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| Sécurité publique Canada | |
 | |
| Department overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 2003 |
| Preceding Department |
|
| Type | Department responsible for
|
| Jurisdiction | Government of Canada |
| Employees | 1,400 (2023–24, as indicated in Main Estimates) |
| Annual budget | $2.6 billionCAD (2023–24 budget, as indicated in Main Estimates) |
| Ministers responsible | |
| Deputy Ministers responsible |
|
| Child agencies | |
| Key documents | |
| Website | www |
| Footnotes | |
| [1][2] | |
Public Safety Canada (PS;French:Sécurité publique Canada,SP)[NB 1] is thedepartment of theGovernment of Canada responsible for (most) matters ofpublic safety,emergency management,national security, andemergency preparedness in Canada.[3]
The department isresponsible toParliament through theminister of public safety and emergency preparedness.
Prior to 1988, the agency responsible for the "public safety" portfolio was known asEmergency Preparedness Canada, which was created under the auspices of theDepartment of National Defence. In 1988, the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness was established by theEmergency Preparedness Act.
With the purpose of creating a single entity with responsibility for ensuring public safety in Canada, the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness was created in December 2003 during a reorganization of thefederal government.[4] Created as a direct result of lessons learned from theSeptember 11 attacks on the United States in 2001, the department is in many ways similar to theU.S. Department of Homeland Security; it does not cover the protection of maritime sovereignty (which is covered by theCanadian Forces,Transport Canada, andFisheries and Oceans Canada), and it does not have general jurisdiction over immigration (it took over immigration enforcement functions most visibly at borders and ports of landing, but the separate departmentImmigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada manages application and screening, settlement services, and naturalization).
PSEPC became legally established when theDepartment of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Act came into force on 4 April 2005.
| Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Act | |
|---|---|
| Parliament of Canada | |
| Citation | SC 2005, c 10 |
| Enacted | 2005 |
| Status: Current legislation | |
The legal authority of Public Safety Canada is enabled through theEmergency Management Act (2007) and theDepartment of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Act, S.C. 2005, c. 10, which came into force on 4 April 2005 during theMartin government.[5][6] The department became legally established when this Act was given Royal Assent.
PS has 12 regional offices, which are located across the country and are organized into 5 regions:[7]
Together, the agencies of Public Safety Canada have an annual budget of more thanCA$9 billion and over 66,000 employees working across the country.[4]
PSC's planned spending for the 2023-24fiscal year is $2.6 billion; this can be broken down by core responsibility:[8]
Most of the department comprises organizations that were previously placed under the Department ofSolicitor General of Canada, however the reorganization of several federal departments and ministries added theCanada Border Services Agency to the portfolio, after the two streams of the formerCanada Customs and Revenue Agency were split in 2003.[9] In addition, theOffice of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness (OCIPEP) from theDepartment of National Defence was also brought into the department.[citation needed]
In addition to the department, there are five agencies and three review bodies within the Public Safety portfolio headed by theMinister of Public Safety.[10]
The core responsibilities of Public Safety Canada include:[8]
TheCanada Centre for Community Engagement and Prevention of Violence (Canada Centre) leads the Canadian government's efforts to "counterradicalization to violence." Rather than managing or advising on individual cases, it addresses the issue in terms of broad strategy.[15] It is located at Public Safety Canada headquarters inOttawa.[16]
TheMinister of Public Safety was given the mandate over the Centre in 2015; thefederal budget the following year allocated $35 million over five years to establish and support the Centre, in addition to $10 million per year on-going. The Centre was officially launched in 2017.[16]
In terms of international efforts, the Canada Centre closely collaborates with partners in theFive Eyes (United States,United Kingdom,Australia,New Zealand), theGroup of Seven (G7), and theEuropean Union. The Centre also actively participates inmultilateral forums such as theUnited Nations and theGlobal Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF), as well as collaborating with theInstitute for Strategic Dialogue, theHedayah Center, and theCentre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats (CREST).[16]
The Centre administers theCommunity Resilience Fund (CRF), a system for supporting "partnerships in countering radicalization to violence in Canada," providing funding to organizations towards engagement (e.g., research, cooperation, engaging communities, etc.) with the issue.[17]
As of 2019‑2020 onward, the Fund has been promised $7 million available each year for existing and new projects.[16] Through the Fund, the Canada Centre has supported theCentre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence, located inMontréal, in conducting research on "better understanding risk and protective factors within families of individuals who radicalize to violence and also the role families and communities can play in mitigating radicalization to violence."
On 11 December 2018, the Canada Centre launched the "National Strategy on Countering Radicalization to Violence," which "explains radicalization to violence and the destructive and harmful behaviours involved, and outlines the Government of Canada's approach and key priorities in countering and preventing radicalization to violence."[16]
The National Expert Committee on Countering Radicalization to Violence ensures that the Canada Centre's efforts to implement the recently launched National Strategy on Countering Radicalization to Violence will help meet the Strategy's three priorities: building, sharing and using knowledge; addressing radicalization to violence in the online space; and supporting interventions. Its members includes:[16]
TheCanadian Disaster Database (CDD) publicly-accessible web-based repository that tracks significantdisaster events, describing (1) where and when a disaster occurred; (2) the number of injuries, evacuations, and fatalities; and (3) an estimate of the costs. It contains detailed historical information on over 1,000natural andhuman-made disasters (such as technological and conflict events, excluding war) that have taken place since 1900 in Canada or abroad and that have directly affected Canadians.[18][19]
The events that are tracked conform to the "Emergency Management Framework for Canada's" definition of adisaster and meet one or more of the following criteria:[18]
The "72 Hours...Is Your Family Prepared?" campaign (or the72 Hours campaign) is a social-marketing program onemergency preparedness meant to motivate Canadians to (1) "know the risks in their community;" (2) "make an emergency plan;" and, (3) "get anemergency kit." The idea is to ensure that Canadians are prepared to survive on their own for at least the first 72 hours of an emergency, if there ever were one.[20]
The campaign was launched in 2006 by Public Safety Canada in collaboration with theCanadian Red Cross,St. John Ambulance, andThe Salvation Army.[20]
The campaign includes various publications and promotional materials, and a dedicated website calledGetPrepared.ca, among other things.[20] Also as part of this campaign, Public Safety Canada coordinates a yearly national event calledEmergency Preparedness Week (EP Week), which takes place during the first full week of May and supports emergency preparedness-related activities at the local level.[21]
TheCanada-United States Cross-Border Crime Forum (CBCF) is ajoint Ministerial forum that brings together seniorlaw enforcement and justice officials from several organizations in Canada and the United States.[22]
Hosted by Public Safety Canada,Justice Canada, theU.S. Department of Justice, and theU.S. Department of Homeland Security, the CBCF addresses issues oftransnational crime, such asorganized crime,counter-terrorism,smuggling,economic crime. CBCF was formed in 1997 with an operational focus, originally addressing smuggling across the eastern regions of both countries.[22]
The main Canadian participants include:[22]
The main American participants include:[22]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
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