CAEP – Emergency Management Committee Annual Report 2008-2009

August 2009

Steven Chabot
President, Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police

Emergency Management Committee
Annual Report 2008/2009

Committee Mandate/Strategic Priorities:

To champion integrated emergency management:

• Through formal relationships, police, fire and emergency management services, under the CACP umbrella.
• Based on the pillars of prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery.
• To foster integration at the municipal, regional, provincial/ territorial, national, and international levels.
• By promoting and advocating ongoing development and delivery of an operational zed and integrated national framework for emergency management.

Strategic Priorities:

• To bring together between police, fire, paramedic, and emergency medical services of various sizes to address the challenges of emergency management.
• To foster integration at the municipal, regional, provincial/ territorial, national, and international levels.
• To ensure appropriate engagement with other similar committees across Canada, such as the Fire Commissioners Association, to allow for opportunities for synergy across the broader first responder community in Canada.
• To examine associated federal and provincial policy issues and provide united law enforcement representation on crucial issues .

Message/Executive Summary:

The Emergency Management Committee is somewhat unique as it is made up of representatives from three national Associations: the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP), the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs (CAFC) as well as the Emergency Medical Services Chiefs of Canada (EMS Chiefs of Canada).  The Emergency Management Committee has welcomed new members and will be discussing representation at our committee meeting in PEI.  The Committee hosted a workshop in March 2009 to develop an action plan on our strategic priorities.  Prior to the Workshop we reviewed the recommendations from numerous National reports in order to develop a good foundation for our discussions.

Meetings Held:

August 22, 2008 – CACP Committee Meeting
March 10, 2009 – Committee Strategic Planning Workshop in Ottawa
Committee Conference Calls – January 22, 2009, March 20, 2009
Chair – Deputy Chief O’Sullivan met with representatives of the Domestic Group on Emergency Management and Public Safety Representatives Bob Lesser and A/ADM Dan Lavoie

Committee Highlights and Activities:

CACP Emergency Management Strategic Planning Workshop

A CACP Emergency Management Committee Workshop was held at Ottawa Police Services HQ in Ottawa on Tuesday, March 10th, 2009 from 8:30 to 17:00.  There were seven (7) EM Committee members in attendance in addition to 15 observers representing the three first responder agencies (fire, paramedic, police), Public Safety Canada, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, the Canadian Emergency Management College, and CIP British Columbia.

The objectives of the CACP EM Committee workshop were to:

• Review and update, if necessary, the mandate, mission, strategic priorities and initiatives for 2009/2010.
• Gain a shared level of understanding of the current state of emergency management, trends and influencers.
• Define desired future outcomes of the Emergency Management Committee.
• Understand the gaps between the current state and the desired future outcomes.
• Identify initiatives and set priorities for the next 1-2 years.
• Develop initial action plans to move these initiatives forward.

Participants were asked to consider what historical data should be considered in the development of their strategic plan.  A number of key documents were referenced (the list has been added to the end of this report).

Emergency Themes:

Prior to this workshop, a number of key documents were gathered that referenced emergency planning/preparedness.  From this compendium titled “Summary of Recommendations from Reports Related to Emergency Planning/Preparedness”, a review for key themes was conducted and a list provided.

Key Themes:

• Governance
• Capacity/funding
• Technology
• Training and exercises
• Testing and audit
• Need for policy, plans and SOPs
• Critical infrastructure protection
• Need for additional research
• Interoperability (SAFECOM Model)

Priority Actions Moving Forward

Participants discussed several items related to answering the objective and identifying a number of initiatives to consider moving forward.  Participants then voted on the initiatives to identify their top priorities and developed preliminary action plans for the top four initiatives, including:

1. Gap analysis between the current state of emergency management and the emergency management framework for Canada.
2. Governance.
3. National standardization of the Incident Command System (ICS).
4. Information Sharing – Intelligence.

A comprehensive report was produced that includes the notes taken during the session and is intended to serve as a record of proceedings.

