Disaster Law Commons^™

Vulnerability, Canadian Disaster Law And The Beast, Jocelyn Stacey

All Faculty Publications

This article is the first step in a major research project on Canadian disaster law. As such, the article's first objective is to map the terrain of the law in Canada that governs disasters. To provide context for this exercise in mapping, the article focuses on the circumstances surrounding the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire ('the Beast'). Focusing on the 'the Beast' also gives rise to the article's second objective: a critical examination of the ways in which Canadian disaster law fails to reflect foundational social science research on disaster harm. The article argues that the current framework of Canadian law …