Pour la version en français, veuillez appuyer ici.

Five years ago, Fort McMurray was the most expensive fire in insurance history. In the past 1,000 days, four events have exceeded it. To believe that the fire service of the past will meet the human, social and financial needs of the future would be a serious mistake. In this submission we offer recommendations to address this. 

Recommendations

That the Federal Government: 

• Create a Canadian equivalent of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency and the equivalent of the US Fire Administration.

• Invest $2M in the existing CAFC platform to unite all fire departments as national fire and emergency advisors and streamline public safety messaging nationally.

• Reinstate a modernized version of the former Joint Emergency Preparedness Program (JEPP) which would update fire service training and equipment. 
  
  
• Work with the country’s fire departments (CAFC) and others to strategically implement the election pledge of $500 Million for the training 1,000 new community-based firefighters for future wildfire seasons, working with fire departments, provinces and territories to provide firefighters with equipment for wildfire fighting, and build the capacity of Indigenous-led fire crews
  
  
• Resolve definition issues in the Income Tax Act impacting the volunteer firefighter tax credit and raise the amount of the tax credit from $3,000 to $10,000 to retain more volunteer firefighters.
  
  
• Facilitate the Indigenous Fire Marshall Service, a National Fire Protection Act, fire protection bylaws on reserves, and enable national building code compliance and enforcement in Indigenous Communities. 
  
  
• Invest $1.4-$1.7 million to provide mental health awareness training in the fire sector, ensuring that the funds are used to scale existing training and continue the current investment in crisis prevention lines nationally as well as a dedicated first responder crisis prevention line.

We welcome and encourage members to share the brief with your federal MP, staff and partners. It is available in both official languages.

Please read our submission here. It has been submitted to the Minister of Finance.