Question 1

Robin Cox, Ph.D. Royal Roads University"

Accepted Answer

Robin is the Program Head of the graduate programs in Climate Action Leadership at Royal Roads University (RRU) and a Professor in the Disaster and Emergency Management Master of Arts program. As Director of the ResilienceByDesign ILab (RbD) at RRU, Robin leads multiple action research and educational initiatives focused on resilience and enhancing the capacity of youth and adults to address the complex and intersecting challenges of climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction.

Question 2

Emily Dicken, Ph.D. First Nations Health Authority"

Accepted Answer

Dr. Emily Dicken has worked as a practitioner in the field of emergency management since 2006, spending the first twelve years of her career with the province of BC working in health emergency management  and then for Emergency Management BC where she held the role of Director, First Nation Coordination. Emily is now the Director of Emergency Management at First Nations Health Authority. Beyond her work at FNHA, Emily pursues academic interests with a central focus on understanding colonialism as an unnatural and enduring disaster impacting Indigenous communities. When not working, Emily can be found enjoying time in the outdoors with her husband Jeff and their two young sons, Keegan and Bowen.

Question 3

Sahar Safaie (Moderator). Sage On Earth Consulting

Accepted Answer

Sahar Safaie is the founder and principal consultant of Sage on Earth Consulting Ltd., based in North Vancouver. The niche of her expertise and services is to enhance the use of disaster and climate risk information in designing resilience policies, investments and programs. She has more than fifteen years of diverse experiences in BC and internationally including at United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), Global Earthquake Model, the World Bank, and Risk Management Solutions. Sahar has lead development of two of the Sendai Framework implementation guidelines on National Disaster Risk Assessment and National Disaster Risk Reduction Strategies.

Question 4

Jackie Yip, Ph.D. Natural Resources Canada"

Accepted Answer

Jackie Yip is a Research Scientist within the Public Safety Geoscience Program at Natural Resources Canada, where she is leading research efforts in developing best practices and new methods for understanding  flood risk and community resilience and recovery. Her research interest lies at the intersect of climate adaptation, disaster risk modelling, and decision-making, and specializes in predictive modelling and data-visualization.

Question 5

Laurie Johnson, Ph.D. Laurie Johnson Consulting I Research"

Accepted Answer

Laurie is an internationally-recognized urban planner specializing in disaster recovery and catastrophe risk management, and based in the San Francisco Bay Area. For over 30 years, she has combined her unique blend of professional practice and research to help communities address the complex urban challenges posed by natural hazards and disasters. Much of her post-disaster recovery efforts are captured in her recent book, After Great Disasters: An In-Depth Analysis of How Six Countries Managed Community Recovery (2017).  She is President of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute and on the Board of Directors of the Earthquakes and Megacities Initiative and the Advisory Board of the Global Earthquake Model (GEM). She was also inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners (FAICP) in 2018. She holds a Doctorate in Informatics from Kyoto University, Japan, as well as a Master of Urban Planning and Bachelors of Science in Geophysics, both from Texas A&M University.

Question 6

Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equity, Mitzi Dean - Speaker"

Accepted Answer

Mitzi Dean was elected as MLA for Esquimalt-Metchosin in 2017, and was appointed the Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equity in February 2018. Parliamentary Secretary Dean grew up in southeast England and has spent the last 30 years helping vulnerable people. Before moving to the Victoria area in 2005, Mitzi Dean served as a national development manager for children's services with the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the U.K.'s largest child protection charity. Prior to that, she worked in child protection social work and community-based social services across Great Britain for more than 20 years. She also volunteered at a Romanian orphanage and a transition house in the U.K. providing refuge for women experiencing relationship violence. Most recently, she served as executive director of the Pacific Centre Family Services Association. PS Dean lives in Metchosin with her partner and daughter.

Question 7

Adam Rose, Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events"

Accepted Answer

Adam Rose is a Research Professor in the University of Southern California Sol Price School of Public Policy, and the director of USC’s Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE). He has worked extensively on economic consequence analysis of natural and man-made hazards and on economic resilience, as well as on energy and climate change policy.  He was the research team leader on the Multi-Hazard Mitigation Council Report to the US Congress on the benefits of FEMA hazard mitigation grants, served on the National Research Council panel on Earthquake Resilience, and coordinated eight studies to arrive at a definitive estimate of the economic consequences of 9/11. He has served as an advisor to the World Bank on co-benefits of disaster risk management and on the application of the resilience triple dividend, and as a consultant to the United Nations Development Programme on disaster resilience. He is currently working on studies of the macroeconomic impacts of COVID-19 for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and for the Centers for Disease Control. Professor Rose is the author of several books and 200 other publications. He currently serves as the Associate Editor of Natural Hazards Review and on the editorial boards of Environmental Hazards, Journal of Integrated Disaster Risk Management andInternational Journal of Disaster Risk Science, as well as several other journals in the energy field. He has served as the American Economic Association Representative to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Institute of Building Sciences Multi-Hazard Mitigation Council and of the Advisory Board of the Center for National Policy Resilience Forum. He is the recipient of the IDRiM Distinguished Research Award, Regional Economic Models Outstanding Economic Analysis Award, Applied Technology Council Outstanding Achievement Award, American Planning Association Outstanding Program Planning Honor Award, East-West Center Fellowship,and Woodrow Wilson Fellowship.

