(Ottawa) The Minister of Civil Protection, Harjit Sajjan, says the Government of Canada is working to establish a national emergency response agency as climate change continues to add to the needs in terms of disaster management.
Minister Sajjan specified in an interview with The Canadian Press that he studied models in force in other countries, notably the United States, Germany and Australia. It tends to favor a system that builds on existing resources at the local level to eventually include a series of local emergency response reserve forces that can be centrally coordinated.
According to the minister, there will be pilot projects in 2024 and additional research so that the agency is able to respond to worst-case scenarios.
Among Minister Sajjan’s concerns is the possibility of a major earthquake and hurricane occurring at the same time, in the midst of a severe wildfire season.
In 2023, Canada experienced its worst fire season on record. Nearly 10 times the average land area was burned and almost every region of the country was affected.
For example, in Quebec, the Society for the Protection of Forests Against Fire (SOPFEU) reports that on average over the ten years preceding 2023, 15,800 hectares of forest were damaged by flames while this year alone, almost 1.074 million hectares were affected.
Ken McMullen, president of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, says his agency has been pushing for a more coordinated national response model for more than a decade.