The Department must be ready at any time to respond to any crisis that affects the national or regional transportation system or Transport Canada employees. The Situation Centres (SITCENs) are the departmental focal points for response. They provide information relating to emergencies to Senior Management, to other departments and agencies, to other countries and to NATO. The National Situation Centre is located in Ottawa and regional centres are found in Moncton, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver.

Transport Canada SITCENs deal with situations affecting civil aviation, marine safety, rail safety, ports, departmental security or any combination of these. During normal hours, they are operated by Emergency Preparedness staff. During emergency situations, departmental experts who are identified and trained in advance move into the centre and take charge. National and international problems are handled by the centre in Ottawa while regional problems are handled in the regional centres.

The headquarter’s Situation Centre also provides Duty Officer service on a
24/7 basis.

Situation Centres do not manage the site of a disaster, analyze the cause of the problem or attempt to prevent problems from occurring.