ROHCMUM (Regroupement des organismes humanitaires et communautaires pour les mesures d’urgence à Montréal) is a Montreal-based network created in 1999 following recommendations after the 1998 ice storm. It aims to coordinate humanitarian and community organisations to optimise assistance to people affected by major emergencies. It strengthens community readiness through joint planning, training workshops, and coordination practices aligned with civil security structures in Montreal. ROHCMUM also produces practical preparedness tools (e.g., emergency plan templates, coordination “reflex sheets”) and supports networking among responders.
Map
ROHCMUM
General Information
ROHCMUM is a formalised coalition (incorporated since 2007) that convenes community and humanitarian organisations, municipal civil security, and Québec public-safety actors.
It focuses on preparedness and operational coordination for “major disasters,” improving how organisations mobilise, communicate, and deliver support to affected populations.
Its core offer includes structured workshops (initiation, emergency measures plan, business continuity, mobilisation/coordination) facilitated by specialists.
It shares ready-to-use guidance and templates to help organisations build emergency plans and coordinate during incidents.
ROHCMUM was established in 1999 after the Commission on the 1998 ice storm highlighted the importance of community and humanitarian organisations during major emergencies.
Key early collaborators included the City of Montréal Civil Security Centre, Québec’s Ministry of Public Security, and major humanitarian/community actors (e.g., Canadian Red Cross, Salvation Army, Sun Youth).
A formal protocol with the City of Montréal (signed 28 April 2005) supports coordination of services offered by these organisations during disasters (aid-to-affected-people component).
The initiative has been recognised for the quality of its tools and public-awareness contribution (awards/mentions listed in its history).
Hazard Type
Geographical Scope - Nuts
Population Size
Population Density
Needs Addressed
ROHCMUM addresses a coordination gap that often appears during major emergencies: many humanitarian and community organisations can help, but without shared preparedness practices, clear coordination routines, and common planning tools, assistance can become slower, duplicated, or inconsistent. ROHCMUM therefore focuses on building organisational readiness (plans, roles, mobilisation) and improving inter-organisational coordination with Montréal’s civil security structures to optimise support to affected people.
ROHCMUM’s materials and training topics reflect an “aid to affected people” approach that explicitly considers vulnerability during emergencies, particularly people with disabilities or reduced mobility, individuals requiring specific health/psychosocial support, and people facing language barriers (e.g., needing translation/interpreting).
Canada’s disaster governance is fundamentally decentralised and multi-level: provinces and territories hold primary responsibility for emergency management within their jurisdictions, while the federal government provides national leadership, coordination, and support when events exceed local/provincial capacity. This is reflected in federal - provincial - territorial (FPT) frameworks and legislation that emphasise collaboration while respecting jurisdictional authority.
Canada maintains a mature preparedness ecosystem that includes national guidance for households and communities (“Get Prepared”), structured emergency planning and training led by Public Safety Canada in collaboration with provinces/territories, and legal/coordination mechanisms for escalated events. Preparedness priorities span planning, exercises, and lessons learned, and cover a wide range of hazards (weather, climate, earth/space, public health and safety)
Overall, Canada’s infrastructure readiness is relatively developed, supported by strong public institutions and widespread critical infrastructure coverage. However, exposure to climate- and weather-driven hazards (e.g., floods, wildfires, extreme heat/cold) means resilience remains uneven across regions and systems, and preparedness increasingly focuses on adaptation, continuity planning, and risk-informed management
To build shared readiness among community/humanitarian organisations, align their emergency plans and coordination practices with Montréal civil security structures, and ensure faster, more coherent assistance to affected people during major emergencies.
Workshops (initiation, emergency measures plan, business continuity, mobilisation/coordination), conferences, networking events, shared tools/templates (Word/PDF), and ongoing collaboration with municipal/provincial partners
ROHCMUM’s model gives community and humanitarian organisations meaningful operational influence: they co-develop preparedness practices, participate in joint coordination routines, and contribute capacity to the “aid to affected people” component. Strategic authority during a disaster remains with official civil security structures, but ROHCMUM strengthens shared decision-quality through common tools, pre-agreed coordination mechanisms, and institutional partnerships.
ROHCMUM supports long-term empowerment by institutionalising learning (regular trainings), providing reusable planning templates (PMU, continuity planning), and promoting continuous improvement practices (e.g., structured debriefing tools). The result is organisations that can mobilise faster, coordinate better, and sustain readiness despite turnover and evolving risks.