Question 8

Malaika Ulmi, Natural Resources Canada - Moderator"

Accepted Answer

Malaika Ulmi is a geologist with the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), with experience working in natural hazard research for risk reduction. She is part of the management team of the GSC’s Pacific Division and the Public Safety Geoscience Program which conducts research across Canada on the hazards and risks associated with earthquakes, volcanoes, submarine and terrestrial landslides, tsunamis, and space weather. Her interests lie at the intersection of science and action. She worked in South America as part of a CIDA-funded project with the governments of seven Andean nations, leading strategic planning processes for geoscience agencies and supporting the development of standards in hazard mapping. She has worked in the field in western Canada mapping Holocene volcanics; offshore British Columbia conducting surveys to better understand the Cascadia subduction zone; and in the Arctic as part of coring and seismic experiments to map seafloor geohazards.

Question 9

Paul Kovacs, Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction"

Accepted Answer

Paul Kovacs is Canada's leading authority on insurance and climate change. He is the founder of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction at the University of Western Ontario and the President of PACICC. Since 1996 Paul has been a contributing author to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world's leading forum for the study of climate issues and winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. He is presently preparing a special report for United Nations climate change negotiators, promoting insurance as a mechanism to advance disaster risk reduction. For more than thirty years Paul has been a popular commentator on insurance, disaster safety and economic policy. He has written more than 200 publications and articles and he is a passionate champion for insurance, disaster resilience and adaptation to climate extremes. Paul has worked in the private industry, governments and academia. For almost twenty years his focus has been on insurance issues. Paul serves on a number of Canadian and international advisory boards, and he has a growing collection of bow ties.

Question 10

Dale Mikkelsen, VP, Development, SFU Community Trust"

Accepted Answer

Dale is the VP, Development for the UniverCity Project at Simon Fraser University’s Burnaby Mountain campus. The UniverCity community is being developed around “Four Cornerstones of Sustainability”, including Environment, Equity, Education, and Economy. Mikkelsen and the Trust’s team are making significant and innovative contributions toward the demonstration of innovative and incremental standards that result in a highly livable and low carbon community. Mikkelsen is charged with raising the bar of sustainable community planning to ensure UniverCity remains on the leading edge of energy efficiency, material conservation, healthy environments and community building.

Question 11

Tamsin Lyle, Principal Engineer, Ebbwater Consulting"

Accepted Answer

Tasmin Lyle is the Principal and founding engineer of Ebbwater Consulting and a well-known thought leader on flood management having invested her academic and professional careers in the exploration of various aspects of this field. She is an advocate for risk-based disaster planning and is particularly interested in reducing the vulnerability and susceptibility of our built environment to flood waters.

Question 12

Matt Strand, Development, QUADReal"

Accepted Answer

Matt Strand is supporting the development of QUADReal’s climate change adaptation strategy. Current work includes developing a framework to incorporate climate change impacts on property acquisition and divestment, and the development of a model to assist property teams in deciding upon building modifications through the lens of climate change impacts.

Question 13

George Benson- Moderator

Accepted Answer

George Benson is the Sector Manager for the Built Environment at the Vancouver Economic Commission. An urban planner by training, he brings together a knowledge of business, urban policymaking, and sustainability to work with local and global businesses to help decarbonize and make Vancouver’s economy more resilient.

Question 14

Ilana Judah, AIA, OAQ, LEED AP BD+C, CPHD"

Accepted Answer

Ms. Judah is a graduate student at UBC’s Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability. An architect for over 20 years, she was most recently a Principal and Director of Sustainability at FXCollaborative architects in New York. Ms. Judah has served on several task forces to address climate mitigation and adaptation in buildings. An industry leader, she has taught at Cornell, Columbia, NYU, and University of Pennsylvania. Her research involves developing an integrated building adaptation and mitigation assessment (IBAMA) framework to help policymakers and building professionals identify solutions that simultaneously address climate change adaptation and mitigation for multifamily buildings and their neighborhoods.

Question 15

Carlos Molina Hutt, Assistant Prof., Structural and Earthquake Engineering, UBC"

Accepted Answer

Dr. Carlos Molina Hutt  is an Assistant Professor of Structural and Earthquake Engineering in the Civil Engineering Department at the University of British Columbia (UBC). The work of his research group at UBC focuses on the development of methodological approaches to assess seismic risk in buildings and its implications on urban resilience, and on the translation of this knowledge into tools and information for use by practicing engineers, seismic planners, and policymakers.

Question 16

Susanna Haas Lyons, Public Engagement Specialist, Susanna Haas Lyons and Associates"

Accepted Answer

Susanna Haas Lyons is a public engagement specialist who develops strategy and provides training for better conversations between the public and decision makers. She has over 18-years international leadership experience in the field of public participation. Bridging online and face-to-face methods, Susanna has worked on some of North America’s largest and complex citizen engagement projects, including serving as Chair of the City of Vancouver’s Flats Arterial Community Panel, acting as Senior Advisor to the Government of Alberta’s review of its public engagement system, and bringing together 4,000 existing and displaced residents of post-Katrina New Orleans to create redevelopment plans for the hurricane ravaged city and pioneering an online consultation platform with federal U.S.A agencies. Susanna is also an Associate with the Wosk Center for Dialogue. Susanna has been part of the organizing team of 2017 and 2018 Symposiums.

Question 17

Tamsin Lyle, Principal Engineer, Ebbwater Consulting"

Accepted Answer

Tasmin Lyle is the Principal and founding engineer of Ebbwater Consulting and a well-known thought leader on flood management having invested her academic and professional careers in the exploration of various aspects of this field. She is an advocate for risk-based disaster planning and is particularly interested in reducing the vulnerability and susceptibility of our built environment to flood waters.

