all right welcome to inside my canoe head a podcast about individual emergency preparedness policy related issues adventure life seeking the brilliance of happiness sit back and enjoy all right welcome back to the ottawa studios inside my canoe head this week we're talking about why we can't tell the truth in emergency management think it's important grab yourself a beverage sit back relax have a listen so yeah if the audio is a little off today we're trying something new in the studio and i'm thinking it may be working it may not be working listen all your feedback i love it you guys tell me the honest truth whether the topic is good or whether the uh condensing mic has got to go i think we're getting closer to having to um look at a new sound mic because this one's picking up just a little bit too much of the exterior shall we say sign uh sounds out there but anyhow this week we've got a great topic listen it's something that's near and dear to my heart i've always been an exceptional believer in telling the truth and i've said throughout this podcast that it is uberly important to be unapologetically you in this world here i am like me love me hate me want to ignore me whatever you have to say here i am and that's the unapologetic truth that i think the world in emergency management owes everyone so that's what we're going to talk about today we're going to get into a discussion on positive versus normative statements where the research has got us the state and true of affairs and how some examples exist out there in the world of local and national governments actually being bold and truthful to their residents constituents clients whatever you want to call them and saying listen when the shizzy hits the fizzier when things get bad we're simply not coming to help you irrespective of your need and how often you call 9-1-1 at a certain point we're done and there's nothing we can do to help you so therefore that's the point that you're on your own and this is an important part that just doesn't get communicated well enough we know that we have emergency management capability in pretty much every municipality in the developed world we're talking police fire ems those standard knowledgeable first responders that availability but we also rationally understand that there are limitations to their number and there are limitations to their capability and capacity to manage events now we assume that there are all kinds of people around us that are going to come help our municipality when we get overwhelmed but we are repeatedly presented with events occurring at least even in the last two years in north america and canada alone demonstrating that in fact there is not a replaceable capacity to come in at all times so there will be a point where your local emergency management is exhausted and they can no longer assist the local population and no one is coming to step in their place this is a rational reality a point in the world that i think we need to talk a lot more about so when we talk about the difference between positive and normative beliefs or statements it's an important topic within the research world between qualitative quantitative mixed methods research design you hear it all across but in the most simplistic way to look at it normative is a statement that tells us how the world should be how we want it to be how we view the role of various different people in the world you know i want my candidate to include this i want my candidate to be an inclusive place where diversity equity it's all celebrated who you are and who you present yourself to be a society blah blah blah you know i mean we have a view on what society should look like positivism is all about evidence it simplistically means that the evidence we have says the following which means that the evidence is in emergency management that in the province of ontario there are x number of ambulances there are x number of police officers those are positive capacity i live in the city of ottawa in 2019 prior to the pandemic we had over 300 instances of what they call level zero code black whatever you want to call it it basically means that when you called 9-1-1 in the city of ottawa looking for immediate medical assistance no one was available to help you you were simply on your own for an unknown period of time now the 9-1-1 operator would do their best to talk you through whatever situation you were having but over 300 times in the city of ottawa there was just simply nobody available to come help you you could have a family member having a cardiac arrest you could have a car accident and maybe the fire department would come to that and you'd get a you know a well-trained uh fireman who has emergency medical skills but you wouldn't be getting a paramedic because there simply are not available to respond and i'll give you a perfect example i was on a bus coming back from university now we have the double-decker buses and one individual just you know decided to not follow advice and try to go down the stairs while the bus was moving so he'd be ready to launch off of the bus when he hit his stop well he went arse over tea kettle down the stairs popped his shoulder out of the joint smashed his knee and he was in an incredible and very loud amount of pain we called 9-1-1 it was 45 minutes before an ambulance could be made available to assist this individual now all of us who had medical skills kind of helped the individual as best we could but if you've ever popped something out of the joint and i have you understand how incredibly painful that is the individual was a bag of hammers at the bottom of the stairs refused to move even though we tried to get him to move and therefore the bus just had to sit there on the side of the road and his agony was pleasantly aware to everybody in the