- Statements
The Government of Canada would like to extend its sincere thanks to the Government of Indonesia and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction for convening the Seventh Session of the Global Platform.Canada is pleased to share how it has been delivering on priorities that were outlined seven years ago in the Sendai Framework.
As extreme weather and disasters become more common, the international community has a responsibility to act. In 2021 alone, Canada experienced devastating flooding, wildfires, and heat waves. We are not the only ones. This is the moment to step up for people at home and around the world, and that is exactly whatCanada will continue to do.
In response to the rising level of extreme events, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed the Honourable Bill Blair asPresident of the Queen’s Privy Council and Minister of Emergency Preparedness to prioritize the implementation of emergency management initiatives in Canada.Minister Blair has been working to strengthen governance, coordination, and integration while recognizing that emergency management is a whole-of-society priority.With the creation of Canada’s Emergency Management Strategy in 2019, Canada has made notable progress in delivering on Sendai priorities.
We have strengthened our readiness and built the capacity of whole-of-society actors, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), by establishing a humanitarian workforce. Recent emergencies have highlighted the need to engage with civil society partners to further enhance Canada’s disaster preparedness and capacity to respond to climate change events. This work supports our goal of preventing and reducing disaster risk through the implementation of an all-hazards approach to emergency management.
To further our understanding of Canada’s disaster risk picture and support the Sendai Framework’s priorities for action, we are developing our first National Risk Profile. This will provide a strategic risk assessment and identify our capability to respond.Canada is also developing its first National Adaptation Strategy to outline a shared vision for resilience, establish priorities for collaboration, and align collective and individual actions for faster, coordinated, and systemic adaptation to the impacts of climate change.The strategy will incorporate actions on emergency preparedness, disaster mitigation, security, and disaster risk reduction.This complements Canada’s alignment of an intergovernmental dialogue on Climate Resilient Infrastructure and our broader flood risk management approach, including the standing-up of a Task Force focused on developing options for a new high-risk flood insurance program and a national action plan on relocation.
Canada is committed to strengthening collaboration among all partners in emergency management. This includes all orders of governments, civil society, academia, and Indigenous communities.While Canada’s Emergency Management Strategy commits the federal, provincial, and territorial governments to provide Indigenous peoples and their communities with the capacity to integrate traditional knowledge and public awareness into emergency management and disaster risk reduction, we know that more must be done.
The Government of Canada also recognizes that Least Developed Countries andSmall Island Developing States are increasingly vulnerable to the effects of climate-related disasters. Canada remains committed to investing in resilience mechanisms that allow vulnerable countries to prepare for and mitigate the impacts of these events and rebuild from disasters. For example, Canada is working with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency to strengthen the regional response capacity because we recognize that the small island states of the Caribbean can often be completely devastated by one event and it is their nearest neighbours who can respond first.
While we have made important progress since the launch of the Sendai Framework in 2015, we must continue to take bold, ambitious steps to build resilient communities.The expansion of Disaster Risk Reduction must take place at the community, regional, national, and international levels in order to ensure meaningful participation of the most vulnerable, especially women, children, and Indigenous peoples, as they are partners and powerful agents of change.
We know that women and girls are disproportionally impacted by disasters and are key actors in building resilience. This is a core principle of our Feminist International Assistance Policy.Through our work with the Red Cross, United Nations Development Programme, and many other partners, we are ensuring women’s participation in decision making, and empowering women and girls through gender equality in national climate change adaptation and resilience actions.
Canada also recognizes that financial access can be a barrier for effective disaster risk reduction. To address this, Canada has been supporting a range of tools for vulnerable economies, such as climate risk insurance, through the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility, the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Assessment and Financing Initiative, and the African Risk Capacity, to provide rapid payouts following natural hazards.In addition, in June 2021, Canada doubled its commitment to international climate finance to $5.3 billion over five years (2021-2026), which includes increased funds for adaptation and projects that leverage nature-based solutions.By working together, we can build communities that are safer and are more resilient for generations to come.