Question 18

Jessica Shoubridge, Professional Planner, Consultant, Project Manager"

Accepted Answer

Jessica Shoubridge is a professional planner with 10 years of experience working as a project manager, and facilitator of strategies and actions that aim to reduce climate and natural hazard risk and build resilience in Southwest BC. She has worked across all orders of government, the private and nonprofit sectors to connect the dots between best available climate projections, natural hazard science and open risk models and the proactive actions and finance required to reduce such risks at the local, regional, provincial and national scales.   Before starting her consultancy, Jessica led the development of the City of Vancouver Earthquake Strategy, where she advocated for and worked towards open, integrated, multi-hazard risk modelling and holistic policies for existing buildings to inform a city-wide approach to enhancing resilience. Since then, she has worked with communities and on projects that have been recognized as leading edge by the United Nations (District of North Vancouver Sasakawa award), the federal government (Natural Resources Canada Award for Collaboration – DNV Community-wide Earthquake Risk Analysis), and the Planning Institute of British Columbia (New Directions in Planning- Lower Mainland Flood Management Strategy). Jessica applies this experience and knowledge of global best practice to inform solutions that are locally-owned and is passionate about working to build resilience in Southwest BC, the Cascadia bio-region and beyond.   Jessica has been part of the organizing team of 2017 and 2018 Symposiums.

Question 19

Murray Journeay, Research Scientist, Geological Survey of Canada, NRCan"

Accepted Answer

Murray has spent the last thirty years exploring the geological architecture and evolution of mountain systems in western Canada, and the ways in which communities interact with this landscape in terms of sustainable land use and disaster resilience planning. Research activities with the Geological Survey of Canada have ranged from field-based investigations of regional tectonic processes that drive crustal deformation and related earthquake hazards in Western Canada to computer-based modelling of earthquake risk and risk reduction strategies. Murray currently leads the development of a national earthquake risk model for Canada to inform disaster resilience planning in accordance with policy and technical implementation guidelines established as part of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (United Nations, 2015: SFDRR). The model utilizes integrated risk assessment methods and emerging best practices of risk governance to develop a more holistic and empowering view of earthquake risk in Canada.

Question 20

Laurie Johnson, Ph.D. Laurie Johnson Consulting I Research"

Accepted Answer

Laurie is an internationally-recognized urban planner specializing in disaster recovery and catastrophe risk management, and based in the San Francisco Bay Area. For over 30 years, she has combined her unique blend of professional practice and research to help communities address the complex urban challenges posed by natural hazards and disasters. Much of her post-disaster recovery efforts are captured in her recent book, After Great Disasters: An In-Depth Analysis of How Six Countries Managed Community Recovery (2017).  She is President of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute and on the Board of Directors of the Earthquakes and Megacities Initiative and the Advisory Board of the Global Earthquake Model (GEM). She was also inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners (FAICP) in 2018. She holds a Doctorate in Informatics from Kyoto University, Japan, as well as a Master of Urban Planning and Bachelors of Science in Geophysics, both from Texas A&M University.

Question 21

Emily Dicken, Ph.D. First Nations Health Authority"

Accepted Answer

Dr. Emily Dicken has worked as a practitioner in the field of emergency management since 2006, spending the first twelve years of her career with the province of BC working in health emergency management  and then for Emergency Management BC where she held the role of Director, First Nation Coordination. Emily is now the Director of Emergency Management at First Nations Health Authority. Beyond her work at FNHA, Emily pursues academic interests with a central focus on understanding colonialism as an unnatural and enduring disaster impacting Indigenous communities. When not working, Emily can be found enjoying time in the outdoors with her husband Jeff and their two young sons, Keegan and Bowen.

Question 22

Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equity, Mitzi Dean - Speaker "

Accepted Answer

Mitzi Dean was elected as MLA for Esquimalt-Metchosin in 2017, and was appointed the Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equity in February 2018. Parliamentary Secretary Dean grew up in southeast England and has spent the last 30 years helping vulnerable people. Before moving to the Victoria area in 2005, Mitzi Dean served as a national development manager for children's services with the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the U.K.'s largest child protection charity. Prior to that, she worked in child protection social work and community-based social services across Great Britain for more than 20 years. She also volunteered at a Romanian orphanage and a transition house in the U.K. providing refuge for women experiencing relationship violence. Most recently, she served as executive director of the Pacific Centre Family Services Association. PS Dean lives in Metchosin with her partner and daughter.

Question 23

Robin Cox, Ph.D. Royal Roads University"

Accepted Answer

Robin is the Program Head of the graduate programs in Climate Action Leadership at Royal Roads University (RRU) and a Professor in the Disaster and Emergency Management Master of Arts program. As Director of the ResilienceByDesign ILab (RbD) at RRU, Robin leads multiple action research and educational initiatives focused on resilience and enhancing the capacity of youth and adults to address the complex and intersecting challenges of climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction.

Question 24

Sahar Safaie (Moderator). Sage On Earth Consulting

Accepted Answer

Sahar Safaie is the founder and principal consultant of Sage on Earth Consulting Ltd., based in North Vancouver. The niche of her expertise and services is to enhance the use of disaster and climate risk information in designing resilience policies, investments and programs. She has more than fifteen years of diverse experiences in BC and internationally including at United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), Global Earthquake Model, the World Bank, and Risk Management Solutions. Sahar has lead development of two of the Sendai Framework implementation guidelines on National Disaster Risk Assessment and National Disaster Risk Reduction Strategies.

