Part 1

This blog is based on my own personal account of the stories and history in Alberta. When I was the Manager for the DRP I spent a lot of time reading meeting minutes that were held in the 1970s. If you have additional input or see a need to correct information please let me know and I’ll make updates. Brad

The Alberta Disaster Recovery Program (DRP) that exists today is the result of work that has been going on since at least the early 1970s.

In the 70s and early 80s the program was comprised mainly of a committee and grant administration resources. The committee was called the Disaster Recovery Committee (DRC). It was made up of Members of the Legislature of Alberta (MLA) and senior government officials. It would typically meet with councils and disaster survivors that were impacted by disasters to determine if disaster financial assistance should be granted for recovery efforts. DRC meetings occurred in the community usually in council chambers.

The 1987 tornado changed the program. Pre-tornado there was not a lot of documented policy for the program. Policy decisions were primarily made using decisions from past DRC meetings. The devastation of the tornado triggered the development of a formal policy, the Disaster Assistance Guidelines (DAG) in 1989. This policy would guide government in the distribution of disaster financial assistance grants. The DAG was used to guide Alberta's disaster recovery for the next 22 years, until they were updated in 2012. 

The 1989 DAG was basic in every sense of the word. It is my belief that the DAG was developed this way because pre-DAG the DRC spent a lot of time in face-to-face dialogue with impacted communities. This face time allowed disaster survivors to tell stories and negotiate assistance.

While face-to-face dialogue is positive, making decisions without policy can lead to inequality because decisions are based more on influence than objective criteria. With the complexity, scope, and scale of the 87 tornado it became apparent that formal guidelines were required.

To further understand the current state of the DRP we have to look back to changes that were made in 1994 and 1995. In 1995 the Alberta Municipal Government Act came into force. It gave direction to municipalities to prepare assessments every year (previously it was every eight year). This change, along with the many cuts made by the government at the time, triggered a massive layoffs that impacted government tax assessment employees. These tax assessment staff were also responsible for providing damage assessment for the DRP.

In 1995 there was significant flooding in southern Alberta. Because the government had laid of its damage assessment team they had no resources to measure the impact of the flooding. So the solution was to contract a number of the assessors to conduct the assessment. This was the start of Landlink.

Landlink would go on to administer DRP damage assessment and administration for nearly 18 years. Their role was to perform damage assessment, process disaster financial assistance claims and make grant payments to disaster survivors while the government was responsible for the development of the grant and the policy. 

Part 2

Author: Brad Ison is the founder and CEO of Hazardscape. A disaster and emergency management company that specializes in virtual reality training and coaching within its virtual 3D Hub. He’s held position specific roles in the Alberta Provincial Operations Centre and had a decade long career at the Alberta Emergency Management Agency where his focus was on Disaster Recovery and Training, Accreditation, and Standards.