Disaster mitigation and communications research in Canada: towards a responsive innovation agenda

The aim of this paper is to introduce a new conceptual framework for communications policy research pertaining to disaster mitigation in Canada. It claims that mitigation-oriented policy research must expand its agenda to focus on the deep social roots of risk and vulnerability in Canadian society and that such a re-orientation in theory can provide the foundation for the reform of public policy and practical action suited to the National Disaster Mitigation Strategy (NDMS). Key findings from a recent study of Canada's communications infrastructure are cited to introduce three research themes - learning, innovation, and enabling - that can serve as the foundation for a 'responsive innovation agenda'. The paper introduces this agenda, specifies its core normative principle, and then provides a number of real-world cases that can inform ongoing research efforts towards its realisation.