The stakeholders involved in the development and implementation of emergency management in Ontario include, but are not limited to:

  • Individuals/Organizations. Emergency management programs are recommended for individuals as well as the private and not-for-profit sectors in Ontario. The level of individual/organizational engagement to prevent, mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergency situations may vary depending on an individual's or organization's vulnerabilities and capabilities. In Ontario, public education programs are developed to provide guidance with the intention of helping individuals and organizations become better prepared and more self-sufficient. Individuals should be prepared to deal with an emergency on their own for a minimum of three days (72 hours).
  • Municipalities. The first level of organized emergency management is at the community level. Under provincial legislation, municipalities have certain responsibilities for the safety and wellbeing of the public. Each municipality must develop and implement an emergency management program that can be tailored to their local needs. Municipalities should make all efforts to prevent and mitigate the effects of hazards that pose a threat to their communities, help prepare the public, ensure they have sufficient capabilities to respond to incidents and provide guidance and support in recovery. As a recommended practice, municipalities should ensure they are able to continue the provision of their local government services to the public through the development and implementation of appropriate continuity of operations plans (COOP) even though it is not mandated by legislation. Municipalities are differentiated in several ways and may fall into one or more categories such as region, county, city, town, township, and may be upper, lower, or single tier. Emergency plans may be coordinated with consent across all municipal councils in counties. The emergency plan of a lower-tier municipality in an upper-tier municipality, excluding a county, shall conform to the emergency plan of the upper-tier municipality
  • Unincorporated Territories: An unincorporated territory is a geographic area without municipal organization. Ontario stands ready to deliver provincial emergency response support to unincorporated territories during emergencies.
  • Province of Ontario. Canada's constitution sets out the responsibilities of provinces to legislate on certain matters involving public services and the health and wellbeing of the public. The Ontario government implements a part of its constitutional mandate through the development and implementation of emergency management programs. Within the system of partnerships, the Ontario government retains aspects of provincial emergency management, designates provincial government bodies to be responsible for aspects of provincial emergency management programs, and delegates certain emergency management program responsibilities to municipalities. The matter of protecting and caring for the public through emergency management activities stems from the province's mandate and responsibility for healthcare. The Ontario government determines the extent to which provincial government bodies and municipalities develop, implement and maintain emergency management programs related to all five components of emergency management, for the continuity of government operations, and for specific types of emergencies, including specific hazards and risks and/or emergency services.
  • First Nations Communities in Ontario. The province promotes collaboration and coordination across ministries and municipalities pertaining to emergency management supports to First Nations communities. The Government of Canada assigns roles and responsibilities to its departments for emergency management support to First Nations communities. While the province does not have jurisdiction over First Nations communities, the province does have joint arrangements with the federal government to assist First Nation communities in providing emergency management services. When an emergency in a First Nation community requires a partial or full evacuation of that community, and upon the request of the Chief of that First Nation community, EMO operates the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre in partnership with other relevant provincial ministries and federal departments and coordinates the preparation and conduct of the evacuation.
  • Government of Canada. The federal government implements programs regarding prevention/mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. During emergencies the federal government may provide assistance to the provincial government subject to requests and the availability of resources. While most emergencies generally have local impacts, the potential for various types of national emergencies that have impacts within provincial and local jurisdictions have increased. An accumulation of risks for larger scale emergencies are associated with factors such as increased urbanization, critical infrastructure interdependencies, terrorism, climate change, animal and human diseases, along with more movement of people and goods around the world. Such events could transcend geographic boundaries and exceed provincial and local response capacities, thus requiring assistance from federal resources. The federal government has primary responsibility for responding to war and international emergencies. Before the federal government issues or continues a declaration of an international emergency, each province will typically be consulted with respect to the proposed action, as appropriate and practicable. This is an example of the political and strategic consultation between the governments of Ontario and Canada. These arrangements are governed by federal legislation as well as agreements between Ontario and Canada.
  • Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). NGO's are non-profit, voluntary citizen groups that are organized on a local, national and/or international level. NGOs perform a variety of services and humanitarian functions and are often in a unique position to mobilize communities at the grassroots level. NGOs play an important role in fostering greater emergency awareness and preparedness, provide physical and human resources during an incident, raise emergency relief funds, conduct research, provide valuable input on, and advocate for changes in emergency management policies and procedures. Province-wide networks and alliances of NGOs (such as the NGO Alliance of Ontario) can be used to coordinate actions across all five components of emergency management.
  • Cross-border and International. There may be occasions when an emergency exceeds the resources within Ontario, or a neighbouring jurisdiction in which the emergency is occurring. Ontario's geographical location shares borders with several Canadian and US jurisdictions that may necessitate cross-border assistance. The Ontario government has cross-border assistance agreements with some contiguous US jurisdictions and cross-border assistance agreements with Canadian provinces and territories. Subject to these mutually agreed upon arrangements, cross border assistance may be more readily available, and/or more operationally expedient, than Ontario's own resources, or Government of Canada assistance. Any inter-jurisdictional agreement should involve cooperative planning and exercises with all organizations involved to improve preparedness and the efficacy of response.