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Schools ramp up for emergency management

Hurricanes the size and power of Katrina are mercifully rare and unlikely to swoop down and destroy Toronto or some other Canadian city. But that doesn't mean we can afford to be complacent about the potential for disaster.

David Chilton

[ 2005-09-21 ]

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ETKIN
York University

In 1985 a tornado ripped into Barrie, killing eight and injuring another 155, and less than 10 years ago Quebec was entombed in an ice storm. Those, of course, were the naturally occurring disasters. The attacks in New York, Bali, Madrid, London and in other places were also disasters, although the handiwork of terrorists rather than Mother Nature.

Managing a disaster of any kind is a serious business, but until recently, education and training for such an eventuality in Canada was a bit thin, with only Brandon University in Manitoba offering university or college level instruction.

The situation has changed in the last couple of years. This month York University's new certificate program in emergency management began.

Dave Etkin, a meteorologist by training and co-ordinator of the program, says, "There wasn't any local training people could take, (although) there were in-house training programs people could take. So there were some meetings to encourage people to build a program, and York decided it looked like an opportunity and jumped right on it."

The program at York has 17 students enrolled, and is split between younger university students and older men and women who've been in the emergency planning business and want a qualification that recognizes their skills and experience.

Enrollees can study full time, part time or even take some of the program's courses online. It would take three full-time university terms to complete the certificate, says Etkin. Students can pay as they go and each course costs $600. All students need a high school diploma to be admitted.

Etkin says in the past those people interested in emergency management have tended to come from front line occupations such as the police, the military and fire and paramedic departments. However, York and other schools are trying to broaden their horizons. Etkin says the university is teaching the certificate courses from a wider sociological perspective. Students will study such subjects as Fundamentals of Emergency Management, Risk Assessment, and Natural, Technological and Human Induced Disasters.

Michael Morton, assistant chief, training and education, Emergency Management Ontario, says there was a major educational gap in emergency management training, but York and other schools are addressing the issue. "George Brown (College) is very close to delivering a program," Morton says, and Sir Sanford Fleming College in Peterborough, Durham College in Oshawa, Niagara College in Niagara Falls and Georgian College in Barrie are ramping up.

Toronto's Centennial College will probably be the next school to offer an emergency management qualification. Sue Wells, chair of the School of Community Studies at Centennial, says the college will have a program in place as early as next January, but certainly not later than September 2006. The graduate certificate program will be very hands-on, says Wells, and applicants will need a college diploma or a university degree to enrol.

Given the number of disasters -- and potential disasters waiting in the wings -- that have occurred over the last few years, job prospects in emergency management look good. Etkin says there are jobs at three levels of government, and many businesses will employ someone who's been trained to manage business continuity plans in the event of a disaster.

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