Question 25

Jackie Yip, Ph.D. Natural Resources Canada"

Accepted Answer

Jackie Yip is a Research Scientist within the Public Safety Geoscience Program at Natural Resources Canada, where she is leading research efforts in developing best practices and new methods for understanding  flood risk and community resilience and recovery. Her research interest lies at the intersect of climate adaptation, disaster risk modelling, and decision-making, and specializes in predictive modelling and data-visualization.

Question 26

Murray Journeay, Research Scientist, Geological Survey of Canada, NRCan"

Accepted Answer

Murray has spent the last thirty years exploring the geological architecture and evolution of mountain systems in western Canada, and the ways in which communities interact with this landscape in terms of sustainable land use and disaster resilience planning. Research activities with the Geological Survey of Canada have ranged from field-based investigations of regional tectonic processes that drive crustal deformation and related earthquake hazards in Western Canada to computer-based modelling of earthquake risk and risk reduction strategies. Murray currently leads the development of a national earthquake risk model for Canada to inform disaster resilience planning in accordance with policy and technical implementation guidelines established as part of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (United Nations, 2015: SFDRR). The model utilizes integrated risk assessment methods and emerging best practices of risk governance to develop a more holistic and empowering view of earthquake risk in Canada.

Question 27

Jessica Shoubridge, Professional Planner, Consultant, Project Manager"

Accepted Answer

Jessica Shoubridge is a professional planner with 10 years of experience working as a project manager, and facilitator of strategies and actions that aim to reduce climate and natural hazard risk and build resilience in Southwest BC. She has worked across all orders of government, the private and nonprofit sectors to connect the dots between best available climate projections, natural hazard science and open risk models and the proactive actions and finance required to reduce such risks at the local, regional, provincial and national scales.   Before starting her consultancy, Jessica led the development of the City of Vancouver Earthquake Strategy, where she advocated for and worked towards open, integrated, multi-hazard risk modelling and holistic policies for existing buildings to inform a city-wide approach to enhancing resilience. Since then, she has worked with communities and on projects that have been recognized as leading edge by the United Nations (District of North Vancouver Sasakawa award), the federal government (Natural Resources Canada Award for Collaboration – DNV Community-wide Earthquake Risk Analysis), and the Planning Institute of British Columbia (New Directions in Planning- Lower Mainland Flood Management Strategy). Jessica applies this experience and knowledge of global best practice to inform solutions that are locally-owned and is passionate about working to build resilience in Southwest BC, the Cascadia bio-region and beyond.   Jessica has been part of the organizing team of 2017 and 2018 Symposiums.

Question 28

Tamsin Lyle, Principal Engineer, Ebbwater Consulting"

Accepted Answer

Tasmin Lyle is the Principal and founding engineer of Ebbwater Consulting and a well-known thought leader on flood management having invested her academic and professional careers in the exploration of various aspects of this field. She is an advocate for risk-based disaster planning and is particularly interested in reducing the vulnerability and susceptibility of our built environment to flood waters.

Question 29

Susanna Haas Lyons

Accepted Answer

[Coming soon]

Question 30

Tony Vi, Senior Planner, Strategy & Plan Development, TransLink"

Accepted Answer

Tony Vi is a transportation planner with experience in strategic issues, funding, prioritization, and scenario planning.  At TransLink, Tony is currently responsible for helping shape the Regional Transportation Strategy in areas of equity, resiliency, and implementation.  He previously worked on TransLink’s Investment Plans to fund and deliver the 10-Year Vision for Metro Vancouver Transportation.

Question 31

Edward Nichol, Regional Planner, Metro Vancouver’s Regional Planning Environment Group"

Accepted Answer

Edward Nichol is a Regional Planner in Metro Vancouver’s Regional Planning-Environment group. Edward leads and supports a variety of regional planning initiatives related to environmental sustainability, urban forestry, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and natural hazards. He holds a Masters degree in Urban Ecology and Sustainable Planning from York University.

Question 32

Jason Emmert, Senior Planner, Air Quality and Climate Change Division at Metro Vancouver."

Accepted Answer

Jason Emmert has more than 20 years of experience in environmental, community and regional planning. His career journey has taken him from environmental policy and projects in Kazakhstan to fisheries management in Brazil to smart growth planning in British Columbia. He is currently a Senior Planner in the Air Quality and Climate Change Division at Metro Vancouver. His portfolio includes leading the development of Climate 2050, Metro Vancouver ‘s 30-year regional climate action strategy and the implementation of regional climate change policies and programs.

Question 33

James Stiver, Manager, Growth Management and Transportation in Metro Vancouver"

Accepted Answer

James Stiver has been a planner and city builder for over 25 years in public and private practice, and holds degrees in Urban and Regional Planning and Local Economic Development. He is the Manager of Growth Management and Transportation in Metro Vancouver’s Regional Planning group, responsible for the implementation and administration of Metro 2040, the regional growth strategy, as well as policy research and data analytics in the areas of transportation, housing, industrial lands, social equity, environmental and climate resilience, and building complete communities.

Question 34

Tiegan Hobbs, Seismic Risk Scientist, Geological Survey of Canada"

Accepted Answer

Tiegan Hobbs, PhD, is a seismic risk scientist with the Geological Survey of Canada. With a background in geophysics, geology, and geotechnical engineering, she seeks to improve our understanding of how natural hazards impact humans and the built environment.

