Day 1
9:00am - Noon
Pre-Conference Training:
Niagara Region - Patricia Martel
Moving Towards Proactive Emergency Management: Building Strong Planning Practices
Emergencies often require rapid decision-making and resource deployment under tight timelines. Effective plans can greatly reduce the negative impacts of an emergency by aiding decision-making and supporting emergency needs in a timely manner. While all-hazards plans are a recommended best practice as an overarching plan, there are some circumstances in which a hazard specific plan may be desired. Hazards that have the potential to result in large scale emergencies can present planning challenges since there are often many variables, resource needs, and partners that need to be considered. This session will cover planning practices that will help your program move towards more proactive approach to managing a possible future large-scale emergency.
Speaker bio
Dr. Patricia Martel has over 18 years experience as a practitioner in emergency management. Her career has included work with provincial, regional, and municipal governments, Indigenous communities, NGOs, and the private sector. Patricia completed a PhD focused on operational emergency planning for vulnerable populations to learn how to better transform theory and practice into effective solutions. Patricia has served in a range of positions in different Emergency Operation Centres (EOCs) for many large-scale events and emergencies triggered by hazards including multiple severe forest fire seasons and northern spring breakup flooding, Toronto G8/G20, Goderich tornado, Pan Am Games, Hurricane Sandy, COVID-19 pandemic, Southern Niagara Blizzard/Multi-Hazard Emergency, and the Total Eclipse. She has been in the field both domestically and internationally during impact for a variety of hazards from tornadoes to floods to understand how to improve planning and responses. Patricia has developed recognized best practices for hazard identification and risk assessment, emergency planning for vulnerable groups and public education. This includes the 2012 Provincial HIRA, which was internationally acclaimed for features including pro-active assessment of changes in vulnerability and frequency risk due to factors such as climate change.
11:00am - 1:00pm
Registration & Refreshments
1:00 - 1:20pm
Opening Remarks
1:20 - 2:05pm
Warrior Health - Matthew Pegg
Opening Keynote - Good Sleep Requires Shiny Shoes – Life and Leadership Lessons Learned the Hard Way
Fire Chief Matthew Pegg built and maintained an extraordinary reputation and unparalleled level of public, staff, and elected official trust and confidence throughout his 32-year career as a first responder. This included eight years serving as chief of the largest fire and emergency service in Canada, where he was independently ranked as the sixth most influential person in Toronto and maintained a global media profile and presence through some of the nation’s most significant issues and events.
In this candid, entertaining, and raw keynote, Chief Pegg will share some of the most powerful and important life and leadership lessons learned from his prolific career overseeing both Canada’s largest fire service and some of the largest and most complex emergencies in North American history.
They are truly a collection of lessons learned the hard way.
Speaker Bio -
In November 2024, Matthew Pegg joined the Warrior Health team as Chief Operating Officer, following a 32+ year career as a Firefighter and Fire Chief.
From 2016 through 2024, he served as the Fire Chief in the City of Toronto, Canada. He also served as the General Manager of Emergency Management from 2018 through 2022, in addition to serving as Fire Chief. From March 2020 through April 2022, Chief Pegg served as the City of Toronto's COVID-19 Incident Commander, leading the development and continued operation of one of the most complex incident management systems in North American history. This included leading the longest-ever continuous deployment of Toronto’s Emergency Operations Centre, as well as the development and operation of Toronto's COVID-19 Immunization Task Force and development of the Provincial playbook for vaccine clinic operations.
Prior to being appointed as Fire Chief in Toronto, Chief Pegg served as a Deputy Fire Chief in Toronto, Brampton, Ajax, and Georgina, and he is also a licensed mechanic and a commercial pilot, having also worked in both industries. He is also a past president of the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs.
He is an author and a highly sought-after international speaker, trainer and leadership expert who frequently works with both public and private sector executives on developing and implementing transformational leadership and management strategies.
Matt is a strong advocate for mental health and has worked tirelessly to break down the stigma faced by those who seek professional help to both get and stay healthy and resilient. Leveraging his experience and passion as a public safety professional, Matt now leads the Warrior Health consortium in delivering proactive resilience and mental health resources, training, and support for public safety personnel across Ontario.
2:05 - 2:50pm
Red Cross - Karrie Lepoudre, CRSP and Aliisa Paivalainen
Beyond Standard ESS - Addressing Health Needs and Impacts Before and During Emergencies
Take a journey with the Canadian Red Cross to learn about various approaches and experiences addressing health needs and impacts both before and during emergencies and evacuations. Learn about new innovations and opportunities to address Health in emergencies, including examples and stories from across the Country.
Speaker Bio
Karrie Lepoudre, CRSP
Karrie began her career with Canadian Red Cross in 2013 as an EM Coordinator where she built up teams and relationships for eight years in Northern Ontario. Throughout this time, she successfully led several L2 responses and spearheaded an EM volunteer mentorship system that allowed the local EM volunteer team to flourish. In the last three years, Karrie has supported in the planning and operation role for supports to First Nation evacuation. Until recently held the position of Regional Operations Manager, Northern Ontario, EM and in this role, she has been instrumental in nurturing our external relationships and to the success and continuous improvement of our support to Indigenous evacuations. She has successfully acted as FOT Lead and PDCT Deputy Lead on many occasions, including through some of our team’s most demanding and complex responses. Also holds expertise in training and facilitation and has been an instructor for Environmental/Emergency Management programs at Canadore College since 2013. Combined with her career background in Health and Safety and Environment, her background as an instructor and her many years of organizational knowledge and experience on both the response and readiness side in EM.
