Exploring Risk Governance Deficits for Marine Oil Spill Preparedness and Response in Canada

Abstract

Preparedness for and response to marine oil spills are important for protecting the Canadian marine areas, as these risks can have significant environmental, economic, and socio-cultural impacts. The vast sea areas under Canadian jurisdiction, combined with the wide range of maritime activities taking place in these, pose significant challenges to efficient preparedness and response planning and operation. The multitude of national and international regulatory commitments, rightsholder and stakeholder interests, and prospects of changes to shipping activities especially in the Canadian Arctic due to climate change justifies the need for effective societal risk governance and risk management. This chapter first outlines the regulatory context and governance practices for spill preparedness and response in Canada, focusing on the legal basis, responsibilities of different actors, engagement activities with rights- and stakeholders, and decision-making processes. It then highlights how these measures can be understood as an implementation of area-based management tools to mitigate oil spill risks. Subsequently, risk governance deficits in the preparedness and response governance and management systems are explored through interviews with experts from federal civil services, based on commonly found deficits identified by the International Risk Governance Council. The results indicate that the main deficits pertain to factual knowledge about risks, evaluating risk acceptability, implementing and enforcing risk management decisions, organizational capacity for risk management, and handling dispersed responsibilities. The results serve as a basis for developing initial strategies for alleviating the deficits, improving oil spill preparedness and response and environmental protection, and guiding further scholarship.