Fredericton, New Brunswick, March 6, 2013 – Today the Honourable Vic Toews, Minister of Public Safety, the Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence, and the Honourable Robert B. Trevors, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General of New Brunswick, congratulated Canadian and American first responders and enforcement officers on a technology demonstration of harmonized cross-border emergency communications. This demonstration represents a milestone for the Beyond the Border Action Plan for Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness.
The technology demonstration, called Canada – U.S. Enhanced Resiliency Experiment (CAUSE), tested the interoperability of the Canadian Multi-Agency Situational Awareness System (MASAS), the American Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) and the Virtual USA Platform. The goal of these interoperable systems is to share alerts, warnings and incident information to improve response coordination across the border during bi-national disasters.
“Our Government continues to work with our partners to advance the Beyond the Border Action Plan,” said the Honourable Vic Toews, Minister of Public Safety. “Interoperable technology improves cross border communications and therefore contributes to building safety and security on both sides of the border. The CAUSE demonstration highlights the important progress for harmonizing cross border response capacity.”
MASAS enables emergency response organizations to exchange real-time, location-based emergency information such as weather alerts, road closures, evacuation areas and other public safety issues. Interoperability and situational awareness are essential to the planning and execution of emergency response efforts.
“Our government makes important investments to develop science and technology solutions that prevent crises and improve response and recovery efforts should an incident occur,” said the Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence. “Today’s experiment demonstrates how our investments improve cross-border response operations.”
Partners in the CAUSE Resiliency Experiment include Public Safety Canada, the United States Department of Homeland Security, and the Province of New Brunswick. In Canada, the CAUSE Resiliency Experiment is funded by the Canadian Safety and Security Program, led by Defence Research and Development Canada’s Centre for Security Science.
“The Government of New Brunswick is proud to work together with our partners across our shared borders to manage risks,” said the Honourable Robert Trevors, New Brunswick Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General. “Our goal is to keep citizens safe, and to maintain our economic security by keeping our energy, food and transportation links working. We believe increased communication and information sharing through improved technology will help achieve these objectives.”
For more information on the Beyond the Border Action Plan, please visit http://www.actionplan.gc.ca/en/page/bbg-tpf/perimeter-security-and-economic-competitiveness-action-plan.
