
Years after it was pitched, Canada is still waiting for a national disaster agency
OTTAWA – In 2023, as Canada suffered through its worst-ever wildfire season, the federal government was looking at creating a national disaster response agency.
Two years later, the country is again facing another summer of wildfires. There is still no sign of such an agency, though governments are tapping the private sector to help with evacuations.
Ali Asgary, a York University professor of disaster and emergency management, said the work to establish a national agency is 'unfortunately … not going as fast as our crises are going.'
Public Safety Canada indicated in a media statement the government is still working on it.
'We continue to work closely with Canada's firefighters, as well as municipal, provincial and territorial government officials, to find solutions consistent with our country's unique character to enhance our ability to keep Canadian communities safe,' the statement said.
'We will continue to explore all proposed options and work in collaboration with our partners to enhance our preparation.'
In 2023, The Canadian Press reported that discussions on a new approach to natural disasters and other emergencies were well underway and included analysis of the merits of creating a Canadian version of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the United States.
Better known as FEMA, the agency is responsible for preparing for, preventing, responding to and recovering from major incidents such as terrorist attacks and natural disasters. It runs a national response co-ordination centre which organizes federal support for major disasters and can deploy teams of doctors and nurses.
The consequences of not having a federal agency are being seen in the stress that communities, provinces and emergency management agencies are feeling now, Asgary said.
'We are still in early June,' he noted, adding we still don't know what's going to happen with wildfires through July and August.
He said the fire season has already 'overwhelmed us. Imagine when it is getting closer to bigger communities.'
Saskatchewan and Manitoba have declared provincewide states of emergency — a move meant to make it easier for governments to co-ordinate resources and support.
Most of Canada's current wildfires are burning in those two provinces, where more than 30,000 people have been evacuated. Smoke has drifted as far as Newfoundland and Labrador in the east and Texas in the south.
At a press conference on Parliament Hill earlier this week, Emergency Management Minister Eleanor Olszewski said 'this wildfire season has started off more quickly and it's stronger, more intense than previous years.'
Saskatchewan has seen 243 wildfires so far this fire season; in a typical year the province would see roughly 135. Canadian Armed Forces have been helping with evacuations in Manitoba, where fires have forced more than 17,000 residents out of their homes, mostly in the remote north.
The private company Xpera has been involved in emergency response in Manitoba. The company's services include private investigations, helping businesses bring in replacement workers during strikes, and managing evacuations during crises.
Robert Garland, the company's vice-president for emergency security management for Eastern Canada, told The Canadian Press the company helped to evacuate 226 people to Niagara Falls and could evacuate around 3,000 in total.
Garland said the work was done though the company's contract with Emergency Management Ontario, which extended the contract to Manitoba's Emergency Management Organization.
He said 'the offer came from Xpera, with a contract with the provincial and federal partners.'
When asked who is paying for the evacuees' accommodations, Garland said that 'the funding comes from the provincial and federal partners. That's a contractual agreement between Indigenous communities and the federal government, Indigenous Services Canada, and in partnerships with obviously Indigenous communities.'
Garland did not answer additional email questions about whether the company has a contract with the federal government.
A spokesperson for Olszewski referred questions about a federal government contract to Indigenous Services Canada, which did not answer by deadline. Xpera has previously received millions of dollars through federal government contracts for services involving asylum seekers.
Daniel Henstra, a professor at the University of Waterloo who researches climate change adaptation and emergency management, said the 'wildfires in Western Canada are huge already and developing so rapidly and the numbers of evacuees are just staggering.'
The situation requires a 'massive logistical capacity that the government in Canada itself just doesn't have, and I would doubt that any provincial government would have it either,' he added.
'If in fact there is a contract with Xpera, it means that the scale of the evacuation is such that it's beyond the capacity of even… a behemoth like the Canadian Red Cross.'
'That's pretty significant.'
Currently, the federal government only becomes involved in emergency response if a province asks it to step in.
Olszewski told reporters that the government has deployed the Canadian Armed Forces to evacuate people in Manitoba and is ready to 'assist Saskatchewan and Alberta should they make formal requests for federal assistance.'
While the military has immediate response units that are activated to respond to disasters, former chief of the defence staff Gen. Wayne Eyre previously called on governments to lean less on the overstretched Armed Forces for disaster response. The military's main role in a disaster is to help local officials with logistics, planning and manpower.
Asgary said a federal agency could take on various aspects of emergency management, including mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. The agency could exploit economies of scale for expenses like training or buying emergency system software.
Henstra said the federal government should focus on shoring up local response capacity. He noted the government already held a consultation on a pan-Canadian Civilian Response Capacity.
He suggested a 'mix of volunteers and professionals who receive money and training from government' who would be 'ready within the community to respond to disasters.'
People in those communities have valuable local knowledge and experience and need resources to be able to respond, he said. For instance, they might know that a winter without a lot of snow means a bad fire season is ahead, putting them in a position to take steps like levelling areas to create a fire break.
'But you can't have even the military fly in with a C-130 full of bulldozers. That's just ridiculous, right? You need to have this equipment and experienced operators on the ground.'
