Lessons from Northern Ontario: Rural-proofing emergency management in Canada

NCCEH Environmental Health Webinar
September 26, 2024
Presenters: Amanda Mongeon, Vanessa Howard
Rural communities, with low populations and geographic isolation, face unique challenges like access to healthcare, transportation, and Internet. These characteristics also make rural areas in Canada vulnerable to disruptions like extreme weather, pandemics, and social emergencies, and affect their approaches to emergency management. Emergency management policy, therefore, needs to consider the realities of rurality.
This webinar will highlight findings from a two-year research project, funded by a 2021 CIHR Catalyst Grant, that explored the experiences of rural communities in Northern Ontario during COVID-19. The study used a variety of methods to understand how these communities navigated the pandemic and to identify strategies to reduce the impact of future disruptions. The webinar will also discuss the broader applicability of these findings across rural Canada.