The research gauged the opinions among Canadians on extreme weather events, power disruptions, and natural disasters, including the likely change in their occurrence going forward and the country’s level of preparedness. Respondents were asked their thoughts on government funding for emergency preparedness and the potential creation of a national disaster response agency. Survey participants were also asked to state their level of interest in emergency preparedness and for their views on the amount and quality of information available to Canadians on the subject.

Since 2022, the federal government has been consulting with provinces and territories on a potential volunteer disaster relief program similar to the one in Germany. Asked if they would support a similar program, the majority of Canadians say they would support (56%) or somewhat support (35%) this. Two per cent say they would oppose and three per cent would somewhat oppose this.

Nanos conducted an RDD dual frame (land- and cell-lines) hybrid telephone and online random survey of 1093 Canadians, 18 years of age or older, between August 30th to September 2nd, 2024 as part of an omnibus survey.

The margin of error for this survey is ±3.0 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

This study was commissioned by DMG Events and the research was conducted by Nanos Research.

To view the full report, click here