CASUAL LEGAL: Planning Before Disaster Strikes: Roles and Responsibilities pursuant to the Local Authority Emergency Management Regulation

Planning Before Disaster Strikes: Roles and Responsibilities pursuant to the Local Authority Emergency Management Regulation

By Tamara Korassa

Reynolds Mirth Richards Farmer LLP

AMSC Casual Legal Service Provider

“If you turn up worrying about how you’re going to perform, you’ve already lost” – Usain Bolt. A local authority that has implemented roles and responsibilities in accordance with the Emergency Management Act (the “Act”) and the Local Authority Emergency Management Regulation (the “Regulation”) should be able to focus on the emergency at hand. The Act and the Regulation require the local authority to prepare in other ways (for instance, preparation of an emergency management plan and emergency training for municipal councillors and employees); however, this article focuses on the preparation of roles and responsibilities for the emergency management team.

The local authority (council of a municipality) has the power to declare a state of local emergency and certain duties and powers when a state of local emergency is in effect. The local authority can delegate their duties and powers to a committee composed of members of the local authority.  A local authority is required to:

1. Appoint by bylaw an Emergency Advisory Committee (the “Committee”) with the mandate to provide guidance and direction to the emergency management agency and to establish the procedures that must be followed when declaring a state of local emergency.  The bylaw should identify the role of the Committee, the membership of the Committee, the frequency for Committee meetings (must be a minimum of once per year), and set out the quorum and procedural guidelines of the Committee. The Committee is to be comprised of a member or members of the local authority.
2. Establish by bylaw an Emergency Management Agency (the “Agency”) to be responsible for the administration of the municipality’s emergency management program. The bylaw should appoint the director of emergency management (the “Director”), identify the frequency of reporting to and updating the Committee on the emergency plan (must be at least once per year); state that the Agency will use a command, control and coordination system prescribed by the Managing Director of the Alberta Emergency Management Agency, and indicate if the Agency is acting for more than one local authority. The Director is responsible for preparing and coordinating emergency plans and programs, to co-ordinate all emergency services and other resources in an emergency, and perform any other duties prescribed by the municipality.

Notwithstanding that the municipality is required to establish the Committee and the Agency, the local authority is at all times responsible for the direction and control of the municipality’s emergency response. The local authority is also responsible for the approval of the emergency management plan. The Regulation contemplates that the local authority will further define the roles of the Committee and the Agency in its bylaws.