Centennial preps for emergency preparation program.
Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips, left, makes his address during the launch event for the Emergency Management and Public Safety Institute at Centennial College's Morningside campus on Tuesday. Joining Phillips on the opening panel were Toronto police Chief Bill Blair, provincial commissioner of community safety Dan Hefkey and Centennial College president and CEO Ann Buller.
Staff photo/ANDREW PALAMARCHUK
Centennial College is now preparing to help students enter the emergency preparedness field.
The college launched the Emergency Management and Public Safety Institute (EMPSI) this week and is planning to offer a new degree program in the fall of 2012 or 2013.
The program, which will be the first of its kind in Ontario, still needs government approval.
Police Chief Bill Blair said that there's a great need for more research in the emergency management field and that EMPSI creates an opportunity for doing that.
"We need to have better co-ordination, we need policy development, we need technical analysis," he said at the college's Morningside campus Tuesday. "We need to ensure that we have good plans, that they're well understood and known to the people who are going to be called upon to respond and that they're not merely a great report on a shelf."
Blair added the institute will "provide us with exceptionally well-trained future leaders."
Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips said the number of natural disasters has dramatically increased in recent years. "Unfortunately, it is a growth industry," he said.
Disasters took an estimated 300,000 lives in 2010 and cost $220 billion.
Phillips said disasters and emergencies can be effectively managed and in some cases even prevented with proper planning. Police, fire and EMS departments are increasingly looking for applicants with a degree.
First-year paramedic student Amy Tesluk said an emergency management degree might go well with her future paramedicine diploma.
"It not only opens doors once I'm hired as a paramedic, but it gives you something to look forward to in terms of if you want to expand in the future, to be able to do more behind-the-scenes work."
EMPSI manager Ginette Soulieres said the college is "moving forward to build an integrated network of learnings where our students when they leave have the confidence of being able to fit into an environment where they could take leadership (roles)."