How the Canadian federal, provincial, and territorial governments are responding to COVID-19.
Last update March 15, 2020
After the response to:
H1N1
the XL Foods E coli event
2014 influenza vaccine shortage
the Canadian Council of Chief Medical Officers of Health identified inconsistencies in the management of these events. Due to these inconsistencies, in 2018 the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Public Health Response Plan for Biological Events was published.
This plan would have been initiated after the initial notification of COVID-19 and should still be in play today.
The objectives of the plan are:
define a flexible F/P/T governance mechanism that can be used consistently for a coordinated response to all biological public health events that would benefit from high level F/P/T collaboration
identify escalation considerations and response levels for a scalable response
improve effective engagement amongst public health, health care delivery and health emergency management authorities during a coordinated F/P/T response
The plan also outlines the concept of operations which is detailed on page 7 of the plan. In short, when a notification of a potential issue is received an initial assessment is conducted. This assessment determines if a coordinated response by federal/provincial/territorial governments is needed (also a response level may be assigned (Level 1, 2, 3 or 4)….4 being bad). If it is, the Special Advisory Committee is activated and situational awareness is maintained.
From there initial response planning and a capability assessment is conducted followed by a strategic review for approval. If approved, the response is undertaken. During a coordinated federal/provincial/territorial response the governance structure will follow this model as depicted on page 19 of the plan.
The Incident Management System includes three steams which are similar to sections within the Incident Commend System Model:
Technical Stream (Equivalent to Operations)
Logistics Stream
Communications Stream
The Special Advisory Committee’s Secretariat has dotted line reporting into the Federal Health Portfolio of Operations (basically an Emergency Coordination Centre). The technical stream and logistics stream also have dotted lines of reporting in to Federal Health Portfolio of Operation. I can this structure having the potential for either really good communications coordination or it will create a communications mess, it will be interesting to see how this plays out.
The plan includes guiding principles (with definitions) which I really appreciate because it tells me those involved in public health at the federal/provincial/territorial governments are taking the time to develop systems that ensure long-term sustainability. And that they are looking to develop a culture that survives and helps the organization to drive performance, public, stakeholder, and staff satisfaction.
I like how a high-level relationship model was included which shows this plan’s relationship to other public health emergency management planes.
Relationship to other EM plans in Canada.
Conclusion
Overall the plan provides detailed information on roles, responsibilities, and governance. Although Health Canada’s website does not provide this information (I could not find it) based on the plan and the fact Canada is low risk at this time we are likely at a level 2. (As of the last update for this blog the response level is at a 3)
As of March 15, 2020, the Public Health Agency of Canada has not provided their process or measures for success with regards to their third objective.
I was not able to locate any measures of success within the plan or potential metrics to measure a coordinated response so I am not sure how governments will measure whether or not the plan met its objectives.
The response (so far) to COVID-19 should determine if the objectives of the plan were achieved. I look forward to reviewing any after action reviews to see how the plan measures up.
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Author: Brad Ison is a professional disaster and emergency management coach. He’s held various position specific roles in the Alberta Provincial Operations Centre and had decade long career at the Alberta Emergency Management Agency where his last role served was as the Director for Training, Accreditation, and Standards.
