Environmental Emergencies

When it comes to environmental emergencies, no single organization can do it all. Effective emergency response requires teamwork among governments, industry, communities and local organizations. These partnerships are best formed during non-emergency periods.

When an emergency happens, one agency takes charge as the lead. This decision is based on the type of emergency and its location. The lead might be a federal or provincial department or agency, a response organization or an industry responsible for the event.

Federally, Environment Canada is responsible for providing scientific and technical advice and support first responders concerning emergency events. Its duties also extend to federally managed resources such as fish and wildlife under the Fisheries Act and the Migratory Birds Convention Act, and may include supporting joint response operations when requested by outside agencies.

Environment Canada may be the lead agency if a spill occurs at a federal facility, at the request of a province or territory or when the environment is not being well protected. At other times, the Department's role is to provide support and advice to the lead agency. The Department provides 24-hour, seven-day-a-week response support and advice through five regional offices across Canada, and the National Environmental Emergencies Centre in Gatineau, Quebec, and the Environmental Technology Centre located in Ottawa, Ontario.

Environment Canada staff have proven their ability to meet this large responsibility, helping to respond each year to over 1,000 significant spill incidents. Staff provides technical advice to responders, employ state-of-the-art monitoring equipment, evaluate environmental impacts and appear in court to aid in polluter prosecution. Their advice is often highly specialized, and is backed by years of experience. When the need arises to access a wide variety of expertise and resources, a Regional Environmental Emergencies Team (REET) can be activated. The REET was developed after the 1970 Arrow spill and is made up of federal, provincial and municipal government agencies responsible for environmental protection, as well as experts from industry and non-government associations. During major environmental emergencies, REET members provide advice through an integrated mechanism that addresses environmental protection priorities, environmental damage assessment, clean-up measures and waste disposal.

Scientific and Technical Advice and Support

Environment Canada's Emergency officers have HAZMAT (Hazardous Materials) expertise, backed by scientific support, which enables response in the event of spills involving hazardous materials. The role of the environmental emergency response team is to provide advice and support on:

• hazardous material properties, behaviour, fate and environmental effects;
• spill-behaviour and spill-movement modeling using the latest-generation models and techniques;
• training in personnel protection at pollution emergencies;
• advice and direct support on state-of-the-art, on-site monitoring of human and environmental hazard levels at pollution emergencies;
• sample collection at spill sites;
• the contract administration of airborne services for the remote sensing of spills; and
• the evaluation of spill countermeasures, particularly those relating to containment and recovery, treatment and disposal techniques.
• priority assessment for shoreline protection and cleanup using its Shoreline Cleanup and Assessment Technique.