25th Annual Conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers

LETTER OF INTENT – IEMAMOU Letter of Intent

WHEREAS, the Conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers is committed to providing the possibility of mutual assistance among the states and provinces in managing any emergency or disaster that calls for such mutual assistance; and

WHEREAS, there presently exists a single, standardized, national compact called the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) in the United States to provide for mutual assistance among the states that can be used as a model for the Conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers; and

WHEREAS, the New England Governors have adopted a similar resolution and a number of New England states have enacted necessary legislation to ratify an Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) between the New England states; and

WHEREAS, agreements between certain individual states and provinces already exist including the Atlantic Provinces' Agreement on Cooperation in Emergencies; and

WHEREAS, an International Emergency Management Assistance Memorandum of Understanding (IEMAMOU) is desirable because few, if any, individual states or provinces have all the resources needed to respond to all types of disasters and large scale emergencies; and

WHEREAS, an IEMAMOU allows for swift response when reacting to the safety, care and welfare of the public in time of disaster;

THEREFORE, on behalf of the Province of New Brunswick, this letter expresses our intent to fully participate in the Memorandum of Understanding, to introduce legislation necessary for the Province to join, and to become a party when such legislation is enacted.

Signed this 18th day of July, 2000 at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

- 30 -