After each major event, we hear the accolades for those that volunteered their time to help those in need. Many of these volunteers do not do this because of the accolades. They do it because it is their nature to help out when needed and to step up when able.
Is it time that we looked to empower these volunteers and help them out? For example, a volunteer that leaves their work for a period of time to help out in a disaster does not have their job protected. That volunteer is also responsible for ensuring that they keep their own kit up to part.
Obviously, this is something that requires striking the right balance. Employers count on people to do their jobs and finding replacements is no small amount of work either. But let’s look for a reasonable balance and at least start the discussion.
In Canada, a volunteer firefighter or search and rescue volunteer can claim up to $3000 if you volunteered and put in at least 200 hours of eligible volunteer firefighting or SAR volunteer work. We won’t discuss the fact that this is about the equivalent of 5 weeks’ full time employment or that the hourly rate is about $15.
As we move into more and more natural events, the demands both for and on these volunteers will increase. Why not extend this to any volunteers also associated with the coordinated response to natural disasters?
Administration?
This may not be as difficult as it seems. Most natural disasters have some form of command post that coordinates activity and logistics. Often they use something called the Incident Command System (ICS) to coordinate activities.
This includes something called “spontaneous volunteer management.” Essentially, people seeking to volunteer their services show up at this command post and register. This may happen either individually or in groups of more organized volunteers. In either case, there is a registration process that integrates the volunteer into the overall response operations. The reason it’s done this way is because these situations can be reasonably hazardous and the first step in helping keep volunteers safe is knowing where they are and what they are doing.
This also includes what is called a demobilization process for when a person leaves the operation. This is the process that can be leveraged for this proposed credit. In addition to the person registering their departure, a formal record of number of hours attached to the operation can be generated. That can become the documentation needed by organizations like the CRA so that the system is not abused.
Amount
The second part is the amount. Remember, we are talking about a tax credit here and not income. Volunteers by nature are not paid for their time. So why not look at different models?
Some options that may be worthwhile might include the following:
- Twice the provincial minimum wage beginning at 40 hours and being capped at not more than 10% of an individual’s net income.
- A set amount per week using a tiered system where deployment into a state of emergency gives a 3 x minimum wage credit, supporting operations from outside the area a 2 x minimum wage credit per hour, and passing training a 1 x minimum wage credit.
Obviously, there may be other ideas.
What are we Accomplishing?
It is painfully obvious that these events need volunteers on two fronts. First, the amount of work to be done is significant and often exceeds the resources available. Second, by developing a cadre of people who understand how to respond to these events, who can assist communities in their response, and who are distributed across the country, we build both a baseline capacity to respond but also the feeder groups for more advanced volunteer organizations.
There have been occasional rumblings about starting up some kind of climate-response capability. I would propose that we need more than just another smaller but capable organization that can travel to disasters. We need a grass roots movement that are prepared but also enabled to help out in situ.
Just a thought …