City of Portage la Prairie Public Safety Chair Colin Doyle recently traveled to Mississauga to attend a public safety conference with Director of Public Safety Brad Bailey. Doyle explained it was the second annual Safety of Our Cities Conference, which was spearheaded last year by the Edmonton police chief.
"The conference was held in Edmonton and received such a good reception that they decided to make it an annual event. I wasn’t there last year, but I was invited to go this year, and it was in Mississauga, Ont., in the Peel region. It was hosted by the Peel Regional Police. From day one, the content grabbed my attention. They had various speakers, including a gentleman named Joe Roberts, who once came through Portage. He is referred to as the Skid Row CEO."
Doyle explained that Roberts was once homeless and addicted to drugs and alcohol. He noted that Roberts was there to share his story of how, at one point, he was arrested by police, and the officer asked, "How can I help you get your life back on track?"
"The story was about that extra step the officer took that day. Now Joe is the CEO of his own company, an author, and a speaker. He is familiar with Portage because he pushed a shopping cart across Canada to raise money. He stopped in Portage, spoke at the schools here, and remembered Portage very, very well."
Doyle added that Michael Landsberg, former TSN personality, was also in attendance and spoke about mental health and related issues.
"It was just a great conference, full of great people. There were chiefs of police from across North America, including from Albuquerque, N.M., Dallas, Tex., and Miami, Fla. I’m very much looking forward to next year’s conference."
One of the highlights of the event that stood out to Doyle was how the Peel, Durham, and York regions have integrated their community safety and well-being plans.
"Everything they do regarding social services and law enforcement ties back to their community safety and well-being plan. Those sessions were very important to me because I’m on the leadership table of the plan we’re developing here in Portage. Seeing how effective and frequently they reference their plans was a great takeaway for me to bring back to our community as we develop our own plan."
Doyle added that he and Brad Bailey joined focus groups and breakout sessions, learning valuable information to bring back to Portage and city council.
"Some of it isn’t quite applicable here, but a lot of it is, and we’re looking forward to having those conversations with council. I really appreciate the opportunity to attend. Not only was the content and knowledge valuable, but the networking was, too. Even though they’re in a different province and thousands of kilometres away, the relationships you build through networking are invaluable because you never know when you might need to call on a partner."