GOVERNANCE

Commitment 5.4.7 – We will work with stakeholders to develop and propose amendments to modernize the Civil Emergency Measures Act and to revitalize the Territorial Emergency Response Plan.

Background:

The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA) is revitalizing the Civil Emergency Measures Act (CEMA) to ensure it aligns with emerging and best practices elsewhere, that it reflects the NWT’s operating environment, and that it allows the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) and community governments to respond effectively to disaster situations. A planning group representing GNWT departments has been established and is currently guiding planning efforts to update the NWT Emergency Plan.

Climate change and recent emergency events have underscored a need to improve the GNWT’s approach to emergency management. The CEMA and NWT Emergency Plan no longer provide the GNWT and community governments with adequate measures to effectively respond to disaster events which are increasing in frequency and intensity due to climate change.  

The CEMA and NWT Emergency Plan provide the framework for emergency management in the NWT. The CEMA outlines and broadly defines the respective roles and responsibilities of the GNWT and community governments in preparing for and responding to major emergencies. The NWT Emergency Plan is a procedural guide for operationalizing CEMA. It details how the GNWT is to organize and respond to emergency events.

Neither the NWT Emergency Plan nor CEMA have been thoroughly reviewed in quite some time and no longer reflect the current operating environment in the NWT and best practices and emergency management systems in other jurisdictions.

MACA is working to develop CEMA legislation during the life of the 18^th Assembly. Steps to modernize CEMA and revitalize the Territorial Emergency Response Plan include:

• developing an Emergency Management Framework (Milestone 1);
• completion of a Mass Evacuation Plan and NWT Emergency Plan (Milestone 2);
• implementation of a change management strategy (Milestone 3);
• implementation of the new Emergency Management Plan and Mass Evacuation Plan
  (Milestone 4);
• introduction of a Bill to amend CEMA (Milestone 5) and;
• implementation of the new Emergency Management System in 2018 (Milestone 6).

Links to Other Government Activities:

N/A

For more information about this initiative, please contact the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs.