By Elizabeth Oldfield, Communications Team Member (oldfield@telusplanet.net)
This month we are celebrating the 2023 Canadian Ski Patroller Award (CSP) recipients. This prestigious award recognizes patrollers who have made significant contributions to the growth of the Canadian Ski Patrol over and above their regular patrol duties.
The recipients of the CSP Award in 2023 are:
- 968 – Amanda Mouchet – Yukon Zone
- 969 – Andy Payne – Central Zone
- 970 – Bob Lidstone – Central Zone
- 971 – François Belanger – Eastern Townships Zone
- 972 – Gordon Merz – Calgary Zone
- 973 – Greg Dell’Agnese – Kawartha Zone
- 974 – Gustav Goldman – Gatineau Zone
- 975 – Guy Deshaies – Eastern Townships Zone
- 976 – Jean François Bourk – Lanaudière Zone
- 977 – Stephanie Brisebois – Eastern Townships Zone
- 978 – Steve Reeves – Kawartha Zone
968 – Amanda Mouchet – Yukon Zone
Amanda has contributed at the highest level for Yukon Zone throughout her 15 years with the patrol. As patrol leader for Mount Sima, Amanda is a confident, stable and positive leader of an efficient, effective, and responsive team. She has a strong focus on safety awareness, operations, and teamwork.
Amanda has contributed at the Mountain Division level as member of the organizing committee for the Mountain Division First Aid and Toboggan Competition. She has the ability to trust and delegate responsibilities but is always able to jump into swift action to respond when needed.
969 – Andy Payne – Central Zone
Andy Payne has a strong commitment to the Central Zone’s on-snow program starting as an on-snow instructor at Mansfield Ski Club Patrol. He has been his patrol’s on-snow coordinator for more than 25 years and has advanced through the zone’s on-snow leadership as a district supervisor and director of on-snow training. He is known as an instructor and instructor-trainer with a vast and deep subject matter knowledge which he imparts with humility, respectfulness, and a passion for professionalism.
970 – Bob Lidstone – Central Zone
Bob is a long-time patroller who has assumed significant responsibility and made significant contributions in leadership roles at the zone level including as zone’s VP of operations and Central Zone board chair. He has added strong business practices to the zone.
He has a strong training background and is an active instructor trainer in first aid and on-snow activities. Bob is a keen supporter of zone fund raising efforts by taking on a number of shifts at both the Toronto and Barrie ski swap.
971 – François Belanger – Eastern Townships Zone
Over the last 10 years François has been recognized by his zone for significant contributions in the training and development portfolio. He is an instructor-trainer in both AFA and on-snow training. He co-developed an on-snow training module in difficult terrain, a course which formed the basis of a Quebec Division on-snow seminar. He currently serves as the zone’s director of on-snow training. His talents extend to operations as well, having been the patrol leader at Mont Orford, one of the largest patrols in Quebec Division.
972 –Gordon Merz – Calgary Zone
Gordon Merz has helped make the CSP a better organization through substantial contributions spanning operational, leadership and fundraising responsibilities at the patrol, zone, and division levels. He has served as patrol leader of the Nakiska CSP, Calgary Zone VP of finance, Mountain Division VP of administration., ski sale manager, and casino coordinator for Calgary Zone and Mountain Division.
973 – Greg Dell’Agnese – Kawartha Zone
Greg has worked as a member of multiple patrols in both Central and Kawartha zones. He assumed leadership of Kawartha Zone’s 365 events patrol and has worked diligently to ensure its success, including the pandemic years, such that it remains a go-to unit for medical services provision across multiple local events. Greg is also a founding member, APL and avid supporter of the CSP’s motorcycle emergency response unit (MERU) based in Central Zone. This also fosters liaison between the two zones to support each other when the need arises.
Greg is a qualified AFA and on-snow instructor, and the zone’s CPR coordinator providing excellent instruction in whatever is the classroom of the day. Where he sees gaps in the audio-visual instruction materials available, he has used another of his skill sets and created instructional videos for use by the zone to help explain concepts that are hard to put into words.
974 – Gustave Goldmann – Gatineau Zone
Gustave works quietly behind the scenes. He is an excellent example of a team player, stepping up where and whenever needed. His major contributions are in the operations arena: APL, patrol leader, CISM, and awards committee chair. He strives for high quality and efficiency in all our programs. He coordinates the entire awards process from the nomination of candidates to the presentation of awards. This supports his strong grass-roots orientation that holds that patrollers should be the focus of efforts in training, mental health, recognition and retention to offer the best experience for all.
Gustave is an AFA and on -snow instructor, and competition coordinator.
975 – Guy Deshaies – Eastern Townships Zone
Guy has a strong education focus at the national and zone levels. Since receiving an NAA in 2014, Guy has been involved in the following national committees: manual change review committee, national and Eastern Townships Zone COVID-19 response committees, national training and development coordinators’ group, and the national exam review committee .In the Eastern Townships Zone, Guy has held a number of leadership roles, serving as patrol leader at two of the zone’s ski centres and zone VP of communications. He is a long-time first aid instructor and on-snow instructor in the zone.
976 – Jean François Bourk – Lanaudière Zone
Jean François has served in leadership positions at every level of the system: zone president, Quebec Division board member, and a number of national committees. Highlights include development of an awards program for his zone and awards coordinator; Yeti super-user; implementing SharePoint for the Quebec Division; Lanauduière zone president, Quebec Division VP.
977 – Stephanie Brisebois – Eastern Townships Zone
Stephanie has been a strong and consistent contributor to Eastern Townships Zone, especially in training and development. She is an IT and helped deliver an online and virtual requalification program during COVID-19. She has been recognized with several prestigious zone awards for her dedication to the zone as VP of education for two terms. She currently serves as the zone’s VP of finance.
978 – Steve Reeves – Kawartha Zone
Steve Reeves’ contributions as chief financial officer ensured that Kawartha Zone continued on a solid financial footing through the pandemic. As a result, the financial impact to patrollers has not changed. He also oversees the financial management of the zone’s uniform inventory. Surplus uniforms have been sold to other zones with funds reverting back to Kawartha’s uniform program.
Steve took on the position of Dagmar swap manager after the pandemic hiatus, which included training a new cohort of department heads and a new IT manager. He led the team in a very successful swap.
After extensive research and at Steve’s suggestion, the zone executive and patrol leadership has migrated to the Office 365 platform, using SharePoint, Teams and OneDrive. He implemented its use and trained each member of the zone executive, including patrol leaders, in how to use the system.
At the national level, Steve was asked to become involved with the national Yeti extension system (YES) for the financial reporting project, helping to develop a CSP-wide reporting system. Specifically, he helped the developer test and validate software. Team-lead Tim Manery praised Steve in saying, “This project could not have moved forward at the breakneck speed required to meet our insane deadlines without Steve’s help.”
In the training and development department, Steve is an IT in both first aid and on-snow, course coordinator and active instructor. He re-configured the first aid schedule to be able to offer the AFA course over several weekends.
This post is also available in: French