Halifax, Nova Scotia has approved the setup of a voluntary registry for vulnerable people, intended to help identify those who may need additional assistance in an emergency. “At the end of the day it will be a knock on the door saying, ‘Are you OK?’ And that’s the biggest thing,” said HRM Director of Emergency Management Erica Fleck to Global News.
Accessibility advocate Gerry Post, who has been calling for a registry at the provincial level for years, talked in an interview with Global News, about the need. “Storms, especially, don’t restrict themselves to administrative boundaries. The concern that I would have — we have 49 municipalities, do we want 49 separate, independent registries?” asked Post. “In case we have a disaster that includes multiple municipalities, as happened during Fiona.”
Despite Post’s concerns, Nova Scotia is not looking into setting up a province-wide registry. Says Heather Fairbairn, of Nova Scotia’s Emergency Management Office, to Global News, “We are pleased that Halifax Regional Municipality has announced plans for a vulnerable person registry. Like other jurisdictions across the country, Kings County already maintains a voluntary registry for residents. In Canada, all vulnerable persons registries are administered at the municipal level.”
Source:
https://globalnews.ca/news/9787180/hrm-voluntary-vulnerable-persons-registry/