Aliisa Paivalainen, Senior Manager
Aliisa has over 15 years of extensive experience in disaster response and humanitarian aid, with a strong background leading both domestic and international deployments. Since joining the Canadian Red Cross in 2020 as part of the COVID-19 response, she has played a pivotal role in advancing the organization’s mission. Currently serving as Senior Manager with the Health in Emergencies team at the National Office, Aliisa focuses on piloting innovative health programs and driving impactful initiatives across Canada.
2:50 - 3:05pm
Break
3:05 - 4:00pm
Two Breakout Sessions:
Emergency Management Ontario - Tim Neufeld
Introduction to Ontario Corps
This session will provide an overview of Ontario Corps, a new volunteer emergency response team for Ontario natural disasters and emergencies. Learn about Ontario Corps and their role in providing ground assistance, including emergency shelter, debris management and flood protection. The new Ontario Corps volunteer organization, a group of partners and people that the government can call to help communities hit hard by emergencies and natural disasters, would supplement communities’ emergency response amid natural disasters and other crises.
Speaker Bio -
Tim is the Senior Manager for the Regional Field Services Branch/Operations Division of EMO. He was born and raised in Vermilion Bay, Ontario. He started his OPS career in 2004 as a Wildland Fire Crew Member with the Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services, Ministry of Natural Resources. During that time Tim attended Lakehead University and completed a BA in Geography along with a concurrent Mapping Sciences Certificate. Tim progressed through the ranks within the fire crew system filling Technician and Management positions in Thunder Bay, Armstrong, Dryden and Red Lake. During this time Tim filled many different wildfire response functions on deployments across Canada and into the northern US. In 2020 Tim joined EMO as the first Team Lead for Northern Ontario Field Operations (now Regional Field Services). In January of 2022 Tim took on a Program Manager role for Northern Ontario Regional Field services and has since moved into a Senior Manager position. During this time Tim assisted in overseeing the growth of Regional Field Services. Tim brings strong leadership and a passion to advance Ontario’s Emergency Response program. Tim lives with his wife and two children in a small unincorporated community outside of Thunder Bay along with their two dogs and many chickens. In his spare time Tim enjoys spending time outdoors in many different pursuits.
Hydro One - Shannon Murphy
Powering Preparedness
Shannon will be speaking on “Powering Preparedness,” exploring strategies to enhance community resilience through collective action.
Speaker Bio
Shannon is an experienced emergency manager with over two decades in the field of emergency response and preparedness. Currently serving as an Emergency Manager with Hydro One, Shannon leads a portfolio focused on external partnerships, collaborating with various organizations to enhance resilience. Prior to this role, she spent years in emergency management roles in both the private sector and municipal sector. Shannon began her career as a paramedic with the BC Ambulance Service, providing hands-on emergency care across diverse environments. With a comprehensive background that spans both utility and municipal sectors, Shannon brings a unique perspective on fostering collaboration between stakeholders to strengthen emergency preparedness.
4:00 - 5:00pm
BAK Emergency Management - Sharon Bak
The Community Resiliency Model (CRM)
The primary focus of CRM is to educate individuals about the biology and neurophysiology of trauma, stress, and resilience, as well as teach simple biologically based wellness skills, which can help reset and stabilize the nervous system. Through CRM, individuals learn to read sensations connected to their own well-being, which TRI calls the “Resilient Zone”. CRM’s goal is to help to create “trauma-informed” and “resiliency-informed and -focused” communities that share a common understanding of the impact of trauma and chronic stress on the nervous system and how resiliency can be restored or increased using this skills- based approach. CRM has also been effectively used internationally in over 75 countries as a means of developing a sustainable system of care where behavioral health services are often non-existent. CRM has been used as a response to active crises, such as the war in Ukraine, and as a post-crisis intervention where people within the community learn and then teach CRM in their own communities. In all of the above populations and intervention modalities (except Ukraine, which is not being evaluated), CRM has been consistently found to reduce PTS/STS symptoms, depression, and anxiety. This speaks to the flexibility, usability, and cultural adaptiveness of the CRM intervention.
Speaker Bio -
Sharon Bak (BA, RSSW) is one of only 6 individuals in Canada who are certified as a CRM Teacher. Certification is through the Trauma Resource Institute, a nonprofit organization devoted to cultivating trauma-informed and resiliency-focused individuals and communities throughout the world. She provides workshops on CRM, which focus on resiliency and building wellness skills that can be utilized both in daily life as well as after a stressful or traumatic event.
5:00 - 5:30pm
Tradeshow and Networking
Sponsored by Valley Fire and Protection Services Ltd.
5:30pm
Dinner - Crooked Arrow Catering
Sponsored by Hydro One
Entertainment - Danny Johnson
Sponsored by Insurance Bureau of Canada
A Thunder Bay Musicians’ Association member, Danny Johnson has been a familiar face around Thunder Bay for several years now, whether performing as a solo artist, with his band 21 Gun Fun, with Dueling Pianos, or with his jazz trio.
He is a well-respected singer/songwriter who has performed at venues and festivals around the world and has opened for and toured with many acclaimed acts, including Bob Dylan, The Tragically Hip, Colin James, David Wilcox, Fred Eaglesmith, George Jones, Valdy and Johnny Cash. He was invited to perform for a special tour for the Six String Nation Guitar Tour (a guitar made from various Canadian historical items). He is presently working on an album with Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, one of the finest slide players in the world, who was awarded a Grammy for his album with Ry Cooder, A Meeting By The River.