State of Emergency Declared in British Columbia to support the COVID-19 response

Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth, speaking
in Vancouver today 

The Provincial Government has taken another step in its response to the arrival of the COVID-19 coronavirus in the province, announcing today that the Province is now in a State of Emergency.

Mike Farnworth, the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General outlined the steps ahead during a morning Press Conference, stating that the Province took the exceptional step on the recommendation of British Columbia's Health and Emergency Management Officials.

The move comes two days after Public Health Officer Dr. Bonne Henry declared a Public Health Emergency.



“Declaring a state of emergency is an important measure to support our provincial health officer and minister of health in swift and powerful response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are working with partners across government and industry to co-ordinate emergency response efforts, and we won’t hesitate to use the tools available to us to keep people safe.”

The initial term for the State of Emergency will be for fourteen days, though if required it can be extended or rescinded as provincial officials deem necessary.

The declaration will allow the Minister to implement any provincial emergency measures required with access to land and human resource assets that may be necessary to prevent, respond to or alleviate the effects of an emergency.

Those measures will include securing the critical supply chains to make sure people have access to essential goods and services, and that infrastructure necessary in a response is readily available.

Provincial Health Minister Adrian Dix also observed through a statement today how following the new temporary measures and working together, British Columbians can help the situation immensely in the long term.

“We are all working together and introducing these powers to protect our people, our health system and our economy. These are temporary measures that will help us immensely in the long term. I encourage British Columbians to respect the situation as it stands and remember that each of us has an individual responsibility and civic duty to look out for each other by complying with all emergency orders.”

The Legislature will be required to return to session to pass the necessary legislation and all three House Leaders are working towards a session that will provide for measures to expedite the response to the COVID-19 situation.

You can review more background on the announcement as well as review of the Emergency Program Act from today here.

The BC Centre for Disease control has some valuable Coronavirus notes related to COVID-19 you can explore that information here.

You can learn more about the outbreak from both the Province and the Federal government from the links below:

Federal Government site

British Columbia Government site

The World Health Organization website also offers up the latest advisories on the global situation.

More from  Northern Health can be reviewed here 

You can review our archive of past statements and local information here.

Local governments and organizations have also provided for increased awareness of COVID-19 issues, the string of statements that came quickly at the end of the week can be reviewed here.

For notes from across Canada and British Columbia we have been archiving the latest items through our political portal Darcy McGee

Ottawa Observations

Victoria Viewpoints

For items of interest from Northern Health see our archive page here.