1. Telecommunications for Disaster Relief in Canada
Jan Skora
Director General, Radiocommunications and Broadcasting Regulation, Industry Canada

2. Government Legislation and Policies
Emergencies Act
Emergency Preparedness Act
Federal Policy for Emergencies
Emergencies Act - The Emergencies Act, which received Royal Assent on July 21, 1988, enables the federal government to fulfil its constitutional responsibility to provide for the safety and security of Canadians during national emergencies. The Emergencies Act includes fully safeguarded and appropriately limited exceptional powers to deal with national emergencies. It ensures that the exceptional powers granted by Parliament will be no more than what is needed for the specific emergency at hand.
Emergency Preparedness Act - The Emergency Preparedness Act, which became effective October 1, 1988, provides a statutory basis for effective civil emergency preparedness in Canada, and for co-operation between federal and provincial or territorial governments in this area. This legislation establishes the requirement that the Government of Canada be in a position to respond to the needs of Canadians in emergencies in an increasingly complex social and technological environment. The legislation establishes a government-wide mandate for all federal departments and agencies to develop and co-ordinate programs to deal with unforeseen and potentially disastrous events.
A Federal Policy for Emergencies - A key objective of federal government departments and agencies is to avert or prevent the occurrence of emergencies by establishing, observing and enforcing appropriate safety standards, practices and regulations. The purpose of emergency preparedness is to deal with the consequences of these types of incidents. Within the federal government the Federal Policy is premised on the co-ordinated efforts and delineates significant civil emergency planning and response function for which individual departments are distinctly responsible.

3. Government Requirements
Ensure the availability of telecom during periods of system overload or degradation
Advise and assist all levels of govt. & private or public telecom undertakings
Coordinate public alerting
Facilitate the provision of appropriate telecom equipment

4. Programs and Capabilities
Emergency Telecommunications Service (ETS)
Priority Access for Dialing
Carriers network management
High Probability of Completion (under study)
Wireless Priority Access (under study)
PAD - Web-based system where municipalities and government agencies at all levels enter contact information. Telcos download this contact information on a regular basis in order to provide priority dial tone to these specific numbers
Guideline for entry: contact must play an essential part in the execution of emergency plans to be eligible for this priority
Carrier Network Management - TMET was developed in response to concerns by IC to establish common up-to-date platform of acceptable emergency traffic management tools. The TMET document reviews current tools, technologies and methods which can be utilized when dealing with emergency events affecting telecommunications.
HPC - We are currently investigating the feasibility, the cost-effectiveness, and whether there is a need for providing High Probability of Completion in the Canadian PSTN such as the GETS in the US
WPA - Contract began in January to study
- Wireless networks in Canada,
- Methods currently being developed in the US
- And to provide recommendations and cost estimates for implementation of a Wireless Priority Access System in Canada.

5. Programs and Capabilities
Partnerships w/ telecom industry & other government levels
Network and protocol analysis (PAL LAB)
National Support Plan (NSP)
Protocol Analysis Lab (PAL) – This initiative is to collaborate with industry, governmental departments, and academia in the conducting of engineering analysis, scenario building and testing including laboratory-based work in support of enhancing network security.
National Support Plan - Generic emergency management structure and concept of operations for coordination of federal and national support during emergencies of significant impact or complexity which may not be covered under other emergency plans

6. Programs and Capabilities
National Critical Infrastructure Assurance Program (NCIAP)
Critical infrastructure owned by private industry (95%)
Increased frequency & sophistication of physical and cyber threats
Reduced response time for cyber threats
Interdependencies means collaboration necessary between sectors

7. Programs and Capabilities
Canadian Public Safety Radiocommunications Project
To improve co-ordination among public safety organizations regarding key issues (i.e. spectrum planning, interoperability)
The Tampere Convention
Signed by Canada in 1999 and ratified in 2001
Canadian Public Safety Radiocommunications Project - The current project seeks to identify the best organisational approach that could strengthen the voice of the public safety Radiocommunications community in Canada, fostering a common vision and purpose on matters such as interoperability. Canadians come to expect that their public safety and security agencies are able to respond efficiently and effectively to a variety of events such as natural disasters, terrorist actions and criminal activities. When police, fire and emergency medical services respond to emergency situations, it is increasingly essential that they be able to communicate with one another. The ability to communicate "on-the-scene" quickly and easily between these agencies can be measured in lives.
The Tampere Convention - The Convention recognises that telecommunications are essential to dealing with disasters, not just because telecommunication infrastructure is vulnerable to disasters, but also because reliable telecommunications are critical for all mitigation and relief efforts.
The Convention puts in place a structure for managing requests for telecommunication assistance and for minimising the impediments to that assistance before disasters occur.
The Convention creates mechanisms for identifying and evaluating best practices, model agreements, and other valuable resources currently in use by disaster mitigation organisations, public and private, and for developing new ones where needed.

8. Perspectives Difficulties encountered Future needs and issues
Collaboration without profit
Information exchange: confidentiality, liability, competition
New priorities and funding
Future needs and issues
Cooperation rather than legislation
ITU’s lead role for standards, guidelines and best practices
International collaboration on cyber issues

9. Additional Information
IC Emergency Telecommunications (PAD, HPC, WPA and other programs & projects):
Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness (NSP & NCIAP):

10. Questions?