Question 35

Murray Journeay, Research Scientist, Geological Survey of Canada, NRCan"

Accepted Answer

Murray has spent the last thirty years exploring the geological architecture and evolution of mountain systems in western Canada, and the ways in which communities interact with this landscape in terms of sustainable land use and disaster resilience planning. Research activities with the Geological Survey of Canada have ranged from field-based investigations of regional tectonic processes that drive crustal deformation and related earthquake hazards in Western Canada to computer-based modelling of earthquake risk and risk reduction strategies. Murray currently leads the development of a national earthquake risk model for Canada to inform disaster resilience planning in accordance with policy and technical implementation guidelines established as part of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (United Nations, 2015: SFDRR). The model utilizes integrated risk assessment methods and emerging best practices of risk governance to develop a more holistic and empowering view of earthquake risk in Canada.

Question 36

Jackie Yip, Research Scientist, Natural Resources Canada"

Accepted Answer

Jackie Yip is a Research Scientist within the Public Safety Geoscience Program at Natural Resources Canada, where she is leading research efforts in developing best practices and new methods for understanding  flood risk and community resilience and recovery. Her research interest lies at the intersect of climate adaptation, disaster risk modelling, and decision-making, and she specializes in predictive modelling and data-visualization.

Question 37

Sahar Safaie, Founder and Principal Consultant, Sage on Earth Consulting Ltd."

Accepted Answer

Sahar is the founder and principal consultant of Sage on Earth Consulting Ltd. The niche of her expertise and services is to enhance use of disaster and climate risk information in designing resilience policies, investments and programs. She has more than fifteen years of diverse experiences in BC and internationally including at United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) where she managed the global multi-hazard risk assessment as part of Global Assessment Report (GAR) 2015, convened the global session on risk identification at the Sendai DRR Conference in 2015 and co-authored two of the Sendai Framework implementation guidelines on National Disaster Risk Assessment and on National Disaster Risk Reduction Strategies. Her past experiences also include working at Global Earthquake Model (GEM) foundation, the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) at The World Bank in D.C., and Risk Management Solutions (RMS) in California. Since 2019, Sahar and her team at Sage Consulting have been working closely with NRCan as the lead contractor for DRR Pathways project. Sahar has a master’s degree in Earthquake Engineering from UBC.

Question 38

Steve Litke, Fraser Basin Council- Director"

Accepted Answer

Steve Litke is the Director responsible for the Fraser Basin Council’s Water Program. He has managed many flood-related initiatives in collaboration with numerous partner organizations across the Lower Mainland and across BC including flood modeling, mapping, risk assessment and educational programming. Steve is the Council’s lead in facilitating the development of the Lower Mainland Flood Management Strategy.

Question 39

Frances Woo, Fraser Basin Council- Program Manager"

Accepted Answer

Frances Woo is a Program Manager with the Fraser Basin Council working to advance flood-related initiatives at the regional and province-wide scales in BC. Prior to joining the Fraser Basin Council in 2019, she supported land use and environmental planning and policy initiatives at the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority and the Province of Ontario. Frances holds a Master’s degree in Planning from the University of Toronto.

Question 40

Kylie Sandham, Policy Analyst, Ministry of Municipal Affairs & Housing, BC Public Service"

Accepted Answer

Kylie is a Policy Analyst with Building and Safety Standards Branch where she works on projects related to CleanBC and resilience in the built environment. Kylie has over 10 years experience leading complex multi-stakeholder projects in the areas of public policy, land development and new construction, as well as capital renewals.

Question 41

Micah Hilt, City of Vancouver Lead Seismic Policy Planner"

Accepted Answer

Micah Hilt is the City of Vancouver’s Lead Seismic Policy Planner within the Green and Resilient Building group of the City’s Planning, Urban Design, and Sustainability department. Micah was also part of the City’s resilience team who authored Vancouver’s first resilience strategy, Resilient Vancouver,  in 2019. Prior to joining the City, Micah served as the Deputy Resilience Officer for the City of San Francisco, working on San Francisco's 30-year Earthquake Safety Implementation Program. He is also a PhD student in the Geography Department at the University of British Columbia, researching urban resilience, urban theory and queer approaches to the urban.

Question 42

Andrew Pape-Salmon, BC Building and Safety Standards, Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing"

Accepted Answer

Andrew Pape-Salmon is the Executive Director of the BC Building and Safety Standards Branch, Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. The Branch is responsible for the Building Act and building regulations such as the BC Building, Plumbing and Fire Codes; the Homeowner Protection Act, and the Safety Standards Act. Over the past seven years Andrew has worked in the field of building resilience, including seismic safety, both with the private sector (RDH Building Science) and two levels of government (City of Vancouver and the BC Government). Andrew is a Professional Engineer with a master’s degree in Resource and Environmental Management, specializing in economics and policy for sustainable and resilient buildings, communities and energy systems. He is an Adjunct Professor with the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Victoria and the instigator for the formation of an EERI student chapter.

Question 43

Karolina Pol, Policy Advisor, Natural Resources Canada"

Accepted Answer

She is currently working to integrate information on the risks posed by natural hazards into community planning to increase the resilience of communities to these risks and bring local plans and polices into alignment with the UN Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. At NRCan, her work has focused on co-developing new partnerships with Indigenous communities in the energy sector, addressing climate change, and supporting Canada’s transition to a new regulatory regime for major resource development projects. Karolina also has experience as a community planner, policy analyst and sustainability researcher. She holds a master’s degree from the School of Community and Regional Planning at UBC and a bachelor’s degree with honours from the School of Communication at SFU.

