ESSA - History

There are approximately 5000 community-based ESS volunteers in B.C. who are prepared to assist their fellow citizens when an emergency arises. They are people who want to offer assistance when other people's lives are disrupted by the unexpected. In most communities, these volunteers or staff are organized into teams that are charged with the responsibility of ensuring that all necessary preparations are made for the activation of an effective ESS response when disaster strikes.

A community's ESS team is usually guided by an Emergency Social Service Director, usually a volunteer who works in cooperation with the community's Emergency Program Coordinator (sometimes a paid member of the municipal staff or regional district staff) to help develop a plan that will incorporate the opening of one or more Reception Centres when a disaster is declared. The team's volunteers fill a variety of roles in each Reception Centre, ranging from the provision of short-term food, clothing and lodging, to first aid services, registration, child and pet care and emotional support services.

What makes the province of B.C. so unique in the delivery of Emergency Social Services is the existence of a non-profit organization that represents the volunteers who make up the ESS response family. The Emergency Social Services Association [ESSA] was started in 1988 when a handful of ESS trainers and volunteers realized that there was a need for an organization that would raise the profile of ESS, assist the volunteers in becoming better educated and better prepared, and support the need for improvements in policies and procedures.

There were approximately 30 communities with ESS Directors in those early days and less than 300 active ESS volunteers. The organization's financial lifeline came from the Ministry of Social Services and Housing (now the Ministry of Human Resources) and through community memberships. It required a considerable effort for the first ESSA board to convince communities with active ESS volunteers to join ESSA; but it worked. The fledgling organization managed to sign-up five communities in its first year: Richmond, Delta, New Westminster, Lions Bay, and Coquitlam. There are now more than 70 villages, towns, cities and regional districts that hold ESSA memberships. 

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