APTN National News
Six provinces do not have an emergency management agreement with the federal government to respond to disasters on First Nations according to a report released Tuesday by the Auditor General in Ottawa.
The problem seems to begin with Aboriginal Affairs relying on provinces to support First Nations in time of need resulting in a lack of clarity of who is responsible.
This has led to disagreements and even legal actions the Auditor General found.
Manitoba, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI and Newfoundland and Labrador are the provinces that have no emergency management agreements in place with Canada.
Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador and PEI also don’t have fire-related agreement in place. Other provinces, such as Saskatchewan, Quebec, Ontario and Alberta have one, but not for all First Nations.
“Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada relies on provinces and third parties to support First Nations in times of emergency. However, agreements to clarify roles and responsibilities are either absent or unclear,” the Auditor General found.
Aboriginal Affairs’ officials said these “weaknesses” make it difficult to administer the federal emergency management program because they’re reacting to emergencies not knowing who is responsible.
Also, Aboriginal Affairs didn’t know if First Nations get the same quality of service as non-First Nations.
The end result is a heaving burden being placed on First Nations. About half of the 900,000 First Nations people in Canada live on-reserve.
Between 2009-2013, fiscal years, there were 447 emergencies on First Nations.
The Auditor General said the $19 million the feds put into the emergency management program is not enough.
Aboriginal Affairs were made aware of the report’s findings before its release and agreed with 10 recommendations made by the Auditor General.
“The health and safety of First Nation communities-including timely, effective support in times of emergency-is a priority for our government,” said Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt in a press release. “We accept the recommendation in the report issued by the office of the Auditor General which acknowledges our commitment to improve emergency management support to First Nations and the steps we have taken to manage our responsibilities for emergency management on-reserve.”
In fact, the government made an announcement last week to address these short falls.
Valcourt said the “new approach” aims to enhance new or existing bilateral agreements with provinces.
