A crisis, such as a wildfire, flood or public safety concern, can arise — sometimes with little to no notice. These events can be very stressful, not only for the responding personnel but for the public as well. At Canoe Insurance, we understand that these types of incidents can be extremely challenging for our members to handle. Understandably, a municipality’s normal duties and functions must continue during a crisis, but the municipality will expend significant resources to ensure a quick and safe solution to the problem at hand.
In response, we have created a Crisis Management Package with resources and tools to assist you, our member municipalities, to better understand your insurance coverages and limitations, as well as to provide information to your ratepayers who may come to you for assistance and guidance.
Note: While we cannot speak to your ratepayers directly, we have crafted resources that can be reproduced on your municipality’s letterhead and issued directly to ratepayers who have questions or who may try to make a claim against you to recover their losses.
Understanding the Type of Crisis:
There are 3 types of crises that can occur and understanding which one you find yourself in can help you properly formulate a plan.
- Routine Emergency – like a natural disaster. You can proactively plan for these types of events based on your past experiences.
- Crisis Emergency – such as a mass casualty event. These types of events happen with little to no warning and can be a challenge.
- Emerging Crisis – such as COVID-19. These are types of events that you may feel you have experienced, but the scope is much greater than a routine emergency. A plan can be implemented, but it could be very situational.
Best Practice When a Crisis Strikes:
- Ensure safety: Prioritize the well-being of everyone involved.
- Establish a Command Centre: Determine where the incident commander will be for the event and implement Incident Command System (ICS) training objectives.
- Create a holding statement: News travels fast; strive to control the narrative.
- Communicate internally: Before sharing a public statement, it’s important that you inform your internal team about the crisis and your plan moving forward. Internal staff should be well informed and get their information about the situation directly from the organization.
- Have an updated business continuity plan: Ensure that a strategic guide is in place to help maintain and resume business functions during a disruption.
Municipal Tools:
Included in the available Canoe Insurance package are some documents we have prepared as a quick reference guide for municipalities:
- Municipal Public Relations Guide (not for public distribution) – This is an information document for your municipality to assist in answering questions about denied claims which may be brought against you, resulting from wildfire damage to ratepayers’ property. Included are tips for handling public relations with ratepayers. Please reach out to our risk team for a copy of this guide.
- Claim Flow Chart – A useful chart to help navigate claims which should be reported to us at Canoe Insurance or declined by your municipality.
- NB Disaster Financial Assistance (DFA) – Provincially-funded disaster assistance may be available to municipalities if the specific loss is not covered by their insurance policy. You must first file a claim with your insurer to determine if any coverage applies. If optional or additional coverage was available from your insurer for the specific loss, but your municipality did not elect to purchase it, a detailed explanation may be required to justify your application. In the event your insurance policy does not provide coverage for the specific type of loss, you will need an official coverage denial letter to attach to your DFA application. Canoe Insurance can provide this, so contact risk@canoeinsurance.com if you ever require such a letter.
For more detailed information about DFA for NB municipalities, visit Municipal Guidelines and Spreadsheets for the most recent version of the downloadable DFA guide.
We Are Here For You!
We understand how stressful and complex a crisis can be. We are committed to assisting in any way possible to help get the municipality back to full strength as efficiently as possible. For more information and to get copies of the municipal tools, please reach out to our risk team at risk@canoeinsurance.com.
Helpful Resources
Canoe Claims – Filing your claim with Canoe is easy. Simply reach out to Canoe_Claims@canoeinsurance.ca to get things started.
The New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization (NBEMO)- They lead the coordination and co-operation of all organizations involved in emergencies and disasters including emergency and disaster:
- Prevention
- Preparedness
- Response
- Recovery
Emergency preparedness and alerts – From the Government of New Brunswick
Health Services in NB – Vital in collaborating in the event of injuries:
- English: Horizon Health
- French: Vitalité
Emergency Management Strategies for Canada – From Public Safety Canada.
Emergency Preparedness – Government of Canada – Emergency preparedness tips from the Government of Canada.
Get Prepared – Tips from the Get Prepared Canada campaign.
Canadian Disaster Database – Contains detailed disaster information on more than 1,000 natural, technological and conflict events (excluding war) that have happened since 1900 at home or abroad and that have directly affected Canadians.