By Canadian Press

Resource crunch at federal emergency centre caused ‘significant staff exhaustion’

Sep 3, 2024 | 11:03 AM

OTTAWA — An internal government memo reveals budget and staff challenges have exhausted employees and sapped morale at the federal nerve centre for managing forest fires and other emergencies.

The memo also says the Government Operations Centre lacks both the capacity to fully modernize and the money for new digital tools.

The Canadian Press used the Access to Information Act to obtain the May memo, prepared for the deputy minister of Public Safety Canada.

It says the last four years have been the worst continuous crisis period for emergency management short of wartime, due to fires, floods, COVID-19 and other calamities.

In response to questions, Public Safety says the government is taking steps to ensure the Government Operations Centre has the capacity to respond to future challenges.

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The Union of Safety and Justice Employees is urging the government to inject needed money into the operations centre in the coming federal budget to stabilize operations.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 3, 2024.

The Canadian Press