Deborah Jones-Middleton, Chair, has been working in the field of emergency management for the past 12 years.  She is passionate about building resiliency in the residents of British Columbia and supporting Emergency Management Professionals in developing response plans that effectively provide residents with the support and compassion they need in challenging emergency events. 

Deborah has experience in responding to significant wildfires, flooding, ice jam breaks and landslides that have caused the evacuation of residents and livestock.

Deborah is the Director of Protective Services for the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako and is privileged to work with staff who share her vision. 

Deborah is proud to serve her fellow Emergency Management Professionals through BCAEM and would love to collaborate with you anytime.

Harpreet Jaswal, Vice-Chair, completed her graduate studies from the University of Victoria in April of 2012, and has since worked in the field of Emergency Management, in both British Columbia and Alberta. She has held various positions with provincial, local, and non-profit organizations, and has worked collaboratively with Emergency Management partners and industry on planning, response, and recovery initiatives.  Before returning to British Columbia in 2018, Harpreet spent five years working and training in Alberta. While with the Alberta Emergency Management Agency at the Provincial Operations Center, Harpreet gained extensive planning and operational experience. Much of her field experience and knowledge came from real life deployments, most notably the 2013 Southern Alberta Flood, 2016 Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo Wildfire, 2017 Waterton Lakes National Park Wildfire and the 2018 Overland Flood.

Harpreet has achieved her Incident Command System 400 certification, and is currently working towards her Certificate in Emergency Management from the Justice Institute of British Columbia. She has been an active member of the International Association of Emergency Managers since 2009. In terms of her character, Harpreet brings flexibility, leadership and emotional intelligence. She is constantly seeking opportunities to grow and to learn, both personally & professionally.

Harpreet believes through leadership and innovation, BCAEM can bridge the gap between knowledge and action. She looks forward to sharing her unique experiences and knowledge to provide meaningful content to members and to support the leadership team in achieving strategic goals and deliverables.

 You can connect with Harpreet on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hkjaswal/

Tarina Colledge, Secretary, brings 15 years of experience in a number of roles with local government in the areas of public safety and service. Her greatest passion is strategizing to find holistic ways of addressing emergency management. A leader on many fronts, and a strong advocate for more accessible ICS training within the purview of local government, Tarina is actively pursuing her ICS Canada Instructor designation. Passionate about her volunteer roles with both Team Rubicon Canada and the Canadian Red Cross, she is constantly seeking opportunities to build on her skills and abilities and has experienced a number of real-life deployments. The most notable accomplishment of her professional career thus far, has been being heavily involved with response and recovery operations for the 2016 Horse River Wildfire (Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo) in Fort McMurray. In her role with the Regional Emergency Operations Centre she was part of the team that assisted with the evacuation of over 88,000 people, arranged short-term needs and services and worked closely with the Canadian Red Cross and other NGO’s to facilitate a coordinated response and transition to recovery. Tarina presented her experiences from Fort McMurray as a keynote speaker for the NESST conference in 2017. Currently, Tarina is the Emergency Management Specialist for the Fraser Valley Regional District. As a BCAEM Board Director, Tarina envisions a BCAEM where members are empowered through project management processes to step up and action projects that support the adopted BCAEM Strategic plan. Our members are why we exist.

Terry Balan – bio coming soon

Christina Carbrey brings 14 years of experience in public safety to her role as a BCAEM Board Director. Her career in public safety started in 2008 as a 911 Call-taker and Fire Dispatcher at Ecomm-911; and has since worked for BC Wildfire Service; Kamloops Fire Rescue; and currently the Regional District of East Kootenay where she is the acting Protective Services Manager. Christina’s current role as Protective Services Manager has her overseeing the East Kootenay Emergency Management Program (EKEMP), a regional emergency program that partners with 8 municipalities, 4 First Nations, and 6 rural Electoral Areas; additionally, she oversees E-9-1-1, and the rural fire and rescue services for the region.

Christina has also been a Canadian Red Cross Emergency Response Team Volunteer since 2018.

In 2019, Christina completed her Master’s in Disaster and Emergency Management through Royal Roads University, and her lust for learning has not stopped. She has nearly completed her Emergency Management Certificate through the JIBC; and also holds numerous other certifications.

This self-proclaimed disaster nerd takes nearly every opportunity to partake in seminars, webinars, and online courses.

The areas of emergency management that Christina is most passionate about are preparedness and recovery, and she believes that to truly improve resilience we need to take a people/community centric approach. Christina is also keen to push emergency management in BC to further align with the Disaster Risk Reduction principles outlined in the Sendai Framework and their whole of community approach. She is excited to be a BCAEM Board Director and looks forward to collaborating with other passionate EM professionals.

You can connect with Christina on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/christinacarbrey

Karen Collins – bio coming soon

April Diver – bio coming soon

Phil Folkersen brings over 30 years of experience to the BCAEM board in the areas of emergency management planning and response, business continuity planning, development and implementation of health and safety management systems, and employee and management training. He was an integral team member of many chemical, oil and gas spills and fire response teams in British Columbia and throughout Canada. His past consulting experience has given him the opportunity to work with clients and regulators in the energy, power, built environment, manufacturing & industry, infrastructure and mining sectors.

Phil is a 6 year member of the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue (RCMSAR) Station 1 in West Vancouver and also volunteers as a member of the Lions Bay Emergency Operations Center. Phil recently opened his own consulting firm, Red Cape Solutions Inc. so that he can continue to service industry and communities in the areas of emergency and safety management.

Sandra Follack has over 27 years in the fire service involved in numerous roles in dispatch and response to emergencies in British Columbia. Her career started in the Lower Mainland dispatching both fire and police departments at various agencies. During that time, her passion for assisting the public lead her to focus on the Emergency Management side of response. Sandra became involved in training exercises and developing programs, responding to wildfires, earthquakes, floods, landslides and assisting with evacuations.

In 2007, Sandra moved to Kelowna to work as fire dispatcher for the Kelowna Fire Department. In 2016, Sandra was successful in being hired as the Administration Officer for the Kelowna Fire Department and the Emergency Program for the Regional District of the Central Okanagan (RDCO). During the first year the learning curve was as expected, then 2017 arrived along with the Floods! Sandra was successful in 2018 as the Deputy Chief of Emergency Management for the Kelowna Fire Department and the position of Emergency Program Coordinator for the RDCO. Sandra’s commitment to ensuring the residents of the Central Okanagan are well prepared for any emergency aligns with her desire to collaborate with Emergency Managers in British Columbia.  Being elected to the BCAEM Board of Directors is an honour and Sandra looks forward to working with an amazing team to build on the framework of responding to emergencies. 

Mark Stephens has been working in local government for over a decade, coming to the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary (RDKB) in 2019. He started as Interim Manager of Emergency Programs before becoming permanent Manager in 2020. Since arriving at the RDKB, Mark has led the department through critical projects such as the development of the Regional Flood Response plan and Regional Evacuation Route plan. He has also led the EOC through numerous activations including the 2020 Boundary Freshet which saw over four kilometres of TigerDam and earth berms deployed to protect the City of Grand Forks from floodwaters. When not responding to emergencies in his capacity with the RDKB, Mark serves his community as a paid-on-call Firefighter and enjoys spending time with his wife and three kids camping, skiing, and hunting.