The disaster at Canada's disaster bunker
Memo cites litany of problems at Government Operations Centre
The federal government in 2004 created a kind of disaster bunker, where dozens of specialists huddle to co-ordinate an emergency response whenever a major crisis disrupts the country.
The secretive facility, given the milquetoast name ‘Government Operations Centre,’ was born out of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that reset Canada’s security posture in so many ways. Since then, however, terrorism has been only a minor preoccupation.
The centre was on high alert during a lone gunman’s attack on Parliament in 2014. It was buzzing with activity during the Freedom Convoy’s 2022 protests in Ottawa, and when China floated a high-altitude spy balloon over North America in 2023.
Most of the bunker’s work, though, has been about mitigating climate-driven crises – floods in Ontario and Quebec (2019); Hurricanes Dorian (2019) and Fiona (2022); flash floods in Nova Scotia (2023); and the horrendous 2023 wildfire season, the worst ever in Canada. COVID-19 also kept the lights burning late at night.
So how has the Government Operations Centre coped with these ever-escalating emergencies?
Not well, according to a refreshingly frank assessment, obtained under the Access to Information Act.
“The last four years have constituted the worst continuous period of crisis and activation in EM (emergency management) history short of wartime,” says the internal analysis from Public Safety Canada, dated May 23 this year.
During that period, the operation has struggled with “an unsustainable demand on employees,” “significant staff exhaustion,” a decade-long “structural financial deficit,” “a building that does not meet workplace standards,” the inability to plan long-term, and so on.
You can read it yourself here:
The Government Operations Centre was originally expected to gear up for crises of limited duration. But in the 2023 wildfire emergency, it ran continuously for seven months.
The four-page memo traces the current shortcomings back to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s deficit-cutting initiative of 2012, known as DRAP: “Deficit reduction action plan decisions over a decade ago eliminated significant preparedness capacity for EM planning, exercises, and professionalization of the EM function federally that continue to impact EM preparedness and response both federally and nationally.”
The emaciated condition of the centre was highlighted in a 2016 internal audit, which called it outdated, understaffed and inadequate. But the only fiscal relief since then has been a “nominal investment” by the Liberal government in 2022. The operation still runs annual deficits – $2.6 million last year – with most of the red ink due to massive staff overtime costs. The chronic shortfalls have left the centre scrambling instead of preparing.
Plans for a fully modern facility have been in development since 2005. A new high-tech bunker was supposed to be ready in August 2022, but delays now have pushed it to February 2025. A government document indicates the new bunker will be located in a refurbished wing of the federal Sir Leonard Tilley Building complex, at 719 Heron Road, former headquarters of the Communications Security Establishment.
The internal memo, from Trevor Bhupsingh, assistant deputy minister at Public Safety Canada, was written in the spring in expectation of another devastating wildfire season. Despite the destruction of Jasper, Alta., and other firestorm disasters, the 2024 season appears to be much less extensive than last year. That’s a welcome respite for the centre, which had been bracing for the possibility that the operation might “lose some of its most experienced employees due to burnout and fatigue.”
The released version of the memo has only one small redaction (related to a cabinet secret), a let-it-stand candour that is unusual in the world of access-to-information. People on the inside may in fact want their troubles known to Canadians, to help spur politicians into long-overdue action. So standard reflexive censorship may have been set aside for strategic reasons.
Extreme floods, hurricanes and wildfires are a sad fact of life on a planet we have abused for decades. There will be a colossal bill to pay thousands of front-line workers to mitigate and clean up from these disasters. The bunker memo is a timely reminder that emergency-response backrooms need support as well.
Correction (Sept. 6): A sharp-eyed reader has pointed out that the new location of the bunker is indeed known, cited in at least two federal government documents. I’ve updated the article accordingly.
Thanks, Bill - my bad for not chasing this down. I've updated the story to correct.
Dean
Thanks, Gerry!