As Ottawa promises a better response to natural disasters, communities say they need money now

Marina von Stackelberg

Ottawa's emergency pre‐ paredness minister has warned that this summer could be even worse than last year's record-breaking wildfire season - while communities on the front lines say they need federal money for prevention right now.

"What bothers me is that we take this wait-and-see at‐ titude every single year," said Don McCormick, mayor of Kimberly, a town in the B.C. interior.

"We are in a fire zone. This has been a fire area for‐ ever and we'll continue to be. We need to be doing things that are going to allow our forests to manage the fires on their own, and not put our communities in the danger that they are right now."

McCormick's town has spent millions of dollars much of it money obtained through provincial grants - on measures that helped pro‐ tect his community last sum‐ mer. A nearby fire last sum‐ mer was held off thanks to controlled forest burns con‐ ducted years before.

"It is proof of the science around how to provide land‐ scape management is there," he said. "We just need to get the senior levels of govern‐ ment on board, who hold the purse strings."

A massive wildfire last summer forced a three-week mandatory evacuation of Yel‐ lowknife. Its mayor, Rebecca

Alty, said her city is using its own money to prepare for the coming fire season.

The city has dipped into its own budget to update its communication systems and hire an emergency manager, she said.

Like McCormick, she said she wants more support from higher levels of govern‐ ment before a disaster hits.

"The biggest thing that's missing is dollars to munici‐ palities. When it comes to our territorial funding, we re‐ ceive no funding to be emer‐ gency-prepared," Alty said.

Provincial and territorial ministers met in Ottawa last week with federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan.

After two days of discus‐ sion, Sajjan told a news con‐ ference there are plans to ap‐ proach this season with a dif‐ ferent strategy.

"It's about being co-ordi‐ nated to be more respon‐ sive," he said.

Pressed by reporters, Saj‐ jan didn't offer details. In‐ stead, he pointed to the need for early wildfire detection. He also spoke about what in‐ dividuals can do to keep their own homes safe - things like rearranging their patio furni‐ ture.

"Actually moving patio fur‐ niture out of the way, be‐ cause most of the patio furni‐ ture, when it lights up, it burns longer and it burns brighter and then the house has a potentially to catch on fire," Sajjan said.

No clear plan from Ot‐ tawa or provinces: ex‐ pert

Anabela Bonada of the Intact Centre on Climate Adapta‐ tion at the University of Wa‐ terloo said governments need to act now.

"I was happy to hear about fire smart practices being implemented and being advocated for, but there wasn't a very clear plan on how that's going to go for‐ ward," Bonada said.

"We need to hit the ground running. We know what needs to be done. I just keep seeing the issue as im‐ plementation."

Bonada said Ottawa could act now to create a central‐ ized agency to help manage the response to various nat‐ ural disasters, since fires, floods and tornados don't re‐ spect municipal or provincial borders. It should also push a coordinated effort to re‐ cruit and train more firefight‐ ers, she said.

"Not much was said on, 'Okay, what is the implemen‐ tation going to be over the next few weeks?'" she said.

Ottawa also has promised to speed up its post-disaster financial relief. The federal government is in the midst of modernizing its Disaster Fi‐ nancial Assistance Arrange‐ ments. It has promised to speed up payments and de‐ sign them to help communi‐ ties rebuild in ways that makes them more resistant to future natural disasters.

But those changes won't happen for over a year - not until April 2025.

"Boy, do we ever need to hit the speed button," said Craig Stewart of the Insur‐ ance Bureau of Canada.

Stewart said the current relief program can't match the scale and frequency of natural disasters the country now sees. It's been around since 1970 but nearly threequarters of the money paid out through it has been spent in the past decade.

The process for getting money from the program can sometimes take longer than a year, he said.

"If you're a homeowner, you can't be certain of how much money you're going to get, what it's going to pay for, or even how long it's going to take," he said. "It's an un‐ wieldy way to help people re‐ cover from disasters."

Alty said her city is still fill‐ ing out the paperwork to get money from Ottawa to help with last summer's damage.

"We know that it's not a quick process," she said.