Why I volunteer with DRI Canada

Ten years ago, I was working with in Winnipeg with the provincial government’s Emergency Measures Organization. A decision was made to invest in a government-wide Business Continuity Management program, and I was assigned to lead the project.

My background was the planning and response to civil emergencies like floods and fires. BCM was big, different, and confusing, and it was obvious that our team needed to start with some training. DRI Canada provided that, and by the end of BCLE 2000, we had a group of people who understood how to tackle the job.

DRI Canada was the starting point in a successful project, but that’s not the reason I started volunteering with DRI Canada. I began volunteering once I saw how the training we learned made a real difference to public safety. As plans were developed, they were eventually exercised and activated, and I came to see first-hand how BCM is critical to our public safety. It keeps people at work; it ensures our most vulnerable people get assistance; it maintains the infrastructure that keep people safe and moving; it ensures the resources are in place to help our community during a crisis.

For me, this is at the core of what DRI Canada does as a not-for-profit. Our work to support BCM gives people and organization the tools they need to make our community – at the local, provincial, and national levels – a safer place. Through our work, we make sure that professionals can grow and develop into leaders that will guide us through the ‘worst case scenarios’.

Those kind of emergencies and disasters will involve a lot of people and a lot of agencies. Through the work we do at DRI Canada, we are supporting people and organizations to get them through those situations, and to take care of those who depend on them. I’ve seen first-hand what a difference it can make when that knowledge is in place, and that’s why I volunteer with DRI Canada.