Thank you for the opportunity to share my views with the committee on behalf of the International Association of Fire Fighters.
We represent over 25,000 men and women in 185 cities and towns across nine provinces and two territories. We are the first line of defence in the event of virtually any emergency, large or small. Canada's full-time firefighters are an all-hazard response on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Firefighters are highly skilled, cross-trained professionals who are on the scene of any emergency within minutes, whether it's a fire, medical emergency, vehicular accident requiring extrication, water rescue or an emergency involving hazardous materials.
The important work that firefighters do, like the work of all first responders, constitutes part of the nation's critical infrastructure and an important support in virtually all aspects of society and our economy, including the nation's ability to ensure economic competitiveness. In that vein, we recommend that the government renew its partnership with the International Association of Fire Fighters by providing a renewed funding contribution in the amount of $500,000 annually for the next five years for the IAFF's Canadian haz-mat and CBRNE training Initiative.
In our view, the growth in key sectors like mining, forestry, agriculture, transportation and energy requires a balanced investment in public and first responder safety. To this I would add the upcoming legalization of recreational cannabis that will potentially result in new and emerging public and first responder safety considerations.
Our haz-mat and CBRNE training program, thanks to federal government funding, has been a major success since our first courses were held in 2009. Since that time, we've trained thousands of first responders across Canada to a recognized level of haz-mat response that meets National Fire Protection Association standards. That means that millions of Canadians are better protected against haz-mat incidents, by firefighters and others who are now prepared to respond safely and effectively to some of the most dangerous emergencies imaginable.
All first responders are welcome to take our course. We've trained career and part-time municipal firefighters as well as airport, industrial, forest and first nations firefighters. Our program has trained hundreds of paramedics and municipal police officers, and we delivered it at firefighting schools in Ontario and Prince Edward Island. We've also trained search and rescue personnel and federal workers, including the RCMP, Canadian Forces personnel and Parks Canada staff.
Our program is available in English and French and promotes interoperability between various responder agencies within a jurisdiction and also amongst jurisdictions. The IAFF training model is cost-effective because we are a non-profit and because our training is delivered right in the first responders' own communities by two regionally based IAFF master instructors. In other words, our instructors travel, not the students. The training is provided free to municipalities, thanks to Government of Canada funding.
Since 2009, our training has been delivered to first responder agencies in hundreds of communities across nine provinces, the Northwest Territories and Yukon, from major cities like Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec City and Calgary to smaller cities like Vaughan and Pickering, Ontario, and New Westminster, B.C., to rural and remote communities like Oyster River, B.C., and Millstream, New Brunswick.
In total, we've had 278 courses that have trained more than 5,600 first responders for a total of 133,608 contact hours at a cost to the federal government of less than $30 per hour, per student.
Our training is customizable for specific hazards that exist in a community, for example, an area's unique industrial, agricultural or natural risks. We're now offering a train-the-trainer program that enables larger fire departments to develop their own ongoing training capabilities for the course. As we see cannabis and other economic sectors take form, there is the potential to adapt and use the IAFF delivery model as a template for new and emerging areas that require specific emergency response operations.
While a growing number of communities are safer due to our training, the need for the training is ongoing as cities grow, as first responder agencies experience natural turnover in personnel, and as training evolves in response to emerging hazards. Our program has been a success, but the current funding agreement expires at the end of March 2019, and it would be a shame to see this successful program come to an end when there are so many more communities that can benefit from haz-mat training.
We're asking the committee to support a recommendation for another five-year funding contribution arrangement of up to $500,000 annually. We appreciate the opportunity to bring this issue before you today.
With that, I welcome any questions you may have.