In Canada’s new era of continuous crisis, being prepared is no longer optional |
There is an old adage in emergency preparedness to “expect the unexpected.” The message was that, however rare, disasters can strike without warning, and we all need to take the steps to be prepared. While preparedness is more important than ever, we can no longer view these events as unexpected.
We are now firmly in a new era of rising disasters and emergencies that hit one after another. The headlines of disasters and emergencies occurring in faraway places have steadily been replaced with the names of communities right here in Canada.
Fifteen years ago, more than 80 per cent of the large disaster responses for the Canadian Red Cross were international. Today, more than 80 per cent of our large-scale responses are domestic. In my more than 17 years as CEO of the Red Cross, it is the most significant change that I have witnessed.
The past summer’s wildfire season was the largest domestic response in the modern history of the Canadian Red Cross, surpassing the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It wasn’t a single event that made this true, but the collective response across multiple provinces for months on end, stretching from the Rockies to the Maritimes.
More than 60,000........