canadian-usa relations for disasters

I had the opportunity to chat on Friday with Jason D'Souza the host of a Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC) radio program All Points West, a show originating from Victoria, BC.  The topic was Canada-US relations in the case of a natural disaster on the West Coast you can listen to the eight minute segment at the link.

The basic question was about how what is happening at the national level between the United States and Canada might affect our ability to work effectively with one another when disasters strike the Pacific Northwest. Rather than repeat everything I said in writing, just see the bullet points below:

• We are sorry to see the strained relationships between our two nations

• Once success story has been how our two nations share wildfire resources

• Together we must strive to work together, no matter what is happening at the national levels

• It is hard to predict what will happen to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and our former national construct for emergency management

• There is a USA effort to reexamine how emergency management and FEMA function going forward

• We have some disaster agreements in place, but they need to be exercised, and that effort must come from the regional and local levels

• Public media like CBC is important to maintaining a free media and public information