Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise to speak to the question of the hon. member for Edmonton—Strathcona. Let me begin by assuring the hon. member that the health and safety of first nation communities is a top priority of our government. We are committed to ensuring that first nation residents have access to emergency assistance services at the same level as those available to Canadians living off reserve.
In the case of the recent flooding in Alberta on the Siksika reserve, our government took swift action working with the Province of Alberta to ensure that the community's immediate health and safety needs were being met. We were in regular contact with regional first nation leadership, and officials also visited the community to ensure that it had the support it needed in that very difficult time.
Our government, through Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, has an agreement with the Alberta Emergency Management Agency. This allows Canada and Alberta to work in partnership to support Alberta first nations in certain emergency situations, such as natural disasters. Under this agreement, our government provides the Alberta Emergency Management Agency with an annual funding base of $680,000 for the 2013-14 fiscal year, and the agency provides emergency management services for Alberta's 45 first nations, as it does for all other communities in the province.
In addition, the agency works closely with Alberta first nations to build emergency management capacity within their own communities. This is done through a variety of activities, including training and support for emergency planning and preparedness. In additional preparedness work, this fiscal year our government will provide funding to five first nations in Alberta to support them in the development of wildfire mitigation strategies. This is a further example of our government working closely with first nations to build capacity on reserve. Our government continues to partner with Alberta Emergency Management, first nation leaders, and other emergency partners to help support the emergency recovery needs of the affected communities.
Furthermore, I want to inform the House that our government has taken action to streamline the process of funding emergency management on reserve and to ensure that first nations, provinces, and territories have improved access to emergency funding when needed by putting in place a single window for securing funding for first nation emergency costs. This single window came into effect on April 1, 2014, with all eligible emergency management costs on first nation reserves now being reimbursed by one department, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada.
In order to help implement all that I have just described, our government is making significant investments to protect the health and safety of first nations on reserve. To that end, economic action plan 2014 provides $40 million over five years starting in 2015-16 for disaster mitigation programming in first nation communities. Our government believes that all Canadians deserve to feel safe and secure in their homes no matter where they live. That is why we are actively working with our partners to ensure that first nations on reserve in Alberta met this rigorous standard.