Quebec to form civilian disaster response force

Cassandra Kerwin, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

cassandra@qctonline.com

Anywhere disaster strikes in Quebec, the Réserve d’intervention d’urgence en sécurité civile (RIUSC) will be there. At a press conference in Quebec City on March 21, Public Safety Minister François Bonnardel announced that the emergency response force would be fully functional on April 1, with 200 men and women ready to be deployed across the province.

“Climate change is hitting us. The year 2023 was immensely difficult with the floods in Baie-Saint-Paul, where we lost two firefighters, and with the forest fires,” said Bonnardel. “The government is preparing for future disasters with concrete means to protect Quebecers, their property and infrastructure. RIUSC crews could be called upon install sandbags to protect infrastructure, for example, during a flood. They could also set up an emergency shelter.”

According to Bonnardel, this provincial emergency force is a first for Canada. It will allow municipalities and regions to be less reliant on the Canadian Armed Forces for assistance in case of natural disasters. The RIUSC is currently training 200 volunteers in four qualification camps set to last from Feb. 21 to March 29, for them to be deployed as early as April 1. The majority of these trainees are already part of the Quebec Search and Rescue Volunteer Association, while others are members of the Société de Protection des forêts contre le feu (SOPFEU), the Canadian Red Cross and other emergency management organizations.

Bonnardel hopes to attract another 1,000 trained volunteers in the coming years. The province has set aside a budget of $30.5 million over five years for the RIUSC.

The Union of Quebec Municipalities (UMQ) supports this initiative, but is calling for clarifications around the funding. After establishing their disaster response coordination structure, municipalities requesting this aid must accept paying for a portion of it and will receive a bill, according to a statement from the RIUSC.

According to a report by the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, bilingual personnel are especially helpful in disaster response, because people often resort to their native language in stressful situations.

For more information or to apply to become a RIUSC member, visit quebec.ca/securite-situations-urgence/securite-civile/soutien-municipalites/reserve-intervention-urgence-securite-civile-riusc.