Introduction

The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) plays a key role in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations at home. Specifically, the CAF is well-known for its involvement in two major weather-related events: the 1997 Red River Floods and the 1998 Great Ice Storms.[i] However, as natural disasters and weather-related emergencies have intensified in frequency and severity with climate change, the government’s call for military support in HADR has likewise increased over the years. For example, between 2010 and 2014, the CAF on average deployed two times per year. [ii] This compares to an average deployment of five times per year between 2017 and 2021.[iii] . Although one of CAF’s eight core missions is to assist the “civil authorities and non-governmental partners in responding to domestic disasters or major emergencies,” CAF must also remain responsive to its other defense priorities.[iv] . The defense community at large has raised concerns about the increasing dependence on CAF for domestic disaster relief operations, given the worsening effects of climate change in recent years.[v] This brief will assess Canada’s framework for national emergency management and address areas of issue that this system poses on the CAF. Then, the State Emergency Service organizations implemented in Australia will be proposed as a potential solution to the current challenges faced in Canada.

Canada’s Overarching Framework in Emergency Management

Public Safety Canada oversees the emergency management, helping to mitigate, prepare for, respond to and recover from all-hazards events throughout the country. [vi] One of the primary functions of Public Safety Canada is to coordinate the provision of resources and expertise to Canadian communities requiring support in various phases, such as emergency preparedness, disaster mitigation and recovery phase.[vii] However, the emergency management in Canada is a shared responsibility between all levels of the government and their partners. The Federal Emergency Response Plan (FERP), published in 2011 by Public Safety, outlines the overarching processes and mechanisms that facilitate an integrated Government of Canada response to an emergency.[viii] Within Canada’s framework, the provincial and territorial governments, along with the local authorities, are the first to respond to the vast majority of emergencies within their jurisdictions. This is because most emergencies are local in nature and can be managed at the lowest level without the need for federal intervention.[ix] According to Public Safety, “more than 90 percent of emergencies in Canada are handled locally or at the provincial/territorial level”.[x]

However, due to the unpredictable nature of disasters, instances in which the scope of the emergency exceeds the capacity of the provincial and territorial governments are not uncommon. In these extreme cases, the provincial/territorial governments can seek a formal request to attain help from the federal government to fill the gaps in capabilities and better mitigate the issue at hand. The Minister of Public Safety administers the Request for Federal Assistances (RFAs) and works with the federal, provincial and territorial partners to ensure a coordinated response to emergencies. The roles and responsibilities of the federal government institutions are divided into three categories: coordinating, primary, and supporting departments.[xi] Depending on the scale and scope of the disaster, the role of federal government institutions varies. As mentioned earlier, the Public Safety Canada is the federal coordinating department under the Emergency Management Act. They are responsible for engaging relevant federal government institutions and partners into the response plan. Whereas a primary department is a federal government institution with a mandate related to one of the key elements of an emergency (i.e. transportation, logistics operations management, communications, energy production and distribution, etc.).[xii] Many of the federal institutions fall under a supporting department, which provides a general or a specialised assistance to the primary department. For example, Environment Canada, Public Services and Procurement, and the Department of National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces play a major role in emergency support functions.[xiii]

The Role of CAF in HADR Events

The CAF is primarily known for its role in combat, it is an institution that is given the special privilege to use lethal force on behalf of the state. However, combat engagement is not the only way that the CAF serves Canada. Functioning as an extension of the federal government, the CAF carries out various tasks that Parliament assigns through the Minister of National Defence.[xiv] The duty to ”protect Canada and its interests“ can be manifested in many ways, including patrolling the coasts, leading search and rescue missions, and assisting with natural disasters.[xv] Consequently, the rising frequency and scale of climate change related disasters have garnered greater attention and expectation toward CAF’s role in domestic HADR operations.[xvi] As echoed by the Department of National Defence, “Canadians can trust that, in times of need, their CAF will be there for them.”[xvii] This adheres to the strategic vision outlined in the 2017 Strong, Secure, Engaged: Canada’s Defence Policy. This perspective is built on three key components: strong at home, secure in North America, and engaged in the world. There are eight core missions of the CAF based on a spectrum of “protecting, securing and defending” rather than being listed in order of priority.[xviii] These missions are in the main related to defending against state or non-state actor threats to Canada and working with allies to ensure peace and security. However, one key mission is not oriented against those types of traditional security threats and calls upon the CAF to provide “assistance to civil authorities and non-governmental patterns in responding to international and domestic disasters or major emergencies.”[xix] It states that humanitarian assistance and disaster relief remain a priority for the CAF and should thereby remain ready to respond to the requests from civil authorities when required. Figure 1 demonstrates how and where the CAF is generally expected to contribute within the spectrum of disaster management.