Question 44

Murray Journeay, Research Scientist, Geological Survey of Canada, NRCan"

Accepted Answer

Murray has spent the last thirty years exploring the geological architecture and evolution of mountain systems in western Canada, and the ways in which communities interact with this landscape in terms of sustainable land use and disaster resilience planning. Research activities with the Geological Survey of Canada have ranged from field-based investigations of regional tectonic processes that drive crustal deformation and related earthquake hazards in Western Canada to computer-based modelling of earthquake risk and risk reduction strategies. Murray currently leads the development of a national earthquake risk model for Canada to inform disaster resilience planning in accordance with policy and technical implementation guidelines established as part of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (United Nations, 2015: SFDRR). The model utilizes integrated risk assessment methods and emerging best practices of risk governance to develop a more holistic and empowering view of earthquake risk in Canada.

Question 45

Tiegan Hobbs, Geological Survey of Canada, Natural Resourcess Canada"

Accepted Answer

Tiegan Hobbs, PhD, is a seismic risk scientist with the Geological Survey of Canada. With a background in geophysics, geology, and geotechnical engineering, she seeks to improve our understanding of how natural hazards impact humans and the built environment.

Question 46

Michael Norton, Director General Northern Forestry Centre, Natural Resources Canada"

Accepted Answer

Michael Norton is Director General of Natural Resources Canada’s Northern Forestry Centre (NFC), located in Edmonton, Alberta. NFC is a research centre comprising over 100 employees, with particular strengths in wildland fire, forest health, land reclamation, and climate change. Through extensive partnerships with the public, private and academic sectors, NFC supports the sustainable management of forests as a foundation for a vibrant industry. Mike plays a national leadership role on wildland fire as executive lead of the Canadian Forest Service’s Wildland Fire program, and as co-chair of the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers’ Wildland Fire Management Working Group. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center, and served as Chairperson in 2018. Prior to joining NRCan in 2014, Mike has been Regional Director, Environmental Services and Contaminated Sites with Public Works and Government Services Canada (2013-2014), and Associate Regional Director General with Environment Canada (2011-2013), both for the prairie and northern regions. He started his federal public service career with Environment Canada in 2000. Mike has a Bachelor of Science from the University of Guelph and a Master of Science from the University of Alberta.  He lives in Edmonton, and is married with two daughters.

Question 47

Dave Peterson, Assistant Deputy Minister of Recovery, Planning and Disaster Risk Reduction, Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General"

Accepted Answer

Dave Peterson was appointed to his present role as Assistant Deputy Minister of Recovery, Planning and Disaster Risk Reduction Division for Emergency Management BC (EMBC) in the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General in February 2019. This role enables EMBC to assume the lead for disaster recovery across the provincial government and is part of a greater emphasis within EMBC on disaster recovery, mitigation and preparedness and the advancement of a number of new initiatives that are currently underway, including the modernization of the Emergency Program Act and Emergency Support Services, and implementing initiatives consistent with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. The Recovery, Planning and Disaster Risk Reduction Division is comprised of four areas of responsibility including:  1) Planning and Risk Reduction, 2) Strategic Partnerships which includes extensive work with First Nations partners, 3) Community Recovery, and 4) Wildfire Recovery. More recently, Dave has been actively engaged with ministries, agencies and First Nations leaders as part of EMBC’s leadership role in the province’s response and recovery actions as the result of COVID-19. Before coming to EMBC, Dave was the Assistant Deputy Minister of Rural Development, Lands and Innovation Division within FLNRORD, where he held various Assistant Deputy Minister positions since 2005 as well as two significant additional roles. In May 2012, he was appointed to the position of Provincial Chief Forester until December 2014. He was also temporarily appointed as the Deputy Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations in 2013. Dave was raised on Vancouver Island, and then moved to the interior of British Columbia. He currently resides in Vernon and travels frequently to Victoria and throughout the province during the course of his work. He has two teenage children, and loves to spend his winter days skiing.

Question 48

Rory Gilsenan, Director General of the Hazards, Adaptation and Operations Branch, Natural Resources Canada"

Accepted Answer

Rory has been with Natural Resources Canada since 2006. He is currently the Director General for the Hazards, Adaptation and Operations Branch, Lands and Minerals Sector, which conducts scientific research and monitoring to protect Canadians from natural hazards such as earthquakes, space weather and radiation, helps Canadians become more resilient to climate-related hazards, and provides logistics for scientific research and operations across several federal departments in the Canadian Arctic. Rory plays a lead role on the implementation of the federal National Risk Profile, and leads the work of the federal Interdepartmental Table on Earthquake Risk. During his time at Natural Resources Canada, his responsibilities have included guiding research and industry support on innovation and sustainability in the forest and mining sectors, including renewable energy, communicating the impact of NRCan’s work to partners and stakeholders, creating an environment to sustain excellence in science, and advancing science-policy integration.  Prior to joining the federal public service, Rory undertook over a decade of extensive international experience in economic development work in Africa and the Middle East, and holds an MSc in Resource Economics from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Question 49

Stéphanie Durand, Director General of Emergency Management Policy and Outreach, Public Safety Canada"

