Premier David Eby and Minister Bowinn Ma (image credit - CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve/CFJC Today

EMERGENCY TASK FORCE

‘We don’t have the luxury of time’; Eby announces emergency task force in Kamloops

Sep 11, 2023 | 4:30 PM

B.C. Premier David Eby was in Kamloops Monday (Sept 11) morning ahead of a tour through the fire-devastated communities of the Shuswap. Eby was in Kamloops a few weeks ago, but with evacuation orders lifted last week, the premier will now be able to survey the damage first-hand.

Before heading out, Eby, along with Emergency Management Minister Bowinn Ma, stopped by the BC Wildfire Service headquarters at the airport, to announce the creation of a new task force on emergencies.

The expert task force on emergencies will provide advice to increase local volunteer recruitment, to further collaborate with communities and First Nations, to incorporate municipal firefighting and other emergency forces, to deploy enhanced technology and to provide constant support to those on the front lines.

“To look at our emergency response generally,” began Eby. “To make sure when people are evacuated in record numbers, tens of thousands of people, from their home communities, that we have the systems in place that we can stand up quickly to be able to respond to that level of need. That we are able to incorporate volunteers into our work at all levels, but not rely entirely on them, given the scale and scope of what we are seeing in the province.”

With B.C. still in the midst of the worst wildfire season on record, and issues of severe drought still affecting residents throughout the province, the premier believes now is the correct time to move forward with the new task force.

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“The goal here is that the task force will be working with the public service, in partnership with the hard working people from emergency response, from the wildfire service, to ensure that we are deploying additional resources, that we deploying solutions as they are recommended to us, so that we don’t have that delay of waiting before we can take action,” stated Eby.

The premier went on to mention how the province is preparing for potential disasters this fall as the rain comes.

“We don’t have the luxury of time between emergencies right now in British Columbia. Making sure we are deploying the solutions as recommendations come forward is going to be critically important and it’s what is going to set this approach apart from what has been done previously,” said Eby.

In addition to the task force, the provincial government is expected to table new legislation this fall aimed at amending the Emergencies Act.