Traditionally, the military’s role in the HADR missions falls within the scope of the response phase of disaster management. The required tasks often take place immediately following a disaster event and consist of short-term/temporary deployments, typically less than 50 days.[xx] Some of the main efforts include filling and moving sandbags, evacuating and transporting people, delivering aid to remote communities, and assessing infrastructure.[xxi] The key aim is to provide additional support to the main emergency management bodies (i.e. firefighters, police, and medical personnel).[xxii] Due to the time constraints associated with emergencies and the variability of activities required, the response phase tends to be the most complex of the four phases in the spectrum. Despite the challenges, the CAF is widely regarded by the civil authorities as a “highly trained versatile ...well-equipped” and “mobile” combat force that can effectively adapt to HADR operations.[xxiii]

In addition to the pool of trained personnel with diverse skill sets, the CAF is highly sought by the civilian authorities during emergencies for its valuable military assets. Particularly, the access to specific vehicles, equipment or technologies, that are costly to procure and maintain for the local governments or services, comes in handy during HADR events. One of which includes the Search and Rescue (SAR) team, which is proficient at locating people in distress using its aircrafts and Medium Earth Orbit Search and Rescue (MEOSAR) satellite capability.[xxv] As well, all three elements (Army, Navy and Air) possess equipment and capital investments that are highly relevant to HADR missions. For instance, the communication system, power generation, advanced water purification systems, the Royal Canadian Air Force aircrafts (i.e. CC-130J), and the Royal Canadian Navy’s fleets and maritime helicopter (i.e. Cyclone) offer emergency response capabilities useful to these HADR operations.[xxvi]

The CAF contingency for domestic natural disasters is conducted under the title “Operation LENTUS”. These operations are only activated upon federal approval of the RFA. Since emergency management falls under the responsibility of the civilian authorities, military involvement occurs only as a force of last resort when all the provincial and territorial resources have been exhausted.[xxvii] Recently, anywhere between 60 to 2,600 members have been deployed, and utilized military ships, vehicles, and aircrafts for many of its operations.[xxviii] However, one of the key challenges faced by the armed forces over the last decade has been the increasing reliance on military assistance in disaster relief–and concomitant demand and use of limited CAF personnel and material. As previously mentioned, there have been a notable surge in the number of climate change related natural disasters occurring across the country. For instance, Hurricane Igor in Newfoundland in 2010, the 2011 Prairie floods, the 2011 Slave Lake fire, 2016 Fort McMurray wildfires, the 2017 British Columbia flood and wildfire, and again in 2018 are just a few examples.[xxix] With that, Operation LENTUS was activated at least 31 times between 2010 and 2020, doubling almost every five years.[xxx] This marks a concerning trend in the CAF, to the point where General Wayne Eyre, then Acting Chief of the Defence Staff, observed on this seeming overreliance: “the CAF’s evolution over the years from a resource of last resort to a force of first choice - that, going forward, needs to be addressed in a national context.”[xxxi] While this has not yet affected the military training to a significant degree, military leaders worry that this continuing pattern will eventually hinder the force’s ability to defend the country. In particular, HADR may constrain the availability of limited military resources and trained personnel for other key future deployments. Thus, it is imperative that the government addresses the extensive use of the military for HADR to ensure that the CAF does not face trade-offs in fulling its diverse commitments.

Issues and Gaps in Canada

There are two key issues that can be identified in Canada’s response to natural disasters. The first one pertains to the actual role of the CAF and the importance of military involvement in these HADR events. Specifically, examining Operation LENTUS in 2021 alone, the CAF responded to a total of seven requests across Canada. [xxxii] In July, approximately 100 CAF members assisted in a month-long flood relief effort in Yukon. The members were tasked with filling and moving sandbags, helping persons affected by floods, conducting welfare checks of residents, inspecting properties in areas affected by flooding, assisting with evacuation of persons, and clearing routes.[xxxiii]  In the later part of the year, more than 700 CAF members actively participated in a month-long flood relief mission in British Columbia, undertaking the same exhaustive list of tasks. [xxxiv] Operation LENTUS in response to Newfoundland flooding involved the use of aircrafts to transport people and supplies in and out of the affected areas.[xxxv] Other common HADR missions in 2021 included responding to the spread of wildfires in various provinces. Along with the provision of air support for movement of people and delivery of equipment, the CAF assisted the wildfire service with holding existing fire lines, suppressing hot spots and building new fire lines.[xxxvi]