Accepted Answer

Since June 2013, Stéphanie is the Director General, Emergency Management Policy and Outreach. She is responsible for leading the development of emergency management policies and programs for the Government of Canada on files such as Disaster Mitigation, Communications Interoperability, Public Alerting, as well as other initiatives related to disaster risk reduction, emergency preparedness, response and recovery mechanisms.   Stéphanie works in close collaboration with all levels of government and various stakeholders, including the private sector, academia and non-governmental organizations. Some of her areas of focus include advancing whole-of-government initiatives to better predict, prepare for, and respond to extreme weather-related emergencies and natural disasters.  Stephanie also leads the National Search and Rescue Secretariat, which used to be part of National Defence, with the mandate to lead the policy work on modernizing search and rescue for Canada. From September 2008 to May 2013, Stéphanie was the Director General of Communications for Public Safety Canada. She was responsible for heading the communications function for the department, including providing strategic communications advice, managing advertising and marketing programs, overseeing public affairs and media relations, as well as leading whole-of-government crisis communications efforts for the Government of Canada, including overseeing the public affairs coordinated response for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics on security and public safety issues. Stéphanie has also held a variety of senior level corporate positions at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.  Before joining the Public Service of Canada in 1998, Stéphanie worked for two years in Singapore in international marketing, public relations and event planning. Stéphanie holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences Honours degree from the University of Ottawa and a Masters of Public Administration (MPA) from Queens University.  Stéphanie has also held a variety of senior level corporate positions at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. Before joining the Public Service of Canada in 1998, Stéphanie worked for two years in Singapore in international marketing, public relations and event planning.

Question 50

Paula McLeod, Program Manager, Canada Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation, Natural Resources Canada"

Accepted Answer

Paula graduated from the University of Toronto with a specialization in surveying.  Working the past 27 years at Natural Resources Canada, she has led and managed geomatics projects and programs in the areas of geospatial data infrastructure, international collaboration, open geospatial data, and policy analysis, representing Canada in various committees and technical fora, geospatial standards, developing and delivering training, and human resources management. Currently her focus is on managing flood mapping activities by leading and advising a federal initiative for national flood mapping in support of risk mitigation for community resilience. She has also managed geospatial data projects to implement a national elevation data strategy, geographical names data management, and national scale datasets.

Question 51

Malaika Ulmi, Scientific Planning Officer, Geological Survey of Canada, Natural Resources Canada"

Accepted Answer

Malaika Ulmi is a geoscientist with the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC). She is part of the management team of the GSC’s Pacific Division and the Public Safety Geoscience Program which conducts research across Canada on the hazards and risks associated with earthquakes, volcanoes, submarine and terrestrial landslides, tsunamis, and space weather. Her interests lie at the intersection of science and action. She worked in South America as part of a CIDA-funded project with the governments of seven Andean nations, leading strategic planning processes for geoscience agencies and supporting the development of standards in hazard mapping. She has worked in the field in western Canada mapping Holocene volcanics; offshore British Columbia conducting surveys to better understand the Cascadia subduction zone; and in the Arctic as part of coring and seismic experiments to map seafloor geohazards. When not looking at rocks, Malaika enjoys trail running, mountain biking, and cross country skiing. She lives in Cumberland, BC with her husband and son.

Question 52

Brad Stennes, Research Director, Natural Resources Canada"

Accepted Answer

Brad is a Research Director with Natural Resources Canada at the Pacific Forestry Centre in Victoria, British Columbia. He is also supports Mike Norton as a member of the leadership team for the Canadian Forest Service Program, Minimizing the Risks and Impacts of Wildfire. Prior to becoming a director he was a research economist and head of the Industry, Trade and Economics Research Program at the Pacific Forestry Centre. Current research includes the cost effectiveness of wildfire mitigation activities and developing a framework to estimate the full costs of wildfire in Canada. Brad is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Victoria, Department of Economics where he has worked with a large number of graduate students. He holds a Ph.D. in Forest and Resource Economics in the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia. Past research has included the economics of forest disturbances, forest product trade and the role of value-added processing in forest sector development.

Question 53

John Sherstobitoff, Principal, Ausenco"

Accepted Answer

John is a structural engineer with over 30 years of experience related to the seismic analysis and design of both buildings and infrastructure, both new and regarding seismic upgrades. He has been a member of the Standing Committee on Earthquake Design (SCED), National Building Code of Canada, for over 15 years and was Chair of SCED for 10 years. Within SCED he is Chair of the Task Group on Performance Based and Resilient Design, and Chair of the Working Group on Seismic Isolation and Supplemental Energy Dissipation; in these roles he has championed new clauses in recent codes related to these items, most recently a new section regarding ‘higher performance’ requirements for new buildings.

Question 54

Ibbi Almufti, Associate Principal, Arup"

Accepted Answer

Ibbi Almufti is an Associate Principal in the Advanced Technology + Research group in Arup’s San Francisco office where he leads the Risk and Resilience practice. Ibbi works at the intersection of design, risk, and resilience across multiple scales from buildings to campuses to utility infrastructure. He leads a multidisciplinary team which helps corporate, higher education, data center, healthcare, and government clients understand the physical and business impacts of natural and man-made hazards and develops resilience strategies integrating physical and operational measures to reduce risk. His specializations include probabilistic risk analysis, performance-based design, nonlinear seismic analysis, and risk-based resilience advisory. Over the past several years he has been supporting the University of British Columbia, most recently by developing a seismic real estate framework and resilience-based design guidelines to achieve the campus’ resilience vision.

Question 55

Micah Hilt, City of Vancouver Lead Seismic Policy Planner"

Accepted Answer

Micah Hilt is the City of Vancouver’s Lead Seismic Policy Planner within the Green and Resilient Building group of the City’s Planning, Urban Design, and Sustainability department. Micah was also part of the City’s resilience team who authored Vancouver’s first resilience strategy, Resilient Vancouver,  in 2019. Prior to joining the City, Micah served as the Deputy Resilience Officer for the City of San Francisco, working on San Francisco's 30-year Earthquake Safety Implementation Program. He is also a PhD student in the Geography Department at the University of British Columbia, researching urban resilience, urban theory and queer approaches to the urban.

