Public safety agencies from both sides of the international border are spending two days this week discussing issues of mutual concern in a conference at Grand Portage, MN.
The Cross-Border Emergency Management Conference is held every second year, and brings together local, provincial, state and federal officials from a wide variety of emergency response agencies.
Some of the participants this year include the Ontario Fire Marshal, the province's Director of Emergency Management, various police services, the Canada and U.S. border agencies, Minnesota's Commissioner of Public Safety, the officer in charge of quarantine for the Centers for Disease Control in the U.S., the Thunder Bay District Health Unit and the Red Cross.
Valerie Marasco, director of the Cook County Office of Emergency Management and Public Information, will chair the conference, which begins Wednesday.
She said the meeting is "about being ready for anything and knowing how to work together when our communities need us...This is a unique opportunity to come together and focus on issues of mutual concern, joint response to emergencies, who does what and how when it comes to disasters, and trends of concern we need to have on our radar."
Marasco issued a statement that included what she identified as highlights of the conference:
- The Northern Emergency Management Assistance Compact with MN Homeland Security & Emergency Management and Ontario Office of the Fire Marshal & Emergency Management
- The Roll Out of the North American Humanitarian Response Summit with American Red Cross Vice President of International Services, Jono Anzalone from Washington DC and Lise Anne Pierce Senior Manager, Emergency Operations for the Canadian Red Cross, National Office.
- Law Enforcement Intelligence: Trends of Concern with the Department of Public Safety, Ontario Provincial Police, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office and US Border Patrol
- “The Border” – Who Does What: Border Patrol vs Customs & Immigration/Resources Available
- 2018 Public Health & Infectious Disease Concerns with Dr. Arnold Vang, CDC, Ellen Hill, MN Epidemiologist, and Lee Sieswerda, Epidemiologist/Manager Environmental Health Thunder Bay District Health Unit
The conference will wrap up on Thursday, March 22.
