History of the Award

The inaugural CITIG National Awards for Public Safety Interoperability were presented in Ottawa on Monday, December 5, 2011 during the Fifth Canadian Public Safety Interoperability Workshop. Recipients were:

• Ernest MacGillivray (in recognition of his leadership and vision in advancing public safety communications interoperability efforts in Canada – both for his ground breaking work in New Brunswick and contribution to national interoperability efforts as a member of the CITIG and SOREM)
• Steve Palmer (in recognition of his leadership, vision and passion to advance responder communications interoperability in Canada – his efforts to help conceive, build and grow CITIG have directly resulted in a better and safer Canada)
• Roger Poirier (in recognition of his leadership and pioneering work to advance responder communications interoperability in Canada, including his leadership of the Radio Advisory Board of Canada and his work on the Canadian Public Safety Radiocommunications Project)

On Monday, December 3, 2012 during the Sixth Canadian Public Safety Interoperability Workshop, the 2012 Awards were presented to:

• Chief (Ret.) Harlin McEwen (in recognition of his leadership and pioneering work to advance responder communications interoperability in the United States and Canada, including his role with the International Association of Chiefs of Police, National Public Safety Telecommunications Council, Public Safety Spectrum Trust and the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), among many other organizations)
• Chief (Ret.) Frank Albert (in recognition of his leadership and vision in advancing public safety communications interoperability efforts in Canada – both for his ground breaking work in Quebec and contribution to national interoperability efforts as a member of CITIG)
• Michael Webb (in recognition of his leadership and vision in advancing public safety communications interoperability efforts in Canada – both for his ground breaking work in British Columbia and contribution to national interoperability efforts as a member of CITIG and Senior Officials Responsible for Emergency Management (SOREM) Interoperability Working Group)

On Monday, November 25, 2013 during the Seventh Canadian Public Safety Interoperability Workshop, the 2013 Awards were presented to:

• Terry Canning (in recognition of his leadership and vision in advancing public safety communications interoperability efforts in Canada – both for his ground breaking work in Nova Scotia, ongoing role as a volunteer fire fighter and contribution to national interoperability efforts as a member of CITIG).
• John Conrad (in recognition of his leadership and vision in advancing public safety communications interoperability efforts in Canada – both for his ground breaking work in Alberta and Ontario and contribution to national interoperability efforts as a member of CITIG).
• Vern Marshall (in recognition of his leadership and vision in advancing public safety communications interoperability efforts in Canada – both for his ground breaking work in Yukon and contribution to national interoperability efforts as a member of CITIG).

On Monday, December 1, 2014 during the Eighth Canadian Public Safety Interoperability Workshop, the 2014 Awards were presented to::

• Operations Manager Pascal Rodier (in recognition of his leadership in advancing public safety communications interoperability efforts in Canada – both for his passionate advocacy to secure mission critical broadband spectrum for public safety and contribution to national interoperability efforts as a representative of CITIG)
• Superintendent Greg Furlong (in recognition of his leadership in advancing public safety communications interoperability efforts in Canada through his service as a founding Board Member to CITIG and strong advocacy role to secure mission critical broadband spectrum for public safety)
• Insp. (Ret.) Lance Valcour (in recognition of his leadership and pioneering work to advance responder communications interoperability in Canada and beyond, including his role with CITIG, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, among many, many other organizations)