Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART)

Canada has a long history of delivering humanitarian assistance throughout the world.

Humanitarian assistance is undertaken to save lives, alleviate suffering and maintain human dignity during, and in the aftermath of, a complex emergency or natural disaster.

Any Government of Canada response, including those that use military assets as a response to disasters abroad, will be conducted with a view to respecting the humanitarian principles of neutrality, humanity, impartiality and will be consistent with good humanitarian donor ship.

The Canadian Armed Forces have, in specific circumstances, been a component of the Government of Canada humanitarian response. The increased occurrence of sudden, extraordinary disasters and the subsequent humanitarian crises, coupled with the global community’s desire to respond to them, have clearly identified the need for nations to maintain disciplined and rapidly deployable military forces to support civilian-led activities in the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

Such involvement reflects that there are some instances where the sheer scale of the crisis demands the unique capacities of the military.

The most likely Canadian Armed Forces response to an international humanitarian crisis will be initially based on components held on high readiness for humanitarian operations and disaster relief. These elements are identified as the Disaster Assistance Response Team or simply as the DART.

The DART is not a standing unit but a core group of existing military capabilities that are pre-identified and retained at a high level of readiness. Most DART equipment, stores and supplies are kept at the High Readiness Detachment in Trenton, Ontario and are maintained by a small support staff. DART personnel achieve a high level of individual readiness and come together periodically for collective training exercises.

Every Canadian Armed Forces response to a humanitarian crisis will:

• Be tailored to meet recognized needs;
• Employ a modular and scalable approach to only deploy what is needed;
• Be balanced and supportable at all times; and
• Be capable of partially deploying, deploying independently as a Humanitarian Operations Task Force or becoming part of a larger organization.

Operational Criteria

A decision to deploy the DART is made by the Government of Canada in response to identified needs on the ground and a request from the Affected Nation for international assistance. The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade assumes overall coordination of the Government of Canada response.

All Canadian Armed Forces personnel assigned to the effort fall under the command of the designated Canadian Armed Forces Task Force Commander. The designated Canadian Task Force Commander reports either to the Commander Canadian Forces Expeditionary Command or Commander Canada Command, both headquartered in Ottawa.

In most cases, civilian authorities of the Affected Nation will coordinate the emergency response with support from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Where military assets are being deployed, the commander of the military force will support civilian-led efforts and coordinate with local authorities and international organizations to ensure that the most effective and appropriate response is provided.