Attempts to improve emergency response system have been 'lethargic'

Canada's preparedness to deal with major national disasters and emergencies "gives new meaning to the word 'discouraging,'" says a report released Tuesday by the Senate's committee on national security and defence.

An unidentified health care worker wipes a door handle at North York General Hospital in Toronto, on May 27, 2003, during the SARS outbreak. (Aaron Harris/Canadian Press

Canadian governments have failed to treat major human and natural disasters, like the 1985 Air India bombing and the 2003 SARS epidemic, as the major wake-up calls that they should have been, the report says.

Instead, bureaucratic wrangling and a lack of co-ordination among all levels of government are hindering much-needed improvements to the system, the report says.

The report criticizes provincial and federal governments for a "lethargic" approach to emergency preparedness that doesn't give adequate or flexible enough funding to emergency services.

"Committee members know that it isn't easy making progress on any file that crosses jurisdictional lines, particularly when some provinces are openly antagonist about having their jurisdictions invaded no matter how serious the issue," the report says.

"Nonetheless, we are talking about the possibility of widespread physical and economic disaster to Canadians here, and somebody has to cut the Gordian knot."

First responders to disasters haven't been instructed on lessons learned from past disasters, the report says.