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Fantastic guest this week to talk about her journey into preparedness, a real world example of the ups and downs of becoming more self reliant.  Lynn is the talent behind Bucketlisthomestead, a Youtube Channel and on other social media.  She provides a unique and wholesome view into the balance of life with a family, health and living through a pandemic on a small acreage, carving out an awesome life for her family.  It is through the honestly, sincerity and stories of people like Lynn that we understand preparedness is a life long journey where you are never really there, but we try our best to be able to thrive, not just survive.  Have a listen, visit Lynn's channel and subscribe to help out an incredible soul.

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With the current context of floods in BC, fires across the west, drought in the fields and potential hurricanes in the east, Canadians are being fed the notion that there is a lack of something in the emergency management field - in other words, we could be doing far better to help our citizens, mitigate hazards and overall preparedness and response.  The default for some academics et al are to call for a US style FEMA to be established in Canada to direct, manage and help mitigate the coming effects of climate change and the increased frequency of disasters.  
My bias is clear, there is no current or former issue that has been successfully addressed by the creation of a new public agency, employing thousands of public servants and consuming huge swaths of the public purse.  
But before we provide a remedy, we need to properly define the problem.  In this episode, I cover governance - who is responsible for what in Canada, the structure of the current Federal system with regards to emergency management.  Then I outline within each of the four pillars of emergency management: mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery what are the shortfalls and offer some thoughts on how to address them.  
The next episode will take this ground work and present two solutions: Morphing Emergency Preparedness at the Federal Level to a FEMA style agency and addressing the issues within the current structure - join me for that awesome second part.  

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Every scholar, amateur and in-betweens have published lists of the coming year's threats and what is likely to happen.  Crystal balls abound.  This episode touches on the threats from a micro perspective, what is uncertainty and how will political and economic woes of the coming year affect your family life.  We explore inflation, elections, restoring and supply chains to understand what the individual may face in the coming year.  We close the episode with a clear lesson on how to understand your family's exposure to the risk, how to mitigate that risk through multiple lines of operations (income, food sources, etc..) and then, the most important suggestion - expand your community.  There is nothing more important in the individual emergency preparedness space than building a strong social network with individuals and groups that may afford resources: economic, financial, human and most important - support.  

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Canada like other nations has a multi-leave governance system for emergency management, with many players and voices.  There are good framework agreements between the federal, provincial and territorial governments on access to assistance as well as clearly defined responsibilities for funding arrangements for disaster relief.  Within provinces, the organizational framework differs, with various regional offices and in some areas, regional EOC to manage situations.  
This week's episode flies at 10000 feet looking at the multi-level governance within the emergency management system, who does what for whom and their general responsibilities.  We finish with a rant on who should be sending emergency preparedness information to citizens and why, when everyone tries to speak to residents, it simply confuses everyone and all messaging is lost.  
This is the primer episode for next week's episode on how to construct an emergency management organization from the ground up, instead of from the top down.  People in communities matter and it is time that emergency management listens.  

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This week is about the very important and uncomfortable topic of going poo in an emergency. Wherever you are and whatever is happening, humans will continue to eject waste into the environment and you need a plan on how to do that.  What is you plan when you no longer have access to a toilet?  How do you flush your toilet when there is no water in the house?  Do you have soap to clean yourself and ensure you stop the spread of communicable diseases?  Probably now for the pandemic, but what about when the water supply is no longer available? We discuss simple toilets, expensive options, burying in the backyard and other alternatives.  The point is - you need a plan to poo without the modern toilet.  Whats your plan? 

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Headed to the backcountry?  Thinking of snowmobiling this winter, or hiking to your favourite destination for a night out?  AdventureSmart BC provides life saving information to those who enjoy the outdoors, in order to ensure that everyone makes it home safe and has an incredible adventure.  In this conversation we discuss SAR, the mission of AdventureSmart BC, the preparedness messaging challenges and a host of wonderful content.
Sandra is a passionate individual who brings both personal expertise and corporate skills to the mission of ensuring that adventuring is done in the safest manner possible.  Accidents do happen, so when they do, how can you prepare to be equipped to manage through the indigent and engage SAR?  Excellent advice for all levels of backcountry expertise, don't make the mistake of believing that your decades of experience protects you from uncertainty.  Plan every trip, prepare for eventualities and then chase the incredible opportunities that exist in the outdoors.  