            Based on this analysis, recent disaster relief activities carried out by the CAF are quite similar in type. Many of which involve either the manual labour of CAF members or the use of military air assets for logistic and transport support. While the quick acquisition of aircrafts through the military may be essential during times of emergency, the common tasks seen throughout the flooding and wildfire relief efforts do not necessarily require the involvement of a specialized or military trained personnel. Simply put the CAF is undoubtedly a helpful resource and tool for the civilian authorities but is not the only agency capable of responding to these natural disasters at home.

            The second issue concerns the current emergency management framework. The FERP issued by Public Safety Canada focuses heavily on the structure for how different federal departments and governmental bodies can work together effectively, and in the process, streamline the federal response to emergencies. For example, different roles and responsibilities are assigned to ensure there is a clear mechanism linking the federal and regional management teams and different levels of direction (i.e. strategic, executive, and operational). In other words, the federal emergency management system is based on integrating existing federal resources and institutions to provide the necessary assistance. Consequently, it does not address the lack of dedicated response workforce available within Canada, aside from the CAF, for the HADR events. Although non-governmental organizations do exist, these disaster response teams, such as Team Rubicon, often have limited capabilities. Specifically, within 24 hours, only five volunteers are available to be deployed to the scene, and ten volunteers within the 48 hours.[xxxvii] However, many of the domestic HADR missions that the CAF has been involved under Operation LENTUS required at least 60 members. To address this gap in a dedicated governmental response force, the following sections propose the implementation of regional emergency services in Canada, like the model used in Australia.

Case Study: Australia’s State Emergency Service (SES)

The State Emergency Service (SES) in Australia is a public safety organization that aids various emergency situations in each of the states and territories, such as flood, tsunami, landslides and fire.[xxxviii] The eight Australian states and territories all have their own SES, which are coordinated through the Australian Council of State and Territory Emergency Services (ACSES). The SES plays a vital role in many phases of the disaster management (refer to Figure 1), including prevention, preparedness, response and recovery from emergencies.[xxxix] For example, the SES works to prepare the communities for common natural disasters by increasing awareness, promoting preparation measures, and leading state’s emergency management planning and risk management work.[xl] When a natural disaster strikes or an emergency situation arises, trained volunteers are called upon to provide support in their respective roles. The SES volunteers essentially function as the first responders to emergencies. They work alongside other emergency services, such as the ambulance service, fire and rescue service and the police. Volunteer roles range widely from storm and flood damage team member to road crash rescue operator and search and rescue team member. [xli] While a team of full-time staff operates the organization itself, the SES volunteers assist with emergency response operations in the field. With over 44,000 volunteers spread across Australia, the SES provides emergency assistance to communities 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.”[xlii]

             Furthermore, each state and territory operates the SES independently, providing them with greater flexibility to address the unique demands of their respective circumstances. As outlined in the 2020 Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements Report, “each state and territory varies in its experience of natural hazards” depending on the climate, geography and environment.[xliii]As a result, every SES offers slightly different roles and services depending on type, frequency and magnitude of disasters observed in their unique area. For instance, the Tasmania SES provides emergency services pertaining to floods, storms, tsunami, and landslides because those are common to this particular island state.[xliv] On the other hand, the South Australian SES located on the south-central part of the mainland offers additional services, such as urban search and rescue, land search, air search, marine search, shark patrol, and road crash rescue.[xlv] As well, the South Australian SES has a fleet of Remotely Piloted Aircraft which are utilized for a range of operational tasks.[xlvi] The Australian Capital Territory SES has flood boats and various operational vehicles instead to aid them in their activities.[xlvii] These resources are largely funded by their respective state/territory government, in addition to the donations from its community members and other government grants.[xlviii] Thus, based on a number of different factors, the level of budget, staff, equipment, and services provided by the SES differs from one state/territory to another.

