House of Commons, Committee on Public Safety and National Security
Yes: the brief of 30 August to the study on national emergency preparedness, published without the address and telephone.
The letter ·
RE: Brief for the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security: the plan that subsection 6(1) of the Emergency Management Act requires, and the National Risk Profile without the word war
Hello,
Yes. Enter the document of 30 August 2026 as a brief to the study on strengthening national emergency preparedness in Canada. Post it on the Committee's web page without the address and telephone lines.
The brief of 24 September 2026 follows below, revised for the study and without the link. Enter it as a brief to the same study, distribute it to the members and post it with the first.
Confirm in writing by 9 October 2026 that both documents are entered as briefs to the study, and state the date each will be posted. Without that confirmation, the matter goes to the Chair of the Committee.
Respectfully,
Danilo Dzyuban
BRIEF TO THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY AND NATIONAL SECURITYStudy: Strengthening national emergency preparedness in Canada
Submitted by Danilo Dzyuban, Ottawa, Ontario
29 September 2026This brief concerns the Emergency Management Act, for which the Minister of Public Safety is the Minister, and the National Risk Profile that Public Safety Canada publishes.
Between 29 and 31 August 2026 I filed 3 requests under the Access to Information Act with the Department of National Defence. They carry 14 numbered items. One asks for any assessment of the reliability of the assurances allied states have given to defend Canada against nuclear attack. One asks for the record that names the instrument in which an obligation of any state to defend Canada against nuclear attack is written down, or that states that no such instrument exists. One asks for any note on Canada's options if extended deterrence were withdrawn or conditioned. One asks for the emergency management plan for nuclear attack that subsection 6(1) of the Emergency Management Act requires the Minister of National Defence to prepare. One asks for the nuclear certification status of the aircraft Canada is buying. On 17 September 2026 the Department answered all 3 requests with the same 2 sentences: "We regret to advise you that this Department neither confirms nor denies records exist pursuant to section 10(2) of the Access to Information Act. If the documentation did exist, it would be exempted in its entirety pursuant to section 15(1) of the Access to Information Act." No item was answered on its own. The Department did not say that the records do not exist. It refused to say whether they exist.
WHAT THEY SAID AGAINST WHAT THEY DID.
The Minister of National Defence told reporters on 3 February 2026: "Canada has absolutely no intention of pursuing nuclear weapons." The day before, the former Chief of the Defence Staff had said that Canada will never have true strategic independence absent its own nuclear deterrent. The Minister's position stands on the assurance of allies. The Department refused on 17 September 2026 to say whether it holds 1 assessment of that assurance. The statement rests on a guarantee the Department will not say it has ever examined.
Paragraph 6(2)(d) of the Emergency Management Act names the case of war in its own words and orders the plans to cover it. The Department will not say whether the plan exists. Either the plan exists and is hidden from the public that pays for it, or it does not exist and the duty in subsection 6(1) has not been performed. Subsection 10(2) of the Access to Information Act is being used to hide which of the 2 is true.
Public Safety Canada's National Risk Profile runs to 55,574 words. The word war appears 0 times. Armed conflict, 0 times. Armed attack, 0 times. The statute names the case. The published profile of the country's risks omits it.
The United States announced on 8 March 2024 that the F-35A is certified to carry the B61-12. On 9 January 2023 Canada announced a finalized agreement to buy 88 of them. The Department claims that confirming it holds a record on that certification could injure the defence of Canada or of an ally. The ally published the fact itself.
Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty and Article IV of the NORAD Agreement are published texts. The Department will not say whether it holds a record about published treaties.
The NORAD and USNORTHCOM FOIA office wrote to me on 23 September 2026 that NORAD is not subject to the Access to Information Act, that in coordination with the Department's Directorate Access to Information and Privacy personnel posted to HQ NORAD should not be tasked with requests under it, and that documents and IT systems used by personnel posted to HQ NORAD are not physically under the Department's control. The same paragraph states that all records under the control of the Department are subject to the Act. On that position, the records of HQ NORAD, the command that warns of an attack on Canada, are out of reach of Canada's own access law.
WHAT THE COMMITTEE IS TO DO.
Send for the plan. Standing Order 108(1)(a) empowers the Committee to send for persons, papers and records. Order Public Safety Canada and the Department of National Defence to produce the emergency management plan that paragraph 6(2)(d) of the Emergency Management Act requires for the case of war or other armed conflict, or to state in writing that none exists.
When the Minister of Emergency Management and Community Resilience appears in this study, put 2 questions and require written answers. First: does an emergency management plan under subsection 6(1) of the Emergency Management Act in respect of nuclear attack on Canada exist in any government institution. Second: has war or nuclear attack on Canada been identified as a risk under subsection 6(1).
Recommend in the report that the National Risk Profile assess war and armed attack on Canada. The motion of 10 March 2026 requests the government's comprehensive response under Standing Order 109, and that response is due within 120 days of the report.
Complaints on the 3 files are before the Information Commissioner of Canada. The Federal Court follows under section 41 of the Access to Information Act. 3 questions on the plan, the risk and the instrument have been with the Minister of National Defence since 20 September 2026.
Danilo Dzyuban
Ottawa, Ontario
The answer ·
Danilo Dzyuban,
Thank you for your note and for your interest in the work of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security (SECU).I noted that your email below is quite similar to an email which you sent to us on August 30, 2026. That email was translated and distributed to the members of the committee on September 28, 2026. The English and French copies of the document that we circulated are attached.
This document was distributed as “correspondence”. Corresondence distributed to members of the committee is not usually posted on the committee’s web page. However, correspondence is considered part of the committee archives. House of Commons Procedure and Practice (4th edition) states, in section 20.188, that:
“At the conclusion of each parliamentary session, committee clerks, who are the administrative and procedural officers of the committees, prepare their committees’ archives. They incorporate into them such items as correspondence and any other official document received which has not been published on the committee’s website. The committees’ permanent records are archived at Library and Archives Canada under a formal agreement between Library and Archives Canada and the House of Commons. Archived committee documents are publicly available, except for those that are deemed confidential. ” (Section 20.188)<https://www.ourcommons.ca/procedure/procedure-and-practice-4/ch20-10-e.html#archivingofcommitteerecords>;
SECU does not usually post correspondence on its web page. However, I did note that your correspondence could be relevant to a study which the committee has initiated, but not yet held any meetings. On March 10, 2026, the committee adopted the following motion:
“That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the committee undertake a study on strengthening national emergency preparedness in Canada, including the federal approach in enhancing risk communication, public readiness, and coordination with all levels of government, Indigenous Peoples, and emergency partners to ensure Canadians are better equipped before disasters occur and how to respond safely when emergencies happen; that the committee dedicate at least four meetings to this study and invite the Minister of Emergency Management and Community Resilience to appear as well; that the committee reports its findings and recommendations to the House; and that, pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee request the government to table a comprehensive response to the report.” (SECU, Minutes of Proceedings, March 10, 2026, Meeting no. 27<https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/45-1/SECU/meeting-27/minutes>;)
The committee has not yet held any meetings related to this study, but it can receive briefs related to it. Would you like your attached document to be considered a brief related to this study of the committee? If so, the document can posted on the committee’s web page. Please let me know.
Finally, your email below contains a link to your personal website, which is unilingual. I am only permitted, by order of the committee, to distribute documents which are in both official languages. Unfortunately, I cannot distribute the email below while it relies on a link to a website that is only available in English. Would you like to resubmit the document without the link to your website? If so, please submit the document to my attention.
Regards,