Hon. Danièle Henkel: Good afternoon, Minister Olszewski.
As honorary lieutenant-colonel of the Régiment de Maisonneuve, a reserve regiment, I am particularly sensitive to the role that reservists play in supporting civilian authorities during natural disasters.
The 2024-25 departmental report of the Department of National Defence states that reserve force operations in response to natural disasters have been steadily and exponentially increasing since 2010.
Your department is currently working to strengthen civilian disaster response capacity. Could you please tell me how you plan to reduce the growing pressure on the reserve force and ensure that it remains a supplementary force rather than a force that is being increasingly called upon systematically?
[English]Hon. Eleanor Olszewski, P.C., M.P., Minister of Emergency Management and Community Resilience and Minister responsible for Prairies Economic Development Canada: Senator, you’ve raised an important issue. We know that our Canadian Armed Forces personnel respond to disasters the moment we ask them to do so, and they do so fearlessly. They’re welcomed each time they arrive in a community that’s undergoing a disaster-type situation.
We also know, though, that we shouldn’t be using our Armed Forces personnel to do things like type 3 firefighting, which is basically poking debris to make sure that there aren’t any ashes that can ignite a further fire.
One of the things we’ve been doing is we have something we call the Humanitarian Workforce Program. It was put in place during COVID, but we use it now, and we support it financially. It includes agencies like the Canadian Red Cross, Team Rubicon Canada, the Search and Rescue Volunteer Association of Canada, St. John Ambulance and the Salvation Army.
There are people, particularly in the Canadian Red Cross and Team Rubicon Canada, as well as the Search and Rescue Volunteer Association of Canada, who are trained to do that kind of work. You will have noted from the flooding that happened in Manitoba this year that we used, in fact, Team Rubicon Canada and Canadian Red Cross personnel to assist us. There was only a small group of Canadian Armed Forces logistics personnel who were called to respond to that.
We are endeavouring to strengthen our civilian response when we can do so in the near to medium future.
[Translation]The Hon. the Speaker: Thank you, minister.
Senator Henkel: Minister, based on the answer you just provided, I’d like to highlight the fact that, yes, your department is working with National Defence to ensure that our reserve units receive the training and equipment they need and that they engage in joint exercises with public safety authorities to respond to natural disasters, which are happening more and more.
Is your department working to make sure they are adequately equipped?
[English]Ms. Olszewski: Yes, I can tell you that I’ve had a number of discussions with Minister McGuinty — in particular, I have talked about a civilian response force or group. I’ve talked to him a number of times, and we’re continuing those discussions. He has a plan with respect to another type of reserve personnel that we’ve been talking about. I have raised with him, most certainly, the possibility and the potential for that reserve force, which would be separate from the usual — if I can call it that — Primary Reserve Force. One of its purposes would be, in fact, to assist with respect to emergency response in times of national natural disasters.