 When Hurricane Florence
 came barrelling down
 the Carolinas
 on the U.S. coast,
 emergency services
 were at the ready.
Powerful rain bands may produce
another 15-20 inches, or more.
 Federal agencies
 dispensed valuable,
 and potentially
 life-saving information,
 on emergency preparedness
 during television briefings.
 Every word was
 also interpreted
 in American Sign Language,
 or ASL.
[woman screaming]
Man: Holy --!
Reporter: But, the same
 can't be said in Canada.
 Whether it's last week's
 tornado in Ottawa,
 or a van attack in Toronto,
 televised briefings
 alerting the public
 about details
 of the emergencies
 did not include
 interpreters.
Woman: Welcome,
 everyone,
 to the first
 deaf political rally!
Reporter: It's a long
 held grievance
 with groups representing the
 more than 300,000 Canadians
 who are deaf.
 Signing is the
 preferred language.
Isn't closed
captioning enough?
Interpreter:
 I think if you want
 to maximize
 accessibility,
 and get the
 information out there,
 provide it to a larger
 audience with captions,
 as well as
 interpreting services.
Reporter: Professor,
 Debra Russell's research in
 the field of interpretations
 spans more than 30 years.
There isn't, I think,
an awareness, perhaps,
on the part of broadcasters
around the importance
of accessibility for deaf
and hard of hearing people.
Reporter: A report
 on accessible emergency
 communication 
 that Russell co-authored
 calls the absence
 of interpreters
 during televised
 broadcasts of disasters
 "mind-boggling".
So why isn't it done?
New accessibility
legislation
is making its way
through Parliament,
but that may take
some time to pass.
 Interpreters have been used,
 but it's inconsistent,
 and nobody seems
 to be in charge.
[flames roaring]
 But life-threatening
 disasters,
 like the forest fires
 in Fort McMurray, Alberta,
 underscore the need for
 getting critical information
 out quickly,
 and to all people.
Interpreter:
 The earlier we get access
 to the information,
 the earlier we could evacuate,
 and therefore,
 reducing our risks.
[siren blaring]
Reporter: A kind of risk that
 could be prevented, he says,
 with better training for
 emergency medical workers,
 and a standard practice
 of using interpreters
 during any crisis.
 Kas Roussy,
 CBC News, Toronto.