bus for 45 minutes before somebody could come there was no difference if the man was having a heart attack on the bus it still would have been 45 minutes now normally they'll dispatch somebody else to come help you with the cpr like a fire department or a police officer but no paramedic was coming for 45 minutes irrespective of what was happening to this individual now that's just an example and the reason i bring that example up is we have a difference in emergency management emergency preparedness communications which if you follow this podcast you understand that is the focus of my phd research is emergency preparedness communications at the municipal level we have a difference a void if you will between normative and positive statements the positive statements are the limitations of and the capacity extent of emergency management within the area what can they respond to and what they can't respond to and that leads to that evidence then the communications that would be given to the citizens saying our capacity ends here and therefore at that point this is why you need to take this recommended level of preparedness specific to our municipality to last a specific period of time and this gets back to the discussion of why does everybody say 72 hours now i've talked about it at length before and 72 hours that is used throughout most emergency management public communications is based on two things the two basic principles are number one that from a psychological perspective that is a reasonable barrier where you can assume responsibility and you won't naturally feel overwhelmed with the responsibility beyond 72 hours and therefore likely to be apathetic in your response or dismissive and not adopt the recommended emergency preparedness behaviors the second thing is is 72 hours is three days it's the point at which most emergency management organizations believe that they will have a redundant capacity to respond so that means response from associated and neighboring municipalities it could be response from another level of government so here in canada the municipality is overwhelmed the province of ontario literally has next to no physical resources so when you go to say the um government of canada to get the military in i used to be a member of many different uh response units at the different areas within canada you know at most in the fastest with the gas pedal to the floor you're going to get some help in about three days so that is kind of the idea why 72 hours is generally kicked around now positive view of the 72 hour message would tell us that we want a message or we would recommend and the evidence in my research shows that that a message to the public about the level of an acquired preparedness should be based upon the capacity limitations of their local emergency management you live in a certain area you have your typical first responders you have excess capacity in the shouldering municipalities you have agreements with higher levels of government this frames the response strategy of your local government to events that will occur in the area there are different types of hazards that are you are exposed to from natural hazards to man-made hazards these could be industrial complexes nuclear facilities power plants you could have earthquake zones flood zones wildfire zones that type of thing and that information should be fully and truthfully communicated to the local population so they understand the risk assessment that is done in the area and then overlaid on top of that should be a positive which is realistic and truthful capability assessment as to the ability for the local emergency management to address those hazards identified and that's different from a response plan and i say that because a lot of times response plans are available on websites from emergency management organizations but they are very much normative statements about we intend to we will respond by activating our emergency operations center our municipal emergency control group we will bring in the right resources it all talks about their intentions not what they actually can do but what they intend to do and so the idea behind that intentionally put in designing the emergency communications emergency preparedness communications is not to lie to people like i'm not trying to make that assertion in any way shape or form but they're trying to produce a normative document that says to you we're here to help we intend to help we've got great capacity look at our wonderful plans and all our on our cute little eocs and everything else that we've put together that we think facilitate a great response the issue is that's not translated to the level of emergency preparedness so the idea being is the municipality will put out that whole laundry list of things that they're capable of doing and at a certain point they run out of capacity and they tell you this is why we're telling you to be prepared for 72 hours because at point x we no longer will have the capacity to deal with emergencies in this area or we'll only can go to like for example we can do four structure fires but if you're the fifth structure fire you're largely on your own and we won't be coming to respond to that because we have limited staff or we have 1200 police officers on the payroll x number per shift at you know at any certain time you may expense response times from say 15 to 30 minutes and this happens in rural alberta rural canada where rcmp response times to events on a farm can be 30 to 45 minutes at high speed which means the individual on the farm has to be responsible for responding to security incidents that will occur on their farm for a period of 45 minutes before they can expect law enforcement to arrive most of us in an urban environment probably are going to get a response outside