Question 56

David Bonowitz, Structural Engineer"

Accepted Answer

David Bonowitz is a structural engineer practicing in San Francisco. Speaking on "Functional Recovery: What it Means to Design for Community Resilience," he is the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute's Distinguished Lecturer for 2020. Bonowitz is an appointed member of the new FEMA-NIST working group on Functional Recovery of the Built Environment and Critical Infrastructure. He is a co-author of “Functional Recovery: A Conceptual Framework,” a 2019 EERI white paper, and lead author of “Resilience-based Design and the NEHRP Provisions,” published in 2020 by FEMA and the National Institute of Building Sciences. Bonowitz is also a Fellow Member of SEAONC and SEAOC, and past chair of the NCSEA Existing Buildings and Resilience committees.

Question 57

Angie Woo, Climate Resilience & Adaptation Lead, Fraser Health"

Accepted Answer

In partnership with BC's regional health authorities, allied public sector organisations (including BC Housing's MBAR project), and intrepid professional services firms (such as Integral Group), Angie is developing guidelines to reduce climate risks to health services and communities of care through the health facility planning and design process. As Climate Resilience & Adaptation Lead (Fraser Health, Providence Health Care, Provincial Health Services Authority and Vancouver Coastal Health), Angie seeks to normalise the use of climate hazard risk information and leverage collective practices to break the chain of cascading impacts on the broader health system and those it serves.

Question 58

Nicky Hastings, Project Lead, Natural Resources Canada"

Accepted Answer

Nicky Hastings is the project lead for the geohazard risk project within the Public Safety Geoscience Program at Natural Resources Canada. Over the last 13 years, she has been involved in the development and adaptation of risk assessment methods to support the assessment of earthquake and flood risks in Canada. She works closely with internal and external partners to better understand how scientific knowledge can inform decision-making.

Question 59

Jackie Yip, Research Scientist, Natural Resources Canada"

Accepted Answer

Jackie Yip is a Research Scientist within the Public Safety Geoscience Program at Natural Resources Canada, where she is leading research efforts in developing best practices and new methods for understanding  flood risk and community resilience and recovery. Her research interest lies at the intersect of climate adaptation, disaster risk modelling, and decision-making, and she specializes in predictive modelling and data-visualization.

Question 60

Keith Orchiston, Emergency Program Coordinator (EPC), District of Tofino"

Accepted Answer

Keith Orchiston is an emergency management professional providing emergency planning and project management support for the District of Tofino as the Emergency Program Coordinator (EPC). Over the past seven years, Keith has gained invaluable insight being involved with mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery efforts, as both emergency planner and responder. From project managing a Coastal Flood Risk Assessment and Tsunami Vertical Evacuation (TVE) scoping study to directing tsunami evacuation response efforts, Keith knows first-hand the challenges involved and the integrated risk management approach required to produce comprehensive objective-driven action plans for all phases of the emergency management lifecycle.

Question 61

Nikki Elliott, Climate Action Program Coordinator, Capital Regional District"

Accepted Answer

Nikki Elliott is the Climate Action Program Coordinator at the Capital Regional District located in Victoria, BC . Nikki leads a team supporting the organization and the region’s 13 municipalities and 3 electoral areas in developing and implementing emissions reduction and adaptation strategies and undertaking climate change related technical and planning studies and community partnership activities. Working with an inter-municipal project team, Nikki was the CRD’s project manager for the Capital Regional Coastal Flood Inundation Mapping Project.

Question 62

David Bristow, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Victoria"

Accepted Answer

David Bristow is an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Victoria where he runs the Cities and Infrastructure Systems Lab (https://oac.uvic.ca/cisl) and where is a member of the Institute for Integrated Energy Systems (IESVic, https://www.uvic.ca/research/centres/iesvic/index.php). He teaches on infrastructure resilience and sustainability in civil engineering. His research concerns resilience and sustainability of infrastructure, buildings and cities through advancement and integration of theory and practice. He holds Doctorate and Master’s degrees in Civil Engineering (Toronto) and a Bachelor’s in Systems Design Engineering (Waterloo). He is a board member of the Sustainable Urban Systems section of ISIE.

Question 63

Roy Brooke, Executive Director, Municipal Natural Assets Initiative (MNAI)"

Accepted Answer

Roy Brooke is the Executive Director of the Municipal Natural Assets Initiative (MNAI). He served as Director of Sustainability for the City of Victoria between 2011-2013. Between 2003-2011 he worked for the World Health Organization, United Nations Environment Programme and UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, based in Geneva, Switzerland, and later in Rwanda, where he was UNEP’s Environment Programme Coordinator. Prior to this Roy served as a political advisor to Canada’s Environment Minister.

Question 64

Kristy McConnel, Planner, Mott MacDonald"

Accepted Answer

Kristy McConnel is a Planner at Mott MacDonald. She is passionate about building sustainable communities through creativity and innovation and works on a diverse portfolio of international projects in transportation and sustainability and was recently awarded the Planning Institute of BCs award for Individual Achievement – Young Professional Leadership. Kristy holds a Master of Community and Regional Planning degree and a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural Resources Conservation from the University of British Columbia, and a certified Envision Sustainability Professional (ENV SP).

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