Vulnerable Groups
Governance
Emergency Preparedness
Infrastructure Readiness
Engagement Level
Empowerment Level
Implementation
ROHCMUM combines:
- A standing multi-organisation network
- A structured training pathway (initiation + plan development + mobilisation/coordination)
- Practical, standardised tools (emergency plan guides/templates and coordination “reflex” sheets) that organisations can directly implement.
- It also formalises collaboration with municipal civil security through protocols and recurring joint events, helping translate preparedness into real coordination capacity.
French and English
ROHCMUM (incorporated coalition/network), working in partnership with Montréal’s civil security structures and Québec public safety counterparts.
ROHCMUM has operated since 1999, formalised coordination with the City of Montréal via a protocol, and produced recognised preparedness tools (guides/templates) used to strengthen organisational readiness and coordination. Its long operational history, repeated trainings, and external recognition indicate high experience in preparedness and disaster coordination for “aid to affected people.”
- Municipal civil security (City of Montréal)
- Québec public safety actors
- wide range of humanitarian/community organisations (e.g., Canadian Red Cross, Salvation Army, St John Ambulance, Sun Youth, Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, YMCA)
- plus subject-matter experts facilitating workshops.
- Convene/maintain the network of organisations and partners (membership/participation).
- Run readiness-building workshops (initiation; emergency plan; continuity plan; mobilisation/coordination).
- Support organisations to draft/adapt emergency plans using ROHCMUM templates and guidance (Word/PDF tools).
- Establish coordination routines and documentation for operations during a disaster (reflex sheets; coordination prompts).
- Reinforce learning through conferences, networking, and after-action/debriefing practices to improve over time.
The model relies on sustained local participation (staff/volunteers time from member organisations), coordination capacity (secretariat/administration), access to training facilitators/experts, and production/maintenance of practical tools and materials. Direct budget details are INFO NOT AVAILABLE, but many contributions appear partnership- and in-kind–driven (experts facilitating sessions; institutional support).
ROHCMUM operates as an ongoing preparedness system rather than a one-off project: it runs recurring annual/seasonal activities (workshops, networking, conferences) while supporting organisations through phased capability-building-from initiation, to plan drafting (PMU/CPO), to mobilisation and coordination practices—followed by learning and improvement via debriefing
Experience of the Implementing Organisation in DRM
Target Audience
Resources Required
Timeframe & Phases
Participation Results
- Coordination works best when it is pre-arranged (protocols, shared routines) rather than improvised during a crisis.
- Standard templates and simple job-aids help diverse organisations act coherently under pressure.
- Regular joint training and networking strengthens trust and interoperability, which directly improves field performance.
Common challenges include aligning many organisations with different mandates/capacities, maintaining readiness despite staff turnover, and ensuring coordination mechanisms remain usable during real incidents. ROHCMUM addresses these through repeated trainings, standardised planning/coordination tools, and cross-sector events that build trust and interoperability (including operational topics like emergency telecommunications, stress management, and search-and-rescue interoperability).
Rather than a hazard-specific plan, ROHCMUM mitigates operational risk by ensuring organisations have:
- An emergency measures plan template and guidance
- Defined mobilisation/coordination processes
- Practical coordination job-aids (reflex sheets) to structure information-sharing and actions during an incident. This reduces confusion, speeds mobilisation, and improves consistency of support to affected people across organisations
Risk & Mitigation Plan
Scalability and Sustainability
ROHCMUM’s sustainability rests on institutionalisation and partnerships: it is incorporated (since 2007), collaborates formally with municipal civil security via protocol(s), maintains governance through a board drawn from key organisations, and keeps the network active through recurring activities and maintained tools/publications.
The approach is designed to be replicable: ROHCMUM explicitly notes that its expertise can be applied beyond Montréal to elsewhere in Québec. Because the tools are generic (plans, coordination routines, debriefing methods) and workshop-based, the model can be adapted to other municipalities/regions by mapping local actors and integrating with the relevant civil security authority.
ROHCMUM’s “innovation” is primarily operational and organisational: it provides ready-to-edit Word/PDF templates, structured coordination prompts, and practical methods (including debriefing toolkits) that make preparedness actionable for community organisations. Technology use is supportive (document toolkits and linked information services) rather than advanced “smart” systems.
INFO NOT AVAILABLE
INFO NOT AVAILABLE
Sustained preparedness in the community sector depends on continuity: ongoing training cycles, maintained and easy-to-use tools, and strong institutional partnerships that keep coordination “alive” between emergencies. ROHCMUM’s long-running model suggests that practicality (simple templates and clear routines) plus relationship-building (networking and joint exercises) is what turns preparedness into real response capacity.