Feds set to open new co-ordination centre for disaster response

OTTAWA — Canada will soon have a new operations centre to help co-ordinate countrywide disaster response.

Government officials on Friday offered media outlets a tour of the new facility, which is expected to be open next month. For security reasons, journalists were required to sign a nondisclosure agreement preventing them from revealing the facility’s location.

The heart of the facility is the “operational centre” — a room resembling NASA’s mission control, with a pair of massive two-storey-high screens connected to more than 500 different datapoints, space for 80 people and capacity to handle multiple emergencies at once.

Emergency Management Minister Eleanor Olszewski said the new space brings more people together in the same room, allowing for better co-ordination of national responses to anything from wildfires and floods to terrorist attacks.

“Part of what we need from a federal emergency management perspective is to make sure we can assist and provide and co-ordinate resources where there are provinces and communities that aren’t able to manage that on their own,” Olszewski told reporters.

Government officials on the tour said the vision behind the new centre includes bringing in private sector partners to help — such as retailers with supplies of food and water.

The space provides room for some 150 staff and dedicated space for other government agencies — including Environment Canada, which will use the space for monitoring weather during a hurricane response — and for Canadian Armed Forces liaison officers in the event of a national security incident.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 28, 2025.