Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Nov. 2nd, 2017

[Serge Beaudoin]

With respect to the actual on-the-ground stuff, the lessons learned event will tell us more.

When I was mentioning earlier the formal undertaking for lessons learned, there will be, and there is at the moment, someone from the provincial government, with funding from the department, meeting with all affected communities to get their experience on the ground. What we've heard is that sometimes communities were being asked to leave and they had not necessarily declared a state of local emergency, those kinds of anecdotal things. We really need to get to the bottom of it and find out what is a systemic issue and then put it on a track to resolution, so that we all have clarity that, in the community, the chief is responsible for declaring, or not, the local state of emergency and also for assuming risk related to that declaration.

[Patrick Tanguy]

I can add one aspect. In terms of consultations, what we heard, especially during a joint meeting that federal ministers had with their B.C. counterparts after the event—and some regional leaders were invited to that meeting as well—is that there was a lack of consultation on that front. That is something that, in terms of lessons learned, we need to focus on because the leaders were very vocal about the fact that they were not integrated sufficiently, not consulted on that.

I think that, when you see the emergency management process that involves local, provincial, and federal authorities, and you see that Indigenous Services is working with communities, in some cases provinces, there is a bit of a gap. I think this is where we need to have more consultations beforehand. The lessons learned event is going to help us see what the principles are that could help us.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON]

Is there a specific emergency management plan with respect to indigenous communities? If so, was that developed in consultation with the communities?

[Serge Beaudoin]

The plan occurs at the community level. It should be a community level emergency management plan, and each community should have one of those. That should indicate how they fit into the larger construct, to seek assistance, if needed.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON]

Right now as a government we don't have an emergency management plan.

[Serge Beaudoin]

There's an emergency management—

[Patrick Tanguy]

There's one, absolutely.

[A voice]

A few.

[Patrick Tanguy]

It took some time to provide the answer. Indeed we have one, absolutely.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON]

Is that specific to any indigenous communities?

[Patrick Tanguy]

No, not to my knowledge. I would refer to what my colleague has explained in terms of the existing agreements that are helping and supporting indigenous communities to have one.

Looking forward, Public Safety Canada wants to partner and work closely with Indigenous Services. We're doing the work right now. Before we can have emergency plans for all indigenous communities, we need to know what they have, what the risks are, and what they need. Then we can sit down with them and co-develop that kind of emergency management plan.

[Serge Beaudoin]

I'll add that there is a national emergency management plan for first nations. It is on our departmental website, but it quickly drills down into regional plans that are jurisdiction by jurisdiction, as I described, so yes.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON]

That's what I was getting at. Regarding uniformity, you're saying that at this point you don't have a uniform plan based on a broad agreement with indigenous communities.

[Serge Beaudoin]

That's by design. We are looking to have the communities having services comparable with those of other communities within a jurisdiction. That is part of the design of the plan: not to create an emergency management system just for first nations. We want them to receive comparable services. That's why it's deliberately done jurisdiction by jurisdiction.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON]

With respect to emergency management planning within each of the indigenous communities, what type of support is being provided in devising that plan?

[Serge Beaudoin]

I'm sorry but I didn't hear the question.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON]

What types of supports are departments offering indigenous communities in developing emergency management planning for the local communities?

[Serge Beaudoin]

It depends on the jurisdiction. In Alberta, they work with the provincial government. They receive training from the provincial government and work on emergency plans that plug into those of the provincial government. In other places, like Manitoba, as I mentioned, the Canadian Red Cross works closely with the communities. Some of them already have robust plans. Others need to brush them up. There's also the whole training aspect. Again, it's a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction approach.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON]

As a service, you're not involved in assisting in developing these plans, right?

[Serge Beaudoin]

Actually, in some cases the department is involved very closely. Again, it's jurisdiction by jurisdiction. In Quebec, because it's not something the provincial government does, our regional office has a very strong capacity. Our people work one-on-one with the communities at the departmental level to work on their emergency management plans, which by and large are very robust.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON]

Why can't we have that across the country? Is it because some provinces are providing the service?

[Serge Beaudoin]

Yes, but the advantage of the province providing it is that it will automatically be compatible with provincial standards.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON]

We have an obligation with respect to each of the communities to have a similar type of service available to everyone, right?

[Serge Beaudoin]

The buck stops with Indigenous Services. We are there to make sure they have access to those services, and we do. It's just that it looks different from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON]

Thank you.