Duguay takes on VP position at CATSA

Jennifer Brown  September 27, 2007  

Yves Duguay, Air Canada’s senior director of corporate security and risk has left the airline to take on the role of vice-president of operations for the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA).

Duguay, who began the job Sept. 4, will oversee passenger, carry-on and checked baggage screening operations for CATSA.

“My focus will be on the frontline operations, keeping in mind our state of preparedness for Vancouver 2010,” says Duguay.

CATSA is present in 89 airports with a staff of almost 5,000 screeners employed through service providers. He will also oversee a staff of 90 people in Ottawa and the regions CATSA serves. Duguay was at Air Canada since August 2000 and was responsible for group security across the organization. He led the airline through a number of significant challenges including 9/11, SARS, the amalgamation with Canadian Airlines and promoted security as a core value.

“We were very focused in 2000 on the merger with Canadian Airlines. Air Canada was working on a new model to deliver new services. I had to submit a business plan for what security would be like with the two merged entities together and that’s when we got hit with 9/11 and basically everything we had before no longer applied,” says Duguay.

Before joining Air Canada, Duguay was a member of the RCMP from 1975 to 2000 serving across Canada. He was promoted to Inspector in Quebec in 1995 responsible for the commercial crime division.