By Mark Brown, Co-Executive Director (mark.brown@skipatrol.ca)
It has been seven months since the Modernization Symposium in Calgary and it’s time for an update on what’s been happening. A lot has been done and even more is to come.
The symposium in Calgary produced a detailed report that highlighted the goals and aspirations of the members involved. From this report, actions have been taken to move us forward with a goal of implementing the results in late 2024. Copies of this report were sent to zone and division presidents and can be viewed here.
At the same time, background activities have reached culmination. We have formally copyrighted our manuals for the first time. Our logo has now been officially trademarked, a process begun by Geoff Scotton (Calgary Zone) five years ago. The critical elements of our governance review have been completed and implemented across Canada, and we are now registered in every Canadian province and territory. Our translation portfolio, under the leadership of Jacques Blais has been reinvigorated and revamped to provide a more seamless bilingual experience with our communications and documentation for members. Our financial advisory committee has worked hard to solidify our financial position.
New user guides for Yeti are in development, our awards nomination platform, building on the efforts of Matt Carr (Central Zone) and Eric Torunski (Gatineau Zone) is undergoing enhancements to meet user requirements. We’ve transitioned from plastic ID cards to digital ID. Central information repositories have been created for zone presidents and division presidents to assist them in performing their duties. Policies are being reviewed, modified as required and published. A review of our bylaws and regulations is underway with the intent that any changes will be ready for approval by the next annual general meeting.
These are all behind the scenes, but still critically important activities to prepare us for our future. We’re now in a position to deal with the largest challenge we face operationally, training. When we’re not patrolling, our training team is getting us ready to train, then we train, then we patrol.
The Modernization Symposium made it clear that we needed to enhance our training experience. At the same time, challenges with current registration methodologies and general documentation were identified that hinder our ability to recruit new members and retain existing members. Right now, if someone asks you on the lift how to join the CSP, we generally ask them to visit our website and give us a call in the fall, six months later. We can and must do better.
We issued a request for proposal in September 2023 and have now received responses to our questions about how we might meet the aspirational goals we set at the Modernization Symposium. A preliminary review of the responses indicates that we can accomplish many of these goals, if we invest some time and money.
Work has already started within our training and development group to map our current manual to the CSA Z1210-17 standard and to review the content with the intent to modernize it – within the scope of the standard and our unique requirements.
In late January or early February we will be presenting a proposal to the board of directors to implement the vision supported by the Modernization Symposium. New and returning patrollers would register online and then be seamlessly enrolled in new candidate or requalification training. This training would be virtual through to the completion of quizzes and exams prior to enrolment in kinetic or in-person training. Patrollers would have the opportunity to practice various scenarios in a virtual environment, from simple to complex, prior to kinetic classes. On snow or (on patrol training as it now referred to) would also be virtualized as much as possible. Record keeping and documentation would be more highly computerized via smartphone or tablet.
Our plan is to integrate our modularized content with our enhanced platform into a pilot that will commence in September 2024. After thorough testing, the enhancements would be available for broader use in early 2025.
A lot of the work is being performed by your fellow patrollers. As always, our future will determined by patrollers, for patrollers.
This post is also available in: French