Canada’s Way Forward

            To alleviate the burden on the CAF to conduct a multitude of disaster relief efforts throughout the year, a dedicated civilian response team like Australia’s SES should be implemented into each region in Canada. The aim of this response force would be to provide the provinces and territories with an adequate capability to assist with emergencies and natural disasters relevant to specific regions. Canada is divided into five main regions: the West Coast, the Northern Territories, the Prairie Provinces, Central Canada, and the Atlantic Provinces. Historically, intense wildfires have been frequently observed in the Western provinces, while hurricanes and ice storms are a regular occurrence in the Atlantic provinces.[xlix] Flooding, on the other hand, can be seen across all regions of Canada, including the Northern territories (e.g. Yukon in 2021).[l] Based on the unique characteristics of each region, the civilian response forces can be adapted and specialized to overcome the distinct types of threats and risks. Additionally, like the SES funding system, the regional emergency response team should be funded in part by provincial,erritorial, and local governments to ensure that it can sustain an adequate number of personnel to acquire and maintain essential operational resources.  Furthermore, in circumstances requiring greater support, the provinces and territories cancoordinate with other regional workforce for additional assistance in the emergency. This will not only reduce the growing demand for CAF in HADR events but ensure that provincial and territorial authorities have better tools to deal with the ever-changing environment.

Conclusion

 The growing demand on the CAF to activate Operation LENTUS in recent years has exposed the limited capacity of civilian authorities to respond to these climate-related disasters. The CAF, under Operation LENTUS, became a readily accessible tool for the federal government to take advantage of in times of crisis, despite being a last-resort resource. Many of the HADR activities conducted by the CAF were found to be similar in type, involving either manual labour or the provision of logistic and transport support. These taskings do not necessarily require the attention of military trained personnel. In fact, other civilian entities are more than capable of conducting these response assistance activities.

Although the CAF should remain prepared to support and protect Canadians at home during emergencies, it is equally critical to maintain readiness in all other fronts, especially the CAF’s war-fighting capabilities. Understanding that the military is a temporary and last resort option in HADR events, the CAF should be used sparingly by the civilian authorities to ensure that other key objectives can be achieved. In order to achieve these goals, the implementation of a regional response force in Canada based on Australia’s SES could be a possible answer. This would allow provinces and territories to better respond to devastating disasters ahead but will also provide the federal authorities with more capability, aside from an already over stretched CAF, to deal with current gaps in domestic HADR.

Second Lieutenant Jieun Lee is a recent graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC). She completed Honours Bachelor of Arts in Political Science in 2023 and is the recipient of the departmental medal in her programme. She was the 2022-2023 intern at CIDP, working with visiting defence fellows, supporting various events including the annual Kingston Consortium of International Security conference, and liaising CIDP with RMC programs. She is currently undergoing her training as a junior logistics officer in the Canadian Armed Forces.

End Notes:

[i] Veterans Affairs Canada, “The Canadian Armed Forces during natural disasters at home,” last modified May 25, 2022, https://duyxryp8txy49.cloudfront.net/pdf/history/fact-sheets/CAF-Natural-Disaster-Relief.pdf.

[ii]  Department of National Defence, “Operation LENTUS,” accessed May 10, 2023, https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/operations/military-operations/current-operations/operation-lentus.html.

[iii]  Ibid.

[iv] Department of National Defence, Strong, Secure, Engaged: Canada’s Defence Policy (Ottawa: DND Canada, 2017), 82.

[v] Christian Leuprecht, and Peter Kasurak, “The Canadian Armed Forces and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief: Defining a Role,” Centre for International Governance Innovation, last modified August 24, 2020, https://www.cigionline.org/articles/canadian-armed-forces-and-humanitarian-assistance-and-disaster-relief-defining-role/; and Lee Berthiaume, “Growing need for army during natural disasters could ‘affect’ readiness’: commander,” Global News, January 20, 2020, https://globalnews.ca/news/6435390/canada-army-natural-disaster-response/.

[vi] Public Safety Canada, Public Safety Canada Departmental Plan 2023-24 (Ottawa: Public Safety Canada, May 9, 2023), 45, https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/dprtmntl-pln-2023-24/dprtmntl-pln-2023-24-en.pdf.

[vii] Ibid.

[viii] Public Safety Canada, Federal Emergency Response Plan (Ottawa: Public Safety Canada, January, 2011), 1-62, https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/mrgnc-rspns-pln/index-en.aspx.

[ix] Public Safety Canada, Federal Emergency, 1.

[x] Public Safety Canada, National Emergency Response System (Ottawa: Public Safety Canada, January, 2011), 3, https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/ntnl-rspns-sstm/ntnl-rspns-sstm-eng.pdf.

[xi] Public Safety Canada, Federal Emergency, 3.

