This was an in-person meeting and a recording is not available.
Capt. Paul Elliott, our guest speaker
President's Comments
President Elena welcome all to the meeting today.
All members present were delighted that fellow member Adrian DeCoo was able to join us today!
Our guest speaker today was Capt. Paul Elliot of the 11th Field Regiment, introduced by Linda Bennett.
Paul joined the Primary Reserves in December 1985 with the 56th Field Regiment in Brantford. He moved through the ranks within the Regiment eventually reaching the Rank of Chief Warrant Officer and being appointed the Regimental Sargent Major for a four- year term. Paul was also fortunate to be appointed the Regimental Sargent Major of the 11th Field Regiment out of Guelph for another four- year term where he is currently serving and where he received his Commission and promoted to his current rank of Captain in 2021 Currently holding the position of Operations Officer within the Regiment. Through out His military career he has been involved with multiple Domestic response situations also completing the Province of Ontario’s Emergency Measures Operators course. Other Highlights of his career include one Operational tour to Afghanistan in 2009. He has been awarder the Canadian Decoration 2, Queens Diamond Jubilee Medal, and was appointed to the Order of Military Merit in Oct 2012. Capt. Elliott resides in Brantford with his wife Melanie and Daughter Katie.
The title of his presentation was The Reserves Roll in Domestic Operations, and he spoke about the types of situations in which the reserve gets involved.
Situation
With the uncertain and unknown natural disasters or events that seeming present themselves year after year, as well as human-caused, or mechanical/engineering disasters or emergency's, there will always be a requirement for disaster or emergency response. One of the primary responsibilities of the Primary Reserves is Domestic Response Operations.
Natural Disasters
- Blizzards
- Hail/Ice Storms
- Floods
- Wildfires
- Tornadoes
- Mudslides
Paul spoke specifically to the Ice Storm of 1998 in which he was directly involved:
- Biggest Ice Storm ever in Canada
- 34 fatalities attributed to the storm
- Was the biggest deployment of Canadian Arm Forces since the Korean War
- 16,000 soldiers were deployed
- They used heavy equipment to break up ice, open roads and repair infrastructure
- Some areas were without power for up to 2 months
They are also currently deployed to assist with the evacuation of persons affected by the ongoing forest fires – five to six thousand people at a time.
Human-Caused Disasters or Emergency’s
- Chemical spills
- Explosions
- Mining Collapses
- Protests
- Terrorism
- Cyberattacks
- War
- Hagersville Tire Fire (1990)
Paul spoke about the Hagersville Fire, in which he was also directly involved:
- Fire was set by arsonists, 5 persons eventually charged
- 25 Fire stations were involved, and it took 2 weeks to put the fire out
- 4,000 reservists were deployed
- Reservists helped with relocating evacuees and site control and security
Mechanical/Engineering Disasters or Emergency's
- Buildings and Structures
- Vessels
- Airplanes
- Electrical Infrastructure
- Power Outage (2003)
Paul also provided some general information about the Reserves:
- There are 3 Reserve Brigades in Ontario, each with 4,000 plus soldiers
- All three are required to have a minimum of 100 soldiers ready for deployment within 24 hours notice
- They are part of the federal Canadian Arm Forces and are deployed federally through requests, municipal or provincial governments can not deploy directly
- Their tasks when deployed can be quite various, during the COVID pandemic they filled in for nurses who were not able to work
Closing Remarks & Reminders
Members are reminded of the Online Auction Kick-off scheduled for August 18. The meeting will be at KidsAbility in Kitchener (4273 King Street East) at 12PM. See the email for details and be sure to sign up.
Details of other upcoming meetings are shown below.
Kitchener Rotary e-Newsletter
