CRTI Summer Symposium 2007
"Building Resiliency: from Concept to Operations"

June 11 - 15, 2007

The fifth annual CRTI Summer Symposium welcomed 335 people, breaking last year's record of 270 attendees. The Symposium was once again held at the beautiful Château Cartier in Gatineau, Quebec, from June 11 to 15, 2007. The annual event brings together the S&T;, national security and responder communities to learn about the developments that have been made, within the past year, through the Chemical, Biological, Radiological-Nuclear, and Explosives Research and Technology Initiative (CRTI), while providing a forum for information sharing and creating new linkages.

This year's theme, "Building Resiliency: from Concept to Operations", reflected how the CRTI is moving towards a Capability-Based Planning model that focuses on identifying and developing S&T; capabilities that truly respond to the needs of operational and responder communities. The ultimate goal is to move S&T; solutions from the labs into the field as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Day one and two of the Symposium offered a number of presentations on both completed and on-going projects, as well as two presentations on the UK and Canadian experience during the Po-210 incident in 2006. The afternoon of Day three offered a particularly thought-provoking program, beginning with luncheon speaker, Jay M. Cohen, Under Secretary, US Department of Homeland Security and concluding with keynote presentations by Margaret Bloodworth, National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister and Associate Secretary to the Cabinet and Peter Tallantire from the UK Civil Contingencies Secretariat.

Day three featured a morning workshop for First Responders, including tabletop exercises designed to train First Responders in the selection of personal protective equipment in the event of a CBRN incident. In the afternoon, participants attended a briefing on bio-detectors, as well as participating in hands-on technology demonstrations of chemical detectors.

Once again, the CRTI Summer Symposium was a resounding success, providing a meeting place of choice for the CBRNE community.

Benefits of the Summer Symposium:

• to see and hear about the latest developments in scientific and technical progress of CRTI within the past year,
• to work with scientists and expert responders and planners in CBRN exercise preparation
• to witness the benefits of S&T; solutions to national security and CBRN preparedness
• to meet Canada's national and international S&T; leaders;
• to see first-hand how CRTI is accelerating the delivery of the technology to the first responders community and other operational authorities;
• to contribute to the Canadian CBRN community of practice; and
• to share CBRN knowledge with other experts in the field.