[xii] Public Safety Canada, Federal Emergency, 28.

[xiii] Public Safety Canada, Federal Emergency, 34.

[xiv] Government of Canada, “About the Canadian Armed Forces,” accessed April 27, 2023. http://www.forces.gc.ca/en/about/canadian-armed-forces.page.

[xv] Ibid.

[xvi] R. Heide, “Disasters as Security Threats: Mapping Humanitarian Assistance Needs and Priorities for the CAF,” in Going to War? Trends in Military Interventions (Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2016), 32.

[xvii] Government of Canada, “Update on Canadian Armed Forces’ response to COVID-19 pandemic,” last modified May 7, 2020. https://www.canada.ca/en/department-nationaldefence/news/2020/05/update-on-canadian-armed-forces-response-to-covid-19-pandemic.html.

[xviii] Department of National Defence, Strong, Secure, Engaged, 82.

[xix] Department of National Defence, Strong, Secure, Engaged, 86.

[xx] Claire Bramma, “A Response to Climate Change: Evolving the Business of the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART),” Canadian Military Journal 16, no. 4 (2016): 10.

[xxi] Department of National Defence, “Operation LENTUS.”

[xxii] David Etkin, Kenneth McBey, and Cliff Trollope, “The Military and Disaster Management: A Canadian Perspective on the Issue,” Academia (2011): 7.

[xxiii] Martin Shadwick, “The Canadian Armed Forces and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR),” Canadian Military Journal 18, no.4 (2018): 78.

[xxiv] Bramma, “A Response to Climate Change,” 9.

[xxv] Department of National Defence, Strong, Secure, Engaged, 87.

[xxvi] Shadwick, “The Canadian Armed Forces,” 79.

[xxvii] Jason Hudson, “Confronting Climate Change: The Canadian Army and Domestic Operations” Monograph, United States Army Command and General Staff College, 2021, 16.

[xxviii] Ibid.

[xxix] Public Safety Canada, “Emergency management strategy for Canada: Toward a Resilient 2030,” Government of Canada, accessed November 29, 2022, https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/mrgncy-mngmnt-strtgy/index-en.aspx.

[xxx] Wilfrid Greaves, “Climate change and security in Canada,” International Journal 76, no. 2 (2021): 189.

[xxxi] Marie Dumont, Ariel Shapiro, and Anne-Marie Therrien-Tremblay, “The Canadian Armed Forces Responding to Domestic Emergencies: Some Implications,” Library of Parliament, last modified December 13, 2021, https://hillnotes.ca/2021/12/13/the-canadian-armed-forces-responding-to-domestic-emergencies-some-implications/.

[xxxii] Department of National Defence, “Operation LENTUS.”

[xxxiii] Ibid.

[xxxiv] Ibid.

[xxxv] Ibid.

[xxxvi] Ibid.

[xxxvii] “Capabilities and Services,” Team Rubicon, accessed May 10, 2023, https://team-rubicon.ca/capabilities-services/.

[xxxviii] Australian SES, “Volunteering at the SES and Providing Emergency Relief to Our Communities,” accessed April 27, 2023, https://www.ses.org.au/category/emergency-relief/.

[xxxix] TAS State Emergency Service, “About,” accessed April 27, 2023, https://www.ses.tas.gov.au/about/.

[xl] Ibid; NSW State Emergency Service, “Flood Awareness NSW,” accessed April 27, 2023, https://www.ses.nsw.gov.au/flood-awareness-nsw/.

[xli] Department of Fire and Emergency Services, “Search Volunteer Roles,” accessed April 28, 2023, https://dfes.vol.org.au/search.

[xlii] Australian SES, “Volunteering.”

[xliii] Royal Commission, Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements Report (Australia: Royal Commission, 2020), 57.

[xliv] TAS State Emergency Service, “About.”

[xlv] South Australian State Emergency Service, “What We Do,” accessed April 28, 2023,  https://www.ses.sa.gov.au/about-us/what-we-do/.

[xlvi] Ibid.

[xlvii] ACT Government, “Vehicles and equipment,” accessed April 28, 2023, https://esa.act.gov.au/emergency-services/state-emergency-service/vehicles-and-equipment.

[xlviii] NSW State Emergency Service, “Contact Us,” accessed April 28, 2023, https://www.ses.nsw.gov.au/about-us/contact-us/.

[xlix]Department of National Defence, “Operation LENTUS.”

[l] Ibid.