Public Safety Canada
Public Safety Canada (PSC; French: Sécurité publique Canada, SPC; PSP), legally incorporated as the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness (PSEPC), is the department of the Government of Canada responsible for (most) matters of public safety, emergency management, national security, and emergency preparedness in Canada.[3]
Department overview
2003
- Department of the Solicitor General
Department responsible for
- public safety and emergency management not assigned to another federal organization
- national security
- emergency preparedness
1,400 (2023-24, as indicated in Main Estimates)
$2.6 billion CAD (2023–24 budget, as indicated in Main Estimates)
- Shaun Tupper, Deputy Minister
The department is responsible to Parliament through the minister of public safety and minister of emergency preparedness.
History[edit]
Prior to 1988, the agency responsible for the "public safety" portfolio was known as Emergency Preparedness Canada, which was created under the auspices of the Department of National Defence. In 1988, the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness was established by the Emergency 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 the federal government.[4] Created as a direct result of lessons learned from the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001, the department is in many ways similar to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; it does not cover the protection of maritime sovereignty (which is covered by the Canadian Forces, Transport Canada, and Fisheries 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 department Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada manages application and screening, settlement services, and naturalization).
PSEPC became legally established when the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Act came into force on 4 April 2005.
Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Act
2005
Other operations and initiatives[edit]
Canada Centre for Community Engagement and Prevention of Violence[edit]
The Canada Centre for Community Engagement and Prevention of Violence (Canada Centre) leads the Canadian government's efforts to "counter radicalization 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 in Ottawa.[16]
The Minister of Public Safety was given the mandate over the Centre in 2015; the federal 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 the Five Eyes (United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand), the Group of Seven (G7), and the European Union. The Centre also actively participates in multilateral forums such as the United Nations and the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF), as well as collaborating with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, the Hedayah Center, and the Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats (CREST).[16]
The Centre administers the Community 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 the Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence, located in Montréal, 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."