Annual National Roundtable on Disaster Risk Reduction

The purpose of the Annual National Roundtable on Disaster Risk Reduction (the Roundtable) is to bring together the general membership of Canada's Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in an open, inclusive, equitable forum. The Roundtable serves as a venue for Canada's ongoing national dialogue on DRR, the administrative annual general meeting for the Platform, and an opportunity for deliberative dialogue among DRR stakeholders.

Participation in the Roundtable is open to any interested parties, departments, organizations or individuals. There is no fee for participation.

Past Annual National Roundtable Events: 

Third Annual Roundtable - From Reaction to Resilience
October 23, 2012, Vancouver, British Columbia

As the Platform matures, knowledge about the National Roundtable has continued to grow.  Registration for the third annual national Roundtable reached some 200 individuals and was a great success.  

After a welcome from Shirley Bond, Minister of Justice and Attorney General, British Columbia; the Third Roundtable engaged the membership in discussions on issues central to the four Platform working groups and continued to elicit commentary and feedback to inform the way forward for Canada's Platform.  The highlight of the event was a talk-show moderated by local CBC journalist Duncan McCue, eliciting perspectives of senior level panelists from various sectors including, the City of Port Moody, the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency, TELUS, the Canadian Red Cross and Public Safety Canada.

Participants were highly engaged in the afternoon sessions while examining solutions to hard questions on the future of DRR as it relates to the private sector; connectedness of communities and networks; governments; and climate change.  Participants also tackled the issue of public awareness and mobilizing citizen engagement by providing insight on strategies, approaches, leveraging social media and Web 2.0 and trying to pinpoint the motivators that would truly call all stakeholders to action.

The varied representation of disaster and emergency management stakeholders enabled many interesting and valuable discussions, highlights of which are captured in the Roundtable Final Report.

Second Annual Roundtable - Community Resiliency
October 18, 2011, Ottawa, Ontario

Over 130 participants attended the Roundtable from across public, private, academic, volunteer and non-governmental sectors.

The Roundtable featured Opening Remarks by the Honourable Vic Toews, Minister for Public Safety Canada, a keynote address delivered by Paul Kovacs, Executive Director for the Institute of Catastrophic Loss Reduction, and a presentation given by Richard Walton, Mayor of North Vancouver District.

The objectives of the Second Annual Roundtable were to:

• Update the general membership on the progress achieved since the Platform launch in October 2010;
• Revise and update the Action Plan that was elaborated following the 2010 Roundtable; and
• Empower and engage the general membership in continuing to advance the issues surrounding disaster risk reduction.

The discussions held at the Second Annual Roundtable informed the work and priorities of the Platform Working Groups and Advisory Committee, and will be used to review and update the Action Plan. The Final Report is available.

Inaugural Meeting
October 26, 2010, Fredericton, New Brunswick

The Inaugural Roundtable event served to launch and lay the foundation for Canada's Platform. Over 70 participants attended the Roundtable from across public, private, academic, volunteer and non-governmental sectors.

The Roundtable featured a keynote address delivered by Sálvano Briceño, the Director of the Secretariat of the UN/ISDR. Minister Trevors, Government of New Brunswick's Ministry of Public Safety, officially opened the Roundtable.
The objectives of the Roundtable were to:

• Launch Canada's Platform for DRR;
• Discuss the vision for Canada's Platform, identify key priorities for action and areas for collaboration;
• Enable inclusive, horizontal and participatory dialogue with disaster risk reduction stakeholders across Canada; and
• Identify and confirm Canada's Platform Advisory Committee.

Following the Inaugural meeting, a Final Report was prepared.

Past Annual National Roundtable Event Documents:

Documents from past Annual National Roundtable events are available through Canada's Platform collaborative workspace SharePoint site, accessible to interested parties by contacting the DRR Secretariat at:

drr-rrc@ps-sp.gc.ca
Phone: 613-991-9748
Fax: 613-991-7095