Fredericton disaster response registry sees low response – New Brunswick [Video]

Fewer than 10 people have signed up for Fredericton’s High Priority Disaster Response Registry, six years after the program began.

“The goal of it was to help identify individuals that may need assistance or special assistance during a time of disaster,” Fredericton Fire Department Chief Dwayne Killingbeck said.

That includes people with physical or cognitive disabilities, who don’t understand English or who need electricity for equipment they rely on to live.

But Killingbeck said the program became less of a priority because of COVID-19. As of Monday, eight people had signed up.

Shelley Petit, the chair of the New Brunswick Coalition of Persons with Disabilities, said she’s never heard of the registry in the six years since it started.

“We’ve had floods during that time, we’ve had apartment buildings on fire. So it’s unfortunate that it existed and we don’t know about it,” she said.

Killingbeck said the city’s age-friendly community advisory committee brought the lack of awareness of …