EM Roundtable: Prioritizing resources, finding allies, setting goals

For Darryl Culley, the pandemic revealed a basic truth about planning and preparing for disasters.

“We have short memories,” said Culley, president of the Emergency Management Group. “We – as a country, as communities – we focus on the pressing issues that are in front of us.”

Pandemic plans took centre stage in 2004 after SARS hit Ontario and British Columbia, he said. But as time went on, the urgency and focus faded. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, nearly two decades after the lessons of SARS, it felt like starting from scratch.

Culley’s comments came during a recent Canadian Security roundtable that brought together seven professionals for a wide-ranging conversation on the challenges facing emergency managers and how to best address them. The roundtable was sponsored by the Emergency Management Group and Base Camp Connect.

Read the full article by Canadian Security here, and find all content including videos from the roundtable here.