By Sebastian Kanally, Times Chronicle
The province’s new proposed Emergency and Disaster Management Act needs more funding commitments and the Disaster Financial Assistance (DFA) regulation needs to be “completely revamped”, a draft letter to the province outlines.
The Town of Oliver, along with the Regional District of the Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS), the District of Summerland, City of Penticton, Town of Osoyoos, Village of Keremeos, and Town of Princeton, have compiled a draft of a formal letter to Bowinn Ma, the Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness, laying out their feedback and concerns with the new proposed legislation.
This new legislation, which replaces the Emergency Program Act, sets policies around emergency management, focusing on a new holistic approach to mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery.
The province is currently inviting local governments to provide feedback on the legislation.
The Town of Oliver discussed the draft letter in council on January 8 and focused on five primary concerns town staff have with the proposed legislation. These concerns are informed by the detailed draft letter contributed to by all the aforementioned councils in the region.
One of the concerns is that there is no information about funding commitments from the province and how much assistance municipalities will receive to meet these new requirements.
Wayne Anderson, chief administrative officer for the town of Oliver notes in his report that the new proposed legislation is anticipated to add “considerable responsibilities and roles onto municipalities.”
With these new responsibilities, there is a clearly stated need for “sustainable, long term funding to support staffing capacity.”
Town of Oliver staff also support the region-wide concern that the DFA needs to be completely revamped to align with the ministry’s mandate letter to “build back better” as opposed to “the current approach of building-back-to-the-same-risk-level.”
Anderson’s report explains that there are currently “severe limitations with DFA”. Further saying that it is designed not to be proactive but works “to maintain disaster risk after an emergency and be administratively burdensome.”
Other concerns involve a lack of regulatory and financial support for coordinating BC housing and Interior Health among other provincial bodies to ensure vulnerable populations are treated with dignity during times of emergencies.
The letter further expresses concern with the lack of regulations for consulting with indigenous populations. The letter outlines that, “the province should develop regulations for Indigenous consultation that ensures meaningful engagement, but also addresses emergency response timeliness and capacity for all organizations involved.”
Adam Goodwin, Emergency Program Coordinator for the Town of Oliver explained to council that local Indigenous leaders are consulting on whether they will be contributing to and signing this letter or whether they intend to send a letter of their own.
The town also expressed that there should be “on-going consultation with local governments” and hopes that this is not a “one-and-done consultation”.
The letter is in the final stages of being drafted and has a deadline of January 31 to be sent to the province.
The province has been encouraging local municipalities to provide feedback. In September of 2023, the province hosted a session at the Union of BC Municipalities Convention for feedback and on November 8, 2023, Emergency Program Coordinators were invited to a full day workshop on the topic.
Anderson’s report to council notes that there was “limited information the Province shared during the workshop.” This resulted in a belief that “there will be substantial new standards, responsibilities, and roles for municipalities related to emergency management and municipal emergency programs.”