— With files from Sharif Hassan
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 6, 2025.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Toronto Sun
15 minutes ago
- Toronto Sun
Audit General finds F-35 costs soar amid project delays, pilot shortages
Published Jun 10, 2025 • 3 minute read An F-35A Lightning II fighter jet practises for an air show appearance in Ottawa, Friday, September 6, 2019. Photo by Adrian Wyld / THE CANADIAN PRESS OTTAWA — The cost of Canada's incoming fleet of advanced stealth fighters has exploded by nearly 50 per cent in just a few years, auditor general Karen Hogan said Tuesday in a new report. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The fighter jet audit is one of eight tabled in the House of Commons by Hogan and environment commissioner Jerry DeMarco which flagged problematic procurement contracts, a backlog in applications for First Nations status and a lag in reducing federal office space. An investigation by the auditor general of Canada finds costs associated with the F-35 advanced fighter jet program are running $8.7 billion higher than the original estimates. And it warns the program is being plagued by delays and crucial shortfalls — including a lack of qualified pilots. The report lands in the middle of an active review ordered by Prime Minister Mark Carney to examine possible alternatives to the F-35. He ordered the review in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war with Canada. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. National Defence said in 2022 the base price for the F-35s would be $19 billion — just two years later, that number has climbed to $27.7 billion. That does not include estimates for infrastructure upgrades or weapons. The report found the department's 2022 estimates relied on outdated data from 2019 – despite the availability of better estimates showing 'that costs of the aircraft had already increased substantially.' The audit finds issues associated with the global pandemic _ such as runaway inflation, rising facilities and munitions costs and volatile foreign exchange rates — pushed the price tag sky high. Auditor general Karen Hogan also warns that the program faces 'significant risks that could jeopardize the timely introduction of the new fleet.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. She said the department successfully identified the risks but has not planned appropriately to mitigate them. Construction of two new fighter squadron facilities — in Cold Lake, Alta., and Bagotville, Que. — is running three years behind schedule. The report says the facilities will not be ready until at least 2031 because the department needs to 'redo important elements' of their design. The department started planning the new facilities in 2020 before the government had settled on the F-35, but the aircraft comes with significant infrastructure security requirements. 'Costs to develop an interim solution to support the new jets will further increase infrastructure expenses,' the report warns. It says the department produced a contingency plan to operate the aircraft from temporary facilities but the plan fell short because it was incomplete and offered 'no proposed actions nor a cost estimate.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Canada is also still short of qualified pilots to fly the advanced aircraft — despite being warned about this back in 2018. The report says the F-35 program lacks measures to minimize potential risks and the department failed to produce robust contingency plans. It notes that the department identified cost overruns from inflation and currency fluctuations as potential risks to monitor, but plans to track those risks were never approved by officials. The Liberal government announced in 2017 it planned to purchase 88 new fighter jets and signed a contract with Lockheed Martin for the F-35s in 2023. The modern jets are needed to replace Canada's aging CF-18 fleet, which is nearing the end of its service life. The fighter jets are expected to be delivered between 2026 and 2032. Over the next two years, the initial eight will be sent to a U.S. air force base in Arizona, where Canadian pilots will be trained to fly them. The rest will be delivered to Canada starting in 2028. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The report says the Joint Strike Fighter Program Office conducted various assessments that uncovered 'significant issues,' such as 'insufficient departmental engineering personnel to service support equipment for both the CF-18 Hornet and CF-35A during the transition.' The audit says that at the end of the last fiscal year in March, National Defence earmarked $935 million for the U.S. government for the first four jets and related items needed to produce another eight aircraft. It says about $197 million has already been paid out. On top of that, National Defence spent another $516 million on the project, including $270 million in infrastructure costs. Toronto Blue Jays World Relationships Editorial Cartoons Olympics


Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Ottawa's plan for climate change adaptation is falling short, report says
OTTAWA – The federal government's program for preparing Canada for the effects of climate change has stumbled since its launch in 2023, says a new report from environment commissioner Jerry DeMarco. The report says the National Adaptation Strategy has faced significant challenges in its design and implementation. The report says the strategy was not effectively designed, did not prioritize Canada's climate change risks and only established one of three components since its release in 2023. Canada has committed $1.6 billion toward implementing the strategy, which is meant to serve as a roadmap for implementing adaptation measures to prepare for climate impacts. Environment and Climate Change Canada has estimated that every dollar spent on proactive adaptation measures saves taxpayers between $13 and $15 in the long term. The health impacts of short-term exposure to wildfire smoke alone was estimated to cost up to $1.8 billion a year between 2013 and 2018. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2025.


Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Ottawa too slow to process First Nations status applications: AG report
OTTAWA – Canada's auditor general says Indigenous Services Canada has not been processing applications for registration under the Indian Act within the required six-month timeline. The failure means many First Nations people are unable to access on-reserve housing, financial aid for post-secondary education and health benefits. Karen Hogan reports in an audit released today that more than eight out of 10 applications processed by the department between 2019 and 2024 exceeded that six-month window. Some of those were priority applications for people who are older or have health issues. Hogan says there is a backlog of about 12,000 applications, including nearly 1,500 applications that went unprocessed for more than two years. Hogan also says Indigenous Services couldn't show that most officials making final decisions on applications had the proper training and certifications. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2025.