Prior to 1988, the agency responsible for the "public safety" portfolio was known as Emergency Preparedness Canada, which was created under the auspices of the Department of National Defence.

[4] Created as a direct result of lessons learned from the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001, the department is in many ways similar to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; it does not cover the protection of maritime sovereignty (which is covered by the Canadian Forces, Transport Canada, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada), and it does not have general jurisdiction over immigration (it took over immigration enforcement functions most visibly at borders and ports of landing, but the separate department Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada manages application and screening, settlement services, and naturalization).

PSEPC became legally established when the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Act came into force on 4 April 2005.

It contains detailed historical information on over 1,000 natural and human-made disasters (such as technological and conflict events, excluding war) that have taken place since 1900 in Canada or abroad and that have directly affected Canadians.

[18][19] The events that are tracked conform to the "Emergency Management Framework for Canada's" definition of a disaster and meet one or more of the following criteria:[18] The "72 Hours...Is Your Family Prepared?"

[20] The campaign was launched in 2006 by Public Safety Canada in collaboration with the Canadian Red Cross, St. John Ambulance, and The Salvation Army.

CBCF was formed in 1997 with an operational focus, originally addressing smuggling across the eastern regions of both countries.