federal EM Modernization Project (FEMMP) have made significant progress with FERP renewal efforts and are working to update the FERP and its policy framework to better define the structure of federal emergency response, and to support improved integration across federal response plans and instruments (such as Emergency Support Functions) and practices. GOC, including the FEMMP, are also supporting efforts underway to relocate the GOC to a more modern facility.

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 Ambulance; Search and Rescue organizations, including HUSAR Teams; United States Department of Homeland Security, United States FEMA and United Nations Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).

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