A tale of two fundamentally different crises in Canada – Policy Options

March 4, 2020

Over the past few weeks, Canadians have been seized by two crises: the spread of the coronavirus and the blockades set up across the country to protest construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline in traditional Wet’suwet’en territory in British Columbia. Both meet the three conditions that define a crisis: they are unexpected, they create uncertainty and they pose a threat to important goals.

The juxtaposition of the two events, however, underscores that crises are not all the same; they are underpinned by different types of knowledge claims that lead to different governance processes. Generic references to “crisis” and “risk management” are superficial and not particularly helpful for those with responsibility in these areas. Focusing instead on differences in knowledge will help us to understand the specific aspects of the process that require attention in each instance.

The International Risk Governance Council distinguishes between emerging and ambiguous risks. This classification is related not to the intrinsic characteristics of the risks themselves but to the state and quality of knowledge available about them.

Read More: https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/march-2020/a-tale-of-two-fundamentally-different-crises-in-canada/