• Proven practices for managing vendor disruptions.
• Planning and mitigating the risk of supply chain disruptions
• Planning practices to manage vendor risk and continuity of operations in the procurement process
• Including essential vendors in exercises to identify gaps needed to minimize the impact when a vendor cannot deliver goods and services your organization relies on

AI has significantly improved emergency response times, efficiency, and accuracy. It enables responders to quickly access and analyze data related to an incident, quickly identify and locate victims, and better coordinate resources, rescue and relief operations. AI has also enabled responders to more accurately predict and prevent potential hazards and disasters. This session will consider the ways in which your organization can use the power of AI to best advantage. This session will cover:

• How Artificial Intelligence can optimize disaster response and recovery, enable more precise forecasting, improve real-time decision-making and efficient resource allocation
• Risks and concerns about data privacy, algorithmic bias, and the digital divide
• Steps to take in embracing this powerful new technology
  • Understand the way Algorithms:
    • Analyze data from sensors and cameras and predict emergency scenarios
    • Respond to patterns of behaviour
    • Identify location of people in distress
    • Monitor environmental factors and historical data to predict when conditions may become hazardous
    • How can you make use of AI in your organization – costs and benefits?

• With the increasing impacts of climate change, the need for disaster supports is also likely to increase.
• Our investigation, which examined Emergency Support Services and Disaster Financial Assistance, found that these programs were not always delivered fairly and equitably. We heard that people experienced delays, poor communications and other barriers in receiving the financial support they needed.
• The Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness has accepted the 20 recommendations we made to improve the delivery of emergency supports.
• The presentation will discuss our investigation, findings and recommendations for change.

• The Cyber Centre and its recent National Cyber Threat Assessment
• Cyber threat disrupting business activities
  • Ransomware
  • DDOS
• Key considerations to reduce the impact on business activities
• Cyber Resilience is different from Cyber Security
• Embedding a culture of cyber resilience in your organization

The heat dome in 2021 in B.C. was unprecedented in its severity and has been identified as the deadliest weather event in Canadian history. This extreme event and the sheer number of dangerous heat waves have thrown the need to anticipate, prepare for and respond to extreme heat into the spotlight.

• Interventions to reduce heat-health risks and prepare for extreme heat events
• Most effective public health interventions to assist those at risk
• Evidence-based strategies for policymakers, planners and service providers
• Risks and impacts from extreme heat and pollution
• Preparing for health impacts 
• Developing an alert protocol
• Developing a response plan
• Communication activities
• Preventative action: Reducing urban heat
• Employer obligations
• BC Heat Alert & Response System: Pilot 2022 – provincial alerting process for heat

The probability of another pandemic occurring within one’s lifetime may grow to an extraordinary 76% within the next few decades.

• What have we learned from our past experience?
• Will we be caught flat footed again?
•  How should we be readying our organization for whatever comes our way.