Emergency Management Lessons from Rural Ontario

This month I had the honour of visiting northern Ontario, while devoid of mountains and lighthouses, it has a unique beauty, a draw that mesmerizes the mind. A combination of the boreal forest and the Canadian Shield, the landscape is an endless assortment of 1000s of lakes, rivers, small towns and a connectedness to both the people and the land. A sense of place, whether here by chance or choice, everyone belonged, this was their space, which they opened with smiles and a flurry of stories for us city folk. 

Officially, I was there to speak, but my mission was to learn, to understand the challenges, obstacles, barriers and limitations of conducting preparedness, response and recovery operations in rural Canada. While I understood the principles, as a researcher there is nothing that replaces or replicates qualitative projects. The opportunity to listen to those who execute the function you’re interested in, who despite the intentional policy restrictions, continue to move ideas forward.

The first lesson understood was that the policy analysts who craft governance documents in capital cities demonstrate a significant lack of understanding as to the conditions present outside their bubble. The practitioners in rural Ontario are cognizant of the requirements and regulations, often quoting them verbatim, but they follow that with a litany of shortfalls in the legislation. Whether that be tasks assigned without resources provided, staffing minimums that exceed capacity in rural governance and reporting relationships that are counterproductive and illogical. 

Let’s be blunt, I heard these challenges from provincial employees within Emergency Management Ontario and the Ministry of Natural Resources, not simply from the general public. These are the public servants tasked with executing responsibilities in rural areas under a regulatory framework and administrative systems that are not fit for purpose. The brilliance of this, lost on those buried in paperwork in Toronto, is that they have the solution, they know the amendments required and organizational re-structuring that will lead to better post event outcomes - but they lament the repetitious cycle of report, offer guidance and be ignored. 

This is not my ego landing in a new city, professing to possess the solutions to their problems, the omnipotent professor and entrepreneur. No, the three days were a continuous feed of incredible ideas, all grassroots, that would evaluate the game, improve the deliverability of emergency management services to the public. Other than my presentation and a few side conversations where I bounced my ideas off practitioners - and often quickly understood my ignorance - this was a mission in listening, watching and understanding the experience of those in the north. Separate and distinct from the urban centres, these communities were resolute and steadfast.

Brilliant people doing amazing things with scant resources.