APCO News
2008 APCO Canada Conference Review
By Curtis Brochu
I am writing this, looking back thoughtfully on the Ottawa conference and its many events, successes, and challenges. The co-chairs and entire conference committee who volunteered their time effort and energy deserve our sincere thanks and congratulations. Putting on a conference of this magnitude means sacrifices and time away from friends and family. The major events were well received and met the objectives of being rewarding, entertaining, and educational. The members of the board also received clear and informative feedback around the schedule and sessions which we can use to improve the 2009 Conference in Regina occurring October 4 to 7, 2009.
The conference had many highlights. The opening keynote speaker, with his unique and humorous PaperPoint presentation taught us to laugh at and with ourselves, and he did a fantastic job at setting the stage for the days to come. The Canadian War Museum was the setting for a wonderful musical gala. The museum was a poignant reminder of our past and a sobering reality of times gone by. While the setting was majestic and awe inspiring, the gala lived up to its name and was an event that had everyone up and mingling, while the band, (orchestra really), managed to get the place rocking immediately and everyone participating in the celebration. 9-1-1 Goes To Ottawa was a resounding success with speakers and a panel that were for the most part frank and to the point. It was very informative to hear the differing points of view and gain an understanding of the true status of next generation 9-1-1 in Canada and the people who are working to make it happen. Finally we wrapped up the conference with a festive and colourful Caribbean night. I am glad to say no one was injured during the limbo dance. The evening and conference closed on a high note with music and celebration which bodes well for our future conference in Regina.
APCO Canada Past President Donna Anderson and NENA Ontario President Sheryl MacPhail
All the members of APCO should be proud of the participation and contribution that occurred during the annual meeting Wednesday morning. It was amazing to see the increasing numbers of quality candidates stepping forward in a volunteer capacity to lead this association into a future that is changing by leaps and bounds. Your new APCO Canada Board of Directors is composed of Maureen Schmidt, President; Donna Anderson, Past President; Curtis Brochu, Vice President; and Directors Theresa Virgin, Gavin Hayes, Nancy Banks, and Treasurer Sandy Vogstad. APCO is your association. It is and will continue to be your voice to the government and industry of emergency telecommunications in Canada. We the APCO Canada Board of Directors are grateful for your support and involvement.
Left to Right: Donna Anderson, Gavin Hayes, Theresa Virgin, Maureen Schmidt, Curtis Brochu, Sandy Vogstad, Nancy Banks.
Your board was strongly represented at the APCO Global Alliance meeting. The Global Alliance is a forum for the APCO associations from Canada, the USA, Britain, and Australia to come together to discuss common issues and develop consistent successful strategies to and advance the profession of the public safety communication officer. The challenges and advancements that are occurring in one area of the world are for the most part being mirrored across the other associations and it is heartening to see the progress and advancements being made in many areas of the profession.
Our profession is changing, and we as emergency service personnel on the frontline, need to remain focused on providing emergency services responders with the best information possible while addressing the needs of people in crisis and who need the lifeline that a calm and professional voice provides. If we believe in the emergency telcomunnicator as a frontline professional in emergency services we can elevate our place and involvement in the provision of emergency services. To do this, we as individuals, organizations, and a collective association need to show up, contribute, and continue to always act as professionals in everything we do. Recognition as a profession only comes with the behaviours and actions of a professional and I am proud to be part of this developing and exciting profession.
It was my pleasure to meet many of you in Ottawa and I look forward to renewing friendships and meeting new members in Regina next year
9-1-1 Goes to Ottawa
By Maureen Schmidt
Over the past couple months, emergency communication professionals across Canada were asked to contact their local members of parliament to inform and educate them on the significant safety issues surrounding the growth and impact of 9-1-1 wireless telephone calls. A session was then scheduled during the APCO/NENA Conference in Ottawa. Invitations were sent to conference delegates as well as elected officials.
November 19, 2008 marked the first Canadian 9-1-1 Goes to Ottawa session. Over 150 attendees were treated to a delicious lunch sponsored by Solacom Technologies. The audience was addressed by Mr. Paul Godin, Canadian Radio-television & Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Bernard Lord, Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA), and Gregory Rohde, Executive Director, E9-1-1 Institute. Each speaker provided perspectives and updates on the status of Phase 1 and Phase II wireless E9-1-1 functionality in Canada.
The session continued with a round table session moderated by Rick Galway, Canadian Regional Director, NENA. Panel experts included Judy Broomfield, Toronto Police and Chair of the Ontario 9-1-1 Advisory Board, Keith McIntosh (CWTA), Brian Fontes, CEO NENA, and Michael Amarosa, VP of Public Affairs, TruePosition, Inc. The panel fielded audience questions and the session was very informative and interesting. The United States perspective and lessons learned from their implementation verified the significant challenge ahead of us in Canada.
APCO Canada would like to thank everyone who assisted in putting this very timely and vital session together. For further information and instructions on how each of us can assist in educating our elected officials please visit www.apco.ca for draft letters and a fact sheet.
By working together, our goal to “increase the safety and security of all Canadians by implementing 9-1-1 including cellular caller information, throughout the country” can be achieved.
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Global Alliance Pact leads to International Information Technology Gathering
By Ted Harris
In October 2006 the four global APCO families signed off on an historic agreement to work together collaboratively to make people’s lives safer. The purpose of the alliance is to align the APCO organizations to promote the sharing of information, experiences, ideas, and best practices. It is in its formative years but has already taken steps forward in its mission to provide the best information and resources to the world’s public safety communications community. The Global Alliance for Cooperation and Development is intended to build common platforms for progress across geographic borders and will encourage the development of organizations that share the common purpose and espouse the same values and goals in other nations of the world.
One of the first specific internationally based sessions intended to allow for such information sharing was recently held in Ottawa during the recent 2008 APCO Canada Conference. The Ontario government had moved the responsibility for information technologies support of the Emergency Health Services Branch into the provincial government IT sector and was looking to understand the lessons learned elsewhere. To that end an invitation was sent out to get together, and members of the global alliance families positively responded. I had the pleasure to facilitate a very successful meeting which was held in October which saw communications, managerial and IT staff attend from the four APCO Alliance partners (including executive leaders of each organization) to discuss differing approaches and experiences in meeting the IT support needs of the emergency services with the Ontario ministry information technology lead agents.
Topics discussed during the session included the identification of public safety system governance and IT support models, including differentiation of centralized versus decentralized approaches; how changes to systems were developed and implemented; successes and challenges, business concerns and the identification of pitfalls experienced along the way.
The feedback from all participants, from all the global APCO partners and from the ministry was extremely positive about this first information sharing session. There are plans underway to post the results of these types of events and ancillary documents on the new APCO Global Alliance website (www.apcoglobalalliance.org) so as to allow all the partner members to have access to these learning episodes. One of the results of the meeting was the wish to hold more such sessions in the future on information sharing regarding the subjects of IT and telecommunications.
This was a very tangible product of the success of the birth of the APCO global alliance and it will surely not be the last!
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