of significant disruption in a matter of sheer minutes so your responsibility to deal with a police related incident is an exceptionally small period of time to where law enforcement will come to assist so those are things that you need to understand you know how far is a fire response like is one fire extinguisher good enough for your help because the fire department is going to be there in under three minutes or you are in a position where you're probably not going to see a fire response for 20 to 25 minutes at your residence and therefore you need to have a far more robust firefighting capacity on hand these are the type of information that people that allow citizens to make an informed positively based evidence-based decision on their level of individual emergency preparedness because they understand the truth of what their municipal capacity and the difficulty has always been just that it's getting that level of truth and clarity out of public agencies on the limitations because they don't want to publicly say we can't come help you in certain situations because then they don't look like they're fulfilling their mandate but somewhere along the line a trusted and truthful explanation of that is actually what people need a prime example that's that i use all the time is a booklet uh from the government of sweden to all of its population and it's in time of crisis or war and it basically says you know if the russians invade or if there's a significant disaster a significant disruption the government is not coming to help you you are not the focus of the government the government is going to look to do other things and therefore you are going to be on your own and because you're going to be on your own here are the level of things that we expect you to do so if you want a copy of that book there are english versions of it on the government of sweden's website or there's a link in my recent blog on preparedness labs.ca and basically it's really the only example we have out there in the developed world of a nation's government and this can be extrapolated to all levels of government that comes out and says the truth to say hey when this big bad thing happens we're actually not coming to help you and you're not our primary focus and that's an important message to be handed out to citizens because then they can make an informed decision about the necessary preparedness information or preparedness level that they need to take but contained within this document from the swedish government is exactly what they're suggesting you should do you should have four months three months six months of food and water you should have the ability to do advanced first aid including suturing etc all of these things that they think because of the situation that they face is different from what we do here in canada and that's and i'd like to return to that because we're probably not unless you're in a northern canadian community you're probably not facing a foreign invasion that's a real threat to nunavut and northwest territories and northern yukon territories but not necessarily to the rest of us in the lower portions of canada so we're not going to face an invasion but we're probably facing a significant event like maybe a pandemic i don't know or a large earthquake or a significant flooding event or something where you know there's significant disruptions all you have to do in canada is just look at the last couple of years so save the pandemic response because that's worth like seven podcast episodes all on its own look at the flooding in bc and the number of communities that were abjectly cut off and were literally left to their own devices and it took a significant period of time sometimes up to a week where some uh localities were reached by emergency services the same thing happened in nova scotia when hurricane one hit there were some rural communities that well over a week before anybody from the emergency management agency was able to reach out and communicate and reach and this happens in the you know sedema the caribbean disaster emergency management agency has the same face when major hurricanes go through there when you have wildfires that cut off evacuation routes for communities it may be very very difficult to get in with them we see the regular evacuations of first nations reserves due to wildfires now so we have these events in canada where people are placed on their own for significant periods of time but were they told that that is a likely outcome in advance my research and my argument is no they were not told that information the rural residents of bc were likely not told that they were going to be in case of major flooding or case of major event cut off for a period of time now i have to give massive credit to bc because they're probably the most advanced provincial system in canada and i'd argue they're probably ahead of a lot of the states except they're on power with a lot of the northwestern states but a lot of the fema regions fall well behind what bc emergency management has done but you have to look at the fact that if you live in these areas that have these hazards you need to be told by your provincial or municipal authorities that you're going to be cut off for two to three weeks, you have to be able to take care of all medical emergencies. Forget just food and water, but all your medical health and security issues that may come up during that period of time, your municipality or your little community, however that is formed, you're going to be likely on your own. And the big part about why I talk ad nauseum on this podcast and in my research about the number one thing that you can do in emergency management or emergency preparedness is build your social capital. And that means build your local networks of other human beings.
