Questions of N.S.'s capabilities to protect vulnerable people arise amid hurricane season

Nova Scotia still has a lot of work to do to provide protection and resources to its most vulnerable citizens in times of emergency, says a climate change expert at St. Francis Xavier University.

"We simply do not have the infrastructure to be able to save everybody," Riley Olstead, an associate professor of sociology at the Antigonish, N.S., school, told CBC News in an interview.

As Hurricane Milton barrelled toward Florida, residents of the state were evacuating to take shelter from the monster storm and extra precautions were underway to accommodate vulnerable groups, including people with disabilities and the elderly.

People with disabilities were being relocated to special needs shelters offered in several counties. The state also has a voluntary registry that provides first responders with information to be able to communicate with vulnerable people during emergencies.

Olstead said vulnerable groups such as homeless people and people who are disabled are often most impacted during a crisis. She said it's clear the Nova Scotia government isn't ready for a major emergency based on the way it has handled other emergencies, citing the growing housing crisis and the lack of affordable housing in the province. 

"Are we going to rely on the infrastructure that doesn't even seem to be able to show up now?" she said. 

Vulnerable persons registry 

While the province provided comfort centres and financial aid in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona in 2022, Halifax Regional Municipality and Kings County are among the only municipalities in the province to establish a vulnerable persons registry.

Richmond County in Cape Breton is in the process of developing a registry, which would provide quick access to information about vulnerable people for first responders to use during an emergency. 

Lorelei Nicoll, the Liberal MLA for Cole Harbour-Dartmouth, introduced a Vulnerable Persons Registry Act two years ago after Fiona caused widespread power outages around the province and prompted calls from disability advocates for a Nova Scotia registry. 

"I knew that the resources in HRM were strong, but other municipalities weren't," said Nicoll, the Liberals' emergency management critic, citing one of the reasons she introduced the private member's bill. 

The bill would have created a provincewide registry but did not proceed. Nicoll said time is of the essence when it comes to implementing these types of emergency measures. 

"Climate change is here and disasters are going to continue and we're hearing warnings now, " said Nicoll. "It's just a matter of time and are we prepared? One will never know."

Responsibility of the municipalities

According to the province, the development of these lists is the responsibility of the municipalities.  

"Vulnerable persons registries are operated at the municipal level, and the Emergency Preparedness and Nova Scotia Guard Act, which was recently passed in the Legislature, includes the requirement for all municipalities to develop Vulnerable Person Registries," the province's Emergency Management Office said in a written statement to CBC.

But Nicoll said the province is just passing the buck to municipalities, some of which have limited resources to look after vulnerable people during emergencies. 

"What they're doing is what they've done with everything … We're leaving it up to the expert at the individual municipalities to take care of it," she said. 

While Olstead said a registry looks great on paper, it might not work during a crisis. 

"I've never heard of a rural community that has the kind of resourcing when we've got one person looking out for our emergency management operations," said Olstead, referring to the emergency operations in Antigonish. 

"We don't have the human power to dispatch to go and look after vulnerable persons. So, how do we make sure that those people, our neighbours, or our aunts and uncles, our grandparents … that they don't get left behind?"

She said the most reliable resource in lieu of a registry is simple communication with neighbours. 

"Start getting people actually mobilizing and talking to each other and taking up the idea that … even talking to somebody and saying, 'Do you need a cup of tea? Come on into my house,'" said Olstead. 

"It's all these little tiny things that get people through."