Alice Born and Peter Murphy (Statistics Canada)
As part of ongoing efforts to improve emergency management in Canada, Statistics Canada is working with other federal departments to assess and meet the statistical and geospatial information needs for emergency preparedness and response. Statistics Canada plays an important role in providing detailed statistical information in the overall emergency management in Canada. To better understand the extent of the flooding in the spring of 2019, Statistics Canada used satellite data to produce maps showing the major areas affected by surface flooding across the country, and integrated statistical data at the level of dissemination areas, which is the smallest area for which all census data are disseminated and generally contain a population of 400 to 700 persons. Statistical data were released for dwellings, flooded land area, road network and businesses either affected by or at risk of flooding. Also, Statistics Canada released deprivation and vulnerability indices that took into account the characteristics of the people living in the flooded areas.