ECRC

ECRC is certified by Transport Canada – Marine Safety, as a Response Organization under the Canada Shipping Act (CSA). As a certified Response Organization, ECRC can provide an arrangement to ships and oil-handling facilities that require an arrangement under Canadian Law.

ECRC’s headquarters are located in Ottawa, the capital city of Canada. It provides all of the administrative support for maintaining membership records and the accounting system. In addition, the senior managers in Ottawa provide input to the government agencies concerning any proposed revisions to the response organization regulations and standards under the CSA.

In order to be certified by Transport Canada – Marine Safety, ECRC is required to submit for review a response plan every three years. The plan revision process is ongoing, as response strategies change and new protocols (i.e., beach clean-up, chemical use, in-situ burning, and other alternative methods) are developed. In this way, if a large-scale spill ever occurs in Canada, the regulatory agencies and ECRC will be able to move quickly to implement pre-agreed to approaches to these issues.

ECRC is the only Canadian RO to provide coverage in all navigable waters east of the Rocky Mountains, except in Saint John, NB, and Point Tupper, NS areas, which are served by local Response Organizations. ECRC owns the specialized equipment and maintains contracts with spill response contractors, consultants, and specialists.

ECRC has established mutual aid support agreements with the three other Response Organizations in Canada: the two already mentioned on the East Coast as well as one in British Columbia on Canada’s West Coast.

ECRC regional response capability is provided, to those parts of Canada which require coverage under the CSA, through its Response Centres in three Regions: Great Lakes, Quebec, and Atlantic.