CBRNE Recommended Equipment List – Participation in a CRTI Proposal

In consultation with Executive Director Peter Cuthbert and President Steve Chabot, the CACP EM Committee agreed to participate in a CRTI proposal which will create a document which guides Canadian emergency service organizations on what equipment they should have, to deal with CBRNE incidents based upon an analysis of local risk factors and capability based planning methodology. Addressing equipment needs in relation to responding to CBRNE incidents is complex and complicated.  This initiative will go a long way towards assisting first responders in planning and procurement and enhancing responder safety.

Supported the CACP Informatics Committee Conference in hosting their conference entitled,  “Supporting Public Safety Operations, Through Current and Emerging Technology” held February 15 -17, 2009 in Victoria, British Columbia.

Members of our committee assisted in securing several presenters for the conference and moderating a session.  Special thank you to Staff Superintendent Peter Sloly from Toronto Police Service for attending on behalf of the Committee Chair.

Inaugural CACP/Motorola Emergency Preparedness Award

As you can imagine a tremendous amount of work goes into the development of an award such as this.  There were many conference calls to develop a broad range of products such as the selection criteria, the logo, the application process, selection of judges and of course getting the word out.  There were 10 submissions and the award will be presented at the Annual CACP Conference on Monday August 10, 2009 at 08:30hrs.

The CACP Emergency Planning Committee would like to thank the CACP/Motorola
Award for Excellence in Emergency Preparedness Core Planning team:

Carole Bird, RCMP
Peter Cuthbert, CACP
Steve Gamble – Chief, Port Coquitlam Fire and Emergency Services
Luc Lemire – Superintendant, RCMP
Stephen Lostracco, Motorola
Kelly Nash – Executive Director, Emergency Medical Services Chiefs of Canada
Derek Prada, Motorola
Sue O’Sullivan – Chair, CACP EM Committee
Steve Sweeney – Deputy Chief, Vancouver Police Department – EM Committee
Dave Weisz, Motorola

The Committee would also like to thank our Panel of Judges:

Chief Bruce Farr – President, EMS Chiefs of Canada

DC Steve Sweeney – Deputy Chief, Vancouver Police Department – CACP EM Committee

Chief Steve Gamble – Chief, Port Coquitlam Fire and Emergency Services
President, BC Fire Chiefs/Board member- CAFC

Peter Cuthbert – Executive Director, CACP

Senator Colin Kenny  – Chair, Standing Committee on National Security and Defence

Linkage with other CACP Committees:

Our committee recognizes that our work is interconnected and interdependent with several other CACP Committees in particular:

CACP Counter Terrorism
CACP Informatics
CACP Private Sector
CACP Civil Aviation Security

Staff Superintendent Sloly agreed to facilitate a conference call with representatives from the above – mentioned committees.  A member from each of the 5 Committees was identified to participate in a working group.  The working group will ensure that we are all aware of each other’s strategic priorities and initiatives so that we can leverage and support each other in achieving our goals and communicating with a common voice.

Major Initiatives and Activities 2009/2010:

The committee reached consensus on a number of key issues to include an updated mandate, refined strategic priorities, and short-term priorities in the form of action items for 2009/2010:

• To strengthen the governance of the committee to champion emergency management
• To support consolidated research efforts to gain and communicate a better understanding of the current state of emergency management across Canada
• To promote best practices in the sharing of intelligence and information
• To promote standardization
• To explore training opportunities and requirements to enhance Emergency Management capabilities and capacity
• To collaborate with other CACP Committees, such as the Aviation Security Committee, National Security, Counter-Terrorism Committee, Informatics Committee, Ethics Committee and the Public Sector Liaison Committee

CACP Emergency Management Committee Members as of June 2009

Ayott, Kim – Chief, Special Operations – Ottawa Fire Service
Black, Gord – Chief Superintendent – RCMP
Clark, Barry – Superintendent, Calgary Police Service
Deevy, Brian – Chief Superintendent – Ontario Provincial Police
Desroches, Denis – Acting Director – SPVM
Farr, Bruce – Chief – EMS Chiefs of Canada
Hefkey, Dan – Chief – EMO
Neily, John – Consultant
O’Sullivan, Sue – Deputy Chief – Ottawa Police Service (Chair)
Savard, Marcel – Director – Surete du Quebec
Sampson, Tom – Deputy Chief – EMA Calgary
Sloly, Peter – Staff Superintendent – Toronto Police Service
Sweeney, Steve – Deputy Chief – Vancouver Police Department
Taylor, Mike – Lt.Colonel – Military Police – CF

