IceStorm 98 Study

Mr. Lavoie ‘s office is responsible for all of the provincial correctional facilities and probation and parole offices in the St. Lawrence - Ottawa Valley. The correctional facilities are located in Napanee, Brockville, L’Orignal, Cornwall, Merrickville and Ottawa. The probation/parole services are in Kingston, Cornwall, Ottawa East and Ottawa West.

At eight or nine o’clock on the morning of Wednesday, January 7/98, Mr. Lavioe received calls in his Kingston office from the Brockville and L’Orignal jails informing him that the jails were without electrical power. In the absence of his supervisor, Deborah Newman, who was in Toronto, he advised the jails to review their contingency plans for evacuation, prepare transportation, look into what backup was available and check with local authorities about how long the loss of power would last. Communica-tion by telephone was maintained that day. In the afternoon, both Brockville and L’Orignal reported that they had been advised that the power would not be restored for at least 3 or 4 days.

Brockville Jail had no backup generation so it was evacuated Wednesday evening to Quinte Regional Detention Centre in Napanee. L’Orignal had a backup generator but it was unable to supply the full power needed. L’Orignal was evacuated to the Ottawa- Carleton Detention Centre on Thursday (January 8/98). Rideau Correctional Centre lost its power but its backup generators kicked-in and the facility did not have to be evacuated. Ottawa-Carleton did not lose its regular electricity at all.

Two open custody residences in Kingston for offenders between sixteen and eighteen years of age lost power and were evacuated to the Quinte Regional Annex. A couple of similar facilities in Ottawa also lost power. Their residents were placed in shelters in the community operated by the “Y”, churches or local recreation centres. The Cornwall young offender, open custody residence was evacuated to a shelter established at the former air-traffic controller school in Cornwall.

Many staff were out of power at their own homes and had to manage their personal situations. Employees who reported to work at closed facilities were reassigned. Brockville staff helped local police do patrols and whatever they could. L’Orignal staff, led by the superintendent, went to the Emergency Operations Centre in Hawkesbury where they worked with volunteers, received and disbursed supplies, participated in search and rescue operations and other activities for ten or eleven days.

Rideau Correctional Centre opened its visiting area as a shelter for community residents and supplied food to them. L’Orignal Jail did the same thing once its backup generator was operating reliably.

Staff was busy evacuating jails, assuring supplies and standing-by in case others who were scheduled to work were unable to make it in to work. Staff were assigned duties which helped their communities. For example, OCDC (Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre) used its passenger van to transport people, often elderly people.

On a personal note, Mr. Lavoie said that he was without power for only twelve hours. With just him and his wife in a three-bedroom home with heat, he said that he felt “guilty” except that he lived too far out of Kingston to offer anything. He said that he helped by going to the emergency operation centre in Hawkesbury to relieve the superintendent of the L’Orignal Jail who had worked ten 14-15 hour days. He replaced her on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, January 16, 17 and 18.

With the exception of the Rideau Correctional Centre, regular telephone communications was generally maintained. Rideau was without regular telephone service for about a week. The superintendent at Rideau had one cellular phone and with some agility and power from his car‘s electrical system was able to maintain contact with the district office in Kingston. He was also able to arrange for a number of additional cellular phones so that all of the inmates could phone home to check with their families. L’Orignal and Brockville telephone contact was “off and on” but since their inmates were transferred elsewhere, constant communication was not crucial.

Mr. Lavoie pointed out that throughout the ice storm emergency, the inmates where very cooperative. The decision to evacuate was explained to the inmates. “We tried to keep activities as normal as possible… The main thing is to communicate with the inmates; let them know what was happening.” There was some discomfort, particularly at the initial stages. “At Brockville jail (when) we lost power, (inmates) couldn’t shower, (we) couldn’t cook the food.” Communication and empathy with the inmates was very important. They need to know “that you are doing the best you can, that their safety is going to be maintained and that their concerns are going to be addressed”, concern for their wives and families who are also dealing with the storm.

