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Food for thought: Combatting the upcoming nature triggered disasters require collaboration, policies, and ideas

The first webinar of Mobilizing Insights for Defence and Security (MINDS) Project was arranged by Conflict and Resilience Research Institute Canada (CRRIC) on 19th of July 12PM (CDT) and was streamed live across various social medias. The topic of the event was “A Collaborative Approach to Nature Triggered Emergency Management: Reflections from the Past Events”

The speakers of the events were Associate Professor Dr. Jack L. Rozdilsky from York University; Clinical Professor Dr. Christopher Ankersen from New York University School of Professional Studies and Lieutenant Colonel (retired) Chris Bowen,Former from Royal Canadian Air Force Project coordinators Professor Dr. C. Emdad Haque from University of Manitoba and Professor Dr. Nirupama Agrawal from York University were present. The event was moderated under the moderation Professor Dr. Kawser Ahmed from University of Winnipeg.

The webinar was inaugurated by Dr. Emdad and the epilogue of the event was delivered by Dr. Nirupama. The speakers shared their experienced and their perspective on the collaboration of Armed forces in Nature Triggered Emergencies. Each of the speakers shared unique aspects of Armed forces involvement during disasters. The main concentration point was on the Canadian Armed Forces being involved in emergency response in terms of command and control, resource mobilization, policy, politics and integration. The speakers discussed on the role of armed forces where Dr. Jack presented the United States defense support of civil and military authority in an emergency management context to create compare and contrast with Canadian armed forces in disaster management; Dr. Christopher discussed on the grey areas in disaster response by Armed forces; lastly Lieutenant Colonel (retired) Chris Bowen highlighted the incident of 1997 red river flood which had one of the biggest deployment of armed forces during a disaster in Canada and discussed the roles and challenges.

The speakers emphasized on the points of command and control during the emergency where Dr. Jack discussed on the US defense command and control procedure and their organizational structure as well as the assigned role during emergency. On the other hand, Dr. Christopher discussed on the grey areas where and when the command and control needs to be activated. Chris Bowen highlighted the command-and-control of 1997 red river flood and explained the whole procedure with timeline.

In terms of resource mobilization Dr. Jack discussed on the capacity of armed forces and how the resources are mobilized as well as the case study of Hurricane Katrina and California riots were presented. Dr. Christopher on the other hand emphasized on the facts that what should be the strategy and when the defence resources would be mobilized. Chris Bowen explained the challenges and process of resource mobilization on the context of 1997 red river flood.

All speakers touched the point of policy and politics Dr. Jack mentioned the US Presidential Policy Directive 8: National preparedness and other legal frameworks. Dr. Christopher showed the importance of a legal framework for CAF to respond to a crisis. Chris Bowen showed the legislative structure and the chain of command used in 1997. Politics was the widely discussed topic in the session, Politics can be both blessing and curse for the armed forces response during emergency. Dr. Jack mentioned the President Trump’s action of 2020 elections. Chris Bowen showed the political barriers and challenged which was faced in 1997 flood. Dr. Christopher discussed on the need of politics in emergency response and how it can help in military response.

At the end of the session the floor was opened for question answer session where Dr. Kawser questioned on the acceptance of involvement of armed forces and how it can be integrated. All the speakers had the same answer on this point that it depends on the perspective of the policymakers, society, and people. Dr. Emdad mentioned the changes in military response through the time, changes and complexity. He also mentioned that provincial and federal government should work together due to the complex nature of the disasters which will increase in the upcoming years, where new policy, ideas and innovation is the need of this moment. Dr. Nriupama concluded the event with her epilogue where she mentioned about the adaptation of policy, learnings from 1997 flood, how existing policy and institutions can adapt for resilience in a larger scale.