Question Period Note: Emergency Management Strategy for Canada

• Public Safety Canada works in collaboration with other federal departments and provincial and territorial governments, academia, national associations and non-governmental organizations to strengthen national emergency preparedness
• These efforts, taken prior to an emergency, are aimed at making Canadian communities safe and resilient.

• Disasters in Canada are increasing in frequency and severity. The Government of Canada is committed to protecting the safety and security of Canadians.

• The government launched the Emergency Management Strategy for Canada in 2019 to strengthen Canada’s overall resilience to disasters by 2030.

• In February 2024, Federal, Provincial and Territorial emergency management partners approved a plan to advance the strategy.

• This plan will promote disaster risk reduction and ensure that Canadian communities are more resilient and better prepared.

• Engagement with partners to renew the Strategy will begin in 2025, ensuring an updated Strategy is in place by 2026.

• The Government of Canada is committed to advancing this work with the ongoing collaboration

Emergency Management Strategy for Canada
• In January 2019, Federal, Provincial and Territorial (FPT) Ministers Responsible for Emergency Management approved Canada’s first-ever FPT Emergency Management Strategy for Canada (EM Strategy).
• The EM Strategy establishes FPT priorities to strengthen the resilience of Canadian society by 2030 and seeks to align the efforts of all Canadians, as well as to strengthen overall resilience through five priority areas of activity:
1. Enhance whole-of-society collaboration and governance to strengthen resilience;
2. Improve understanding of disaster risks in all sectors of society;
3. Increase focus on whole-of-society disaster prevention and mitigation activities;
4. Enhance disaster response capacity and coordination and foster the development of new capabilities; and,
5. Strengthen recovery efforts by building back better to minimize the impacts of future disasters.
• The Strategy is formally reviewed every five years; work to renew the Strategy will commence in 2025 in collaboration with provinces, territories and Indigenous partners.
Advancing the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Emergency Management Strategy: Areas for Action
• After approving the EM Strategy, FPT Ministers Responsible for Emergency Management directed the Senior Officials Responsible for Emergency Management (SOREM) to develop and advance a series of Action Plans to advance the implementation of the EM Strategy to 2030.
• In February 2024, FPT Ministers Responsible for Emergency Management approved and released a new, evergreen action plan, entitled Advancing the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Emergency Management Strategy: Areas for Action.

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