Please visit adventuresmart.ca to download checklists and information designed to facilitate an awesome and safe adventure.  

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Current real time events in BC and across the world require some reflection on our own individual emergency preparedness levels.  Have you completed the plan?  Remember, the first and most important question is to remind yourself that you are responsible for your own outcomes and the government is not coming to rescue you.  The first stage of disaster planning is to ensure you are "answering the right question" or "properly defining the problem".  Make sure your efforts are geared towards the actual issue / problem.  Second, do you have the necessary plan to address the basic animalistic requirements, for the planning horizon chosen by you, based upon your situation and responsibilities?  Have you considered the significant hazards in your area and included those on the DIR plan based on CI?  Finally, have you secured your primary, secondary and tertiary evacuation locations?  All of these and almost all preparedness requirements are free, nothing need be procured.  Think, think through the problem.  If equipment is needed, then make sure it is chosen because your plan requires it, not because some loud voice on YouTube or elsewhere told you it was one of the top 10 to stock up!  Get ready, winter is coming.

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People struggle, around us in society are the obviously vulnerable: those we often refer to as poor, the socio-economically challenged or those with obvious physical limitations and mobility issues.  Under that are those in society that struggle with mental illness, those we on the surface look like  they are doing OK, but are exhausted just trying to keep that image up.  With such a diverse and challenged portions of society, where is our messaging?  Are we reaching those or are we not.  How do we reach these groups within society as emergency management professionals?  My research journey has opened my eyes to the network of service agencies that provide assistance to the vulnerable, often living hand to mouth themselves.  These represent networks - access those networks and lets get the messaging to those who arguably may need it the most. 
But most important, open your eyes to those in your society that are struggling, they are not lazy, bad or otherwise drains on the economic coffers.  They were someone's son and daughter full of hopes and dreams.  So how do we help?  We do so by accessing their support networks to persuade.  

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Knowledge is power, in Ontario every municipality is required to have an emergency plan, outlining what they will do in the event of a disaster and what they recommend for you to do.  It is a good place to start in your preparedness journey, but more importantly it is a great place to understand the players in the city, what their intentions are and what their priorities will be when the &^%$ hits the fan.  Knowing what your city will do is good to incorporate into your own plan, for both knowledge and to ensure that you are not planning something that will be in conflict with the municipality.  
In this episode, I walk through the City of Ottawa's website on emergency preparedness, provide some commentary and add suggestions as to how you can frame this information in your own deliberations.  Very important, build a community and work together.  

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The series Blunt Public Policy is designed to be uncomfortable, to challenge the issues of the day, present shortfalls and assign blame as well as to present solutions that will actually work. Different from the normal preparedness episodes, these discussions inform the world around us which in turn makes us better citizens, more informed humans and therefore more prepared to weather the disruptions of the future.
Canada will lose the fight against COVID because we are employing a strategy of not trying to lose, instead of trying to win.  We botched the entire planning of this event, we employ a singular strategy that vaccines alone will lead us to the promised land.  Vaccines work, they reduce spread, reduce infections, prevent death and are a key enabler to success.  However, there will always be a portion of the population that chooses not to participate, which is their protected right.  Vilifying these people - who in 2019 were our friends and colleagues, will lead to populism and permeant fissures in society that will last a generation.  
The abject failure to permanently expand the public health care system to manage influenza, COVID-19 and the full unrestricted normal operations is the principle reason the health care system will collapse - COVID is here to stay, it will be part of our society and therefore part of our health care system for time immemorial.  Not a single level of government is making this investment, which is a clear and deliberate attack on the very system they purport to support.    

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