Reference Documents:

Historical Data Workshop Participants were asked to consider in the development of their strategic plan.  Note: This list was not intended to be exhaustive but rather a good foundation of information for consideration for our planning workshop:

• CACP EM Committee Annual Report, August 2008 -https://www.cacp.ca/media/committees/efiles/15/385/EmergencyReport.pdf
• CACP EM Committee previous minutes of meetings
• “An Emergency Management Framework for Canada”, Public Safety Canada endorsed by each Federal, Provincial and Territorial Government, January 2008 -http://www.scics.gc.ca/cinfo07/830903005_e.pdf
• “Canada’s National Disaster Mitigation Strategy”, Public Safety Canada, January 2008 – http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/prg/em/ndms/_fl/NDMS_Web_E.pdf
• SAFECOM Interoperability Continuum -http://www.safecomprogram.gov/NR/rdonlyres/54F0C2DE-FA70-48DD-A56E-3A72A8F35066/0/Interoperability_Continuum_Brochure_2.pdf
• Canadian Communications Interoperability Plan, version 2.1, Public Safety Canada, March 2009
• “Summary of Recommendations from Reports Related to Emergency Planning/Preparedness”, prepared by Jim Bissett and distributed to committee members, March 2009.  Documents identified in this summary include:
  • Office of the Auditor General of Canada March 2004 and April 2005 Reports – http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/parl_oag_200403_03_e_14895.html, http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/parl_oag_200504_02_e_14933.html
  • December 2004 (2005 Edition) Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence – An Update of Security Problems in Search of Solutions – Chapter 8 Emergency Preparedness (this is in part a follow-up to the March 2004 Standing Senate Committee Report on National Security and Defence – National Emergencies: Canada’s Fragile Front Lines) -http://www.parl.gc.ca/38/1/parlbus/commbus/senate/com-e/defe-e/rep-e/rep03nov04-e.htm, http://www.parl.gc.ca/37/3/parlbus/commbus/senate/com-e/defe-e/rep-e/rep03mar04-e.htm
  • Municipal Emergency Preparedness and Management Costs: Issues and Resource Requirements – The Federation of Canadian Municipalities, October 18, 2004 – http://www.fcm.ca/CMFiles/prep1mxw-3282008-8146.pdf
  • Emergency: Municipalities Missing from Disaster Planning: A report to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) by the National Security Group Ottawa, Ont., June 2006 – http://www.fcm.ca/CMFiles/emergency1mtc-3282008-7706.pdf
  • December 2007 – Keeping Canadians Safe: A Technology, Research and Development, and Emergency Preparedness Situational Analysis of Canadian First Responders, released today by the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA) and conducted for the Canadian Police Research Centre (CPRC) – http://www.cata.ca/Media_and_Events/Press_Releases/cata_pr12120701.html
  • November 2007 – A Resilient Canada: Governance for National Security and Public Safety – The Conference Board of Canada – http://www.conferenceboard.ca
  • Securing an Open Society: Canada’s National Security Policy – http://circ.jmellon.com/docs/pdf/securing_an_open_society_canadas_national_security_policy.pdf
  • An Emergency Management Framework for Canada – http://www.scics.gc.ca/cinfo07/830903005_e.pdf
  • Emergency Management Act – http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/media/nr/2007/bk20070807-eng.aspx
  • Emergency Management Ontario – http://www.emergencymanagementontario.ca/english/home.html
  • Sécurité Publique Québec – http://www.msp.gouv.qc.ca/secivile/index_en.asp
  • BC Provincial Emergency Management Program – http://www.pep.bc.ca/index.html