OTTAWA – Bill Blair defense minister informs Canadians require the presence of the military during natural disasters, and the Armed Forces will maintain a key role of the government response. He said in a recent interview, that the Canadians are reassured when men and woman of the Canadian Armed Forces show up in uniform helping the people in the community to evacuate to safety. It gives them a sense of security and authority in following protocol.
Blair, in the cabinet shuffle, was transferred from the emergency preparedness portfolio to head of defense, and has been involved in organizing the response by the federal government to various disasters, including wildfires that have devastated the country each summer, floods due to an atmospheric river in British Columbia in 2021 and the destruction incurred by Hurricane Fiona in Atlantic Canada last year.
There is said to be a noticeable increase for help, in average between five to ten official requests for assistance is common from the territories and provinces each year. However, there were in excess of 200 requests for federal help between March 2020 and October 2022, majority of which was related to the COVID – 19 pandemics. Military was requested for 157 of the cases.
Immediate response unit of the Canadian Armed Forces, initiated to attend desalters, assisting local officials with planning, manpower and logistics.
General Wayne Eyre chief of defense, informed a parliamentary committee that the military is under immense strain as they are called upon too often to react to such disasters at a time when the armed forces are dealing with personnel shortages. As natural disasters increase in intensity and frequency, the military is to respond not as a force of last resort, but in some instances the force of first choice.
Blair recognized the military has at times been the first choice for the federal government, rather than the last resort, acknowledging the fact that around 16,000 positions are unoccupied across the military, a condition that the commanders recognized as a crisis.
Blair informed that a careful list of legitimate concerns handed to the chef of defense staff expressing with regard to the impact on their capacity-building and training, leading to a discussion to create a national disaster-assistance organization, an instrument to deliver assistance when it’s needed, what is known as humanitarian work force. However, he informs that the military is the best option to fall on, for certain specific situations, where specialized research equipment is required.
He said that it is their responsibility and part of their mandate.
