City, province clash over timeline for help following Canada Day storm

City says they were in nearly daily contact, minister says it took 8 days

Ontario's emergency preparedness minister says it took the City of Ottawa eight days after the Canada Day flooding to ask for help with the cleanup, while municipal officials say they were in regular contact with the province from the evening of the huge storm.

The timeline came into question during an Oct. 6 committee meeting at Queen's Park, where local New Democrat MPP Chandra Pasma suggested the city had requested help from the government's Ontario Corps — but little came.

In response, Emergency Preparedness and Response Minister Jill Dunlop compared Ottawa to St. Catharines, saying that city had asked for assistance just two days after its own devastating storm.

"In the situation in Ottawa, the flooding and the rain happened on July 1," Dunlop said. "We didn't receive a request for assistance until July 9."

Once that request was received, Dunlop said the Salvation Army was deployed to "procure cleaning supplies for families."

Pasma challenged Dunlop about whether the government had offered help.

"Absolutely. I reached out to the mayor myself. I spoke with him. The premier reached out to the mayor, and [Municipal Affairs Minister Rob] Flack talked to him about the financial supports available," Dunlop responded.

"Each municipality has their own emergency management plan. They reach out to us when they have reached that capacity and need additional support. We don't just show up and say we're here to help. We have to have that request from the municipality."

Unclear if city requested aid from Ontario Corps

Both Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and city staff, however, interpret the timeline differently.

A statement from Sutcliffe's re-election campaign said the mayor had engaged directly with the two ministers and Premier Doug Ford on July 2 and 3 "to request assistance from the province."

Ryan Perrault, the city’s general manager of emergency and protective services, also told CBC News in an email that city staff were in contact with the provincial emergency operations centre "immediately" after the floods and maintained "nearly daily" contact.

The city's priority in the storm's aftermath, Perrault wrote, was to deploy emergency services, remove debris, restore transportation and help displaced residents — all while "discussing potential areas where provincial support could be provided as needs evolved."

On July 4, the city requested the activation of the provincial program known as Disaster Recovery Assistance for Ontarians (DRAO), according to Perrault.

That program can reimburse people for cleanup and repairs.

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As the post-storm response shifted and extra needs became clear, the city then sought additional assistance on July 9 — eight days after the storm — for residents whose "insurance claims had been denied and who faced challenges undertaking cleanup and remediation themselves," Perrault said.

The province provided additional supports, including "HEPA air purifiers, cleaning kits and connections to non-governmental organizations," he said.

"The city’s approach throughout the event was to lead the city’s emergency response, maintain close co-ordination with provincial partners and bring forward specific requests as needs were identified.”

The city did not specify if the request on July 9 was for Ontario Corps deployment or if a request for Ontario Corps was ever made.

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The government launched Ontario Corps in 2024. It's a provincewide group of skilled professionals and trained volunteers that can be deployed to help communities respond to natural disasters and other emergencies.

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The province has continued to add members to the corps, which now include The Salvation Army Canada, Habitat for Humanity, The Home Depot and Feed Ontario.

"We now have more than 33,600 registered volunteers, with more than 8,000 of those who have completed their training and are ready to be deployed," Dunlop said at the committee meeting.

After the meeting, Pasma told CBC she wants to see accountability for what she called a lack of help with the flood aftermath.

"We know that help never came on the ground. You know, ultimately that is what matters: that people were left for weeks, multiple months in some cases, to handle the cleanup all by themselves," she said.

"What we deserve to know is what help was offered when, what help was asked for when [and] who refused? Was it the province? Was it the mayor?"

After learning what Pasma said in the meeting, mayoral challenger Jeff Leiper called on Sutcliffe Wednesday to release any paper trail showing when the request for help was made.

"If the city asked early and asked for cleanup crews, show us, and the province [then] has questions to answer," wrote Leiper, who has been endorsed by Pasma, in a news release.

"If it didn’t, residents deserve to know why."

Emergency Preparedness and Response Minister Jill Dunlop, seen here in 2024, told a committee meeting earlier this month that it took eight days after the Canada Day storm for city officials to request help. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press)

A statement from Sutcliffe's re-election campaign team explained he "immediately directed city staff to engage with their provincial counterparts to request assistance for impacted residents."

The statement described the mayor's interactions with Dunlop, Ford and Flack on July 2 and 3, in which he requested help.

"At no point was any offer of assistance rejected by the city nor was there any delay in requesting assistance," wrote the campaign team.

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"What's clear is that Mark Sutcliffe took action. To politicize a natural disaster for crass political gain is unhelpful to the affected communities. What residents want is results."

The campaign said Sutcliffe would work with all governments on the city's infrastructure needs and "won’t play partisan politics."

The Ontario legislature returns on Oct. 27, but the committee on justice policy was meeting during the break to review specific bills or estimates.

Jenna Legge is a reporter with CBC in Ottawa. Before that, she worked as a journalist on Prince Edward Island, with earlier stints in Winnipeg and Toronto. She holds a master's degree in international journalism from City University of London, and also studied journalism, law and political science at Carleton University. She can be reached at jenna.legge@cbc.ca

With files from David Fraser and Justin Ball