Issues and plans were discussed locally and with the branch director at the Ministry’s “corporate office” at Queen’s Park. It was important to liaise with corporate office because they had better connections for securing resources. For example: they knew where a replacement generator could be obtained when the one in Cornwall needed to be replaced. They knew who could service the generators and they knew who to contact locally with regards to emergency measures operations. Loretta Healey from the corporate office spearheaded a drive that resulted in a truckload of goods and material including blankets, food, kerosene, and firewood, being sent to Hawkesbury. Brookside Youth Centre in Cobourg sent frozen food to Hawkesbury.

Money was not a concern. “You spend what you have to spend to keep the system operating. At the end you have to be accountable: as long as it is legitimate, reasonable and practical.” Specific ice storm related expenditures included generators, staff overtime and donations to local communities.

Decisions where made in discussions between Roger and Deborah Newman. Throughout the first Thursday evening, Friday, Saturday and Sunday (January 8, 9, 10 & 11) they spoke on the phone two or three times an hour, to each other and to other centres. Communication was home-to-home as the office at 1055 Princess Street was without heat and power from Thursday through Monday morning. Mr. Lavoie worked at the office, Monday through Thursday, (January 12th - 15th) and in Hawkesbury, Friday through Sunday (January 16th – 18th).

Mr. Lavoie said that he was proud of the way his staff was able to mobilize and take action throughout this crisis. He is proud of the contribution of the institutions to their communities and the many staff who volunteered, some as volunteer firefighters and others who helped in emergency operations centres. Human resources branch of the Ministry surveyed staff for overtime payment. Mr. Lavoie noted that staff refused to claim overtime stating that no compensation was wanted because they were doing something for the community in crisis. Others who Mr. Lavoie recognized included Toronto corporate office and the support of the public in Canada and the United States.

There were no major problems. Just a bit of confusion at first because of the many unknown factors. In the community there was a minority of people who abused or took advantage of the situation such as those who sold firewood that had been given to them or used the food banks when they didn’t have to. But this was outweighed by common goodness and common generosity.

Mr. Lavoie commented that next time maybe he would evacuate some of the facilities sooner, especially the smaller ones like L’Orignal and Brockville. But he said that it’s a question of judgement. “When power goes off, we expect it will be on again in a few hours… not several days.” If it had been done sooner, the Brockville evacuation, which occurred at 7:00 p.m., could have been done in daylight. Evacuation is always the last resort. It is planned that the larger institutions have auxiliary power generation and that the smaller ones would be evacuated to them. The Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre is located in an area, which did not lose power but many of the staff found that their homes were without power. The problem for the institution was that staff was not able to get in to work because the roads were icy and emergency had been declared.

Debriefing was done in March. Superintendents and area managers made a list of “best practices”, things to do and things to look at if something of this magnitude happens again. Things like making sure that back-up generators are properly maintained and operating at capacity. A report has been forwarded to the corporate office. (Mr. Lavioe will enquire into whether the report can be released for this study.)

The Emergency Plan, which existed at the time of the ice storm, anticipated a localized emergency. There existed contingency plans for evacuation due to a chemical spill, a fire or a major disturbance but not an ice storm and widespread, longer term electrical power loss. It describes the evacuation of inmates. Police services are identified to assist in the transportation. In the case of the ice storm, the police were so backed-up that they could not help with transportation. Poor road conditions were the reason that the evacuation of L’Orignal was delayed. It was decided that it would be safer to stay put in a facility with some, albeit inadequate, power than to travel on the icy roads. The Emergency plan is reviewed annually but there are no practical exercises associated with it.

Contact with Emergency Measures Ontario was limited but useful. The Corrections staff learned how to get generators repaired and where to get fuel for the generators.

In additional to whatever media contact was made at the corporate office, Ottawa-Carleton and Rideau superintendents had contact with local media. They discussed how inmates were being handled, how inmates’ needs were being coped with, whether there were security dangers and how the institutions were contributing to the welfare of local communities.

Reaction to stress was addressed by the Ministry. Several staff attended a day-long, post stress debriefing which was held in Kemptville. In-house psychological support is available for individual stress management. Humour was found in various locations. It was needed to cope with the stress that was being felt.

Final thoughts: Mr. Lavioe said that he feels good about the compassion and humanity of people in Ontario and Canada. He felt badly for those south of Montreal who were without hydro power for such a long time.