Canadian Security Lifesaver Association presents inaugural award

In recognition of the above-and-beyond service that frontline security professionals provide everyday, the Canadian Security Lifesaver Association presented its first Lifesaver Award to Paragon security manager Jodie Leishman during Paragon’s inaugural security conference, held in Toronto on March 5.

The Lifesaver Award acknowledges frontline workers who have taken extraordinary steps or measures to save the life of a person in medical distress or imminent danger.

The award was presented by David Sulston, co-founder and chair of the Canadian Security Lifesaver Association, and director of security for platform services at Oxford Properties Group, and Kevin Sanjari, president, Paragon Security.

In his opening remarks, Sulston commented that uniformed security personal face a great deal of scrutiny in their day-to-day working lives. He noted that many security providers offer programs that acknowledge the great and potentially live-saving deeds their employees have done, but there is always room for more recognition, particularly from an independent body. It’s in this spirit that the Canadian Security Lifesaver Association was founded, said Sulston. The new association, established last year, plans to acknowledge more frontline personnel representing a variety of security companies.

The overriding theme of Paragon’s conference was the importance of public-private partnerships. Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders opened the event with an address, acknowledging the value of such partnerships as a means to enhance public safety. He said as the City of Toronto continues to grow at a rapid pace, it will be important to continue the discussion between public and private organizations and work together to mutually achieve this goal.

The event also featured a presentation from Sean Sportun, chair of Toronto Crime Stoppers. The organization recently unveiled a new logo and brand — “See It. Say It. Stop It.” — and is raising awareness about the horrors of human trafficking. Sportun said few people are aware of the scope of human trafficking in Canada and the degree to which young people are targeted. In Canada, 63 per cent of victims are Canadian citizens, 90 per cent are female, and one is four is a child. Human trafficking is “modern day slavery,” said Sportun and covers a range of crimes from sexual exploitation to forced labour to human organ harvesting. Toronto Crime Stoppers recently partnered with Uber to help promote awareness and is actively seeking more partners to spread the word.

The first annual Paragon conference also featured presentations from Eldon Sprickerhoff, founder and CIO of cybersecurity firm eSentire; Brittany McBain, supervisor of the Ontario Integrated National Security Enforcement Team at the RCMP; Keith Melo, emergency management program coordinator, George Brown College; Alison Buchanan, emergency management duty operations, Emergency Management Ontario; and Steven Suggitt and Brent Bowden, account executives at Everbridge.