The most important thing you can do to advance your emergency preparedness is go meet your neighbor. Therefore, make friends with your neighbor, get to know the people in your community, form bonds, form relationships. These are the networks and the resources that you will have access to and you'll rely upon when a significant event happens. So these locked down rock solid communities within these rural areas that have a great sense of social capital are in fact quite capable of operating on their own for weeks, if not maybe a month or more without government assistance simply because of the capacity and the development of their social capital that can be facilitated.
And it often is through when we look at things that are done in other countries like Australia, New Zealand and a couple other countries, they understand that due to wildfire threats due to earthquake threats, that there are going to be communities that are going to be cut off. So how do we help them? We as first responders and government agencies are not going to be able to get to them for a couple of weeks potentially. So therefore we need to help them in advance.
We need to provide them training. We need to provide them equipment. We need to provide them with supportive systems so that when they're on their own because of a significant event, they've been trained, they've been provided for. So they have a greater probability of coming out the other end with less disruption, less loss of life, less loss of property and a faster recovery and ability to bounce back better.
This is what this type of communication does. It just doesn't tell the truth. It starts the conversation about I can't come help you as a municipal government and therefore I think you should know how to do this and we're going to facilitate it. You know, for example, there was an idea in one community that I was speaking to for my research where, you know, emergency first aid is the one day St.
John ambulance course was going to be core curriculum in the high school. So every single student in high school at some grade level will pass and certify as an emergency first aider, right? And what a fabulous idea, that kind of training and skill thrown out in the community. You've now just trained every single 14 to 16 year old that lives in your community on first aid.
That can't hurt. Yeah, it costs money, but that's a municipal burden, not an emergency management burden. That's a corporate burden that can come down and there are corporations who pay for that. And I'll give you another example of that.
There was one, there was one municipality who was unable to provide PPE to their workers and their medical staff at the beginning of the pandemic simply because they couldn't find any. And it was a local corporation, a power company that stepped in and provided the PPE at no charge to all of the municipal agencies, to the health care workers, to the outreach workers, to the community workers, to the food bank. All of that in the initial parts of the pandemic was put, was kept going and facilitated by the private sector. That was done because there was great relationships between the private sector and the community.
They were well connected. They had strong social capital bonds. Again, the municipal emergency management knew that they couldn't do this and therefore they found alternate sources. So the whole idea of the positive versus normative debate is all of us as residents need to be told the truth as to not what the normative says, what they would like to be able to do what their intention is in a significant disruption.
We want to know the positive side of it. What are their limitations? When do they run out of police officers, fire department, EMS? When do they run out of the ability to help us?
Based upon evidence and research, aka positivism, what is the point at which the local citizens are going to be on their own and for how long before your currently existing municipal agreements kick into fashion? Then you tell people what that timeline is. If everybody is saying 72 hours but there's no evidence to support your 72 hours in your local municipality, you again become less truthful and less trustworthy as a public agency. And because of that, we know that in today's world of information, disinformation, and misinformation, going at the speed of social media, which is an exceptionally fast thing, you need to have trust built in emergency management.
You cannot expect the people of your municipality or your citizenry for who you're responsible, if you're an emergency manager, to look to you as a trusted source if you have not done the work in advance of the incident to demonstrate that you are a trusted source. And I have this debate with people all the time in the emergency management community. Because you're an emergency manager doesn't mean you're a trusted source. Just because you hold that title does not make you a trusted source in the eyes of the community.
You have a responsibility and a duty, I would say, to demonstrate that you are a trusted source so that when the shizzy hits the fizzy, people come look to you. So don't assume just because you're in a role or you have that title that people will believe that title means that you are trusted. But hopefully this was a great discussion. Hopefully out of this podcast, you will go take a couple clicks and look around your municipality to kind of get a good understanding for what you can about what the true, actual, reasonable capability and response capacity of your municipality is.
Then you will use that to inform your own emergency preparedness plan. If you don't know what your government can do, and you think that the government is actually going to come help you, you might find yourself in an exceptionally dangerous position. So thank you very much for taking the time to listen to us at Inside My Canoe Head. Drop over to our new website at insidemycanoehead.ca.
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