Associations News
CANASA responds to ‘lack of education’ criticism

To date, education remains one of CANASA’s top priorities. Contrary to Mr. Spector’s speculation, CANASA maintains partnerships with CEDIA, as well as CSIS, Inc. and ASIS, and currently offers a variety of courses from these sister organizations at our Security Canada Central (SCC) show, and has for many years. Last year at SCC, we also offered business management training, MTS sessions, and panel discussions, which were developed based on feedback from members and attendees through our 2010 surveys.

We also recently partnered with the Tri-Lateral Security Conference to create the Security Canada Alberta and Tri-Lateral Conference, which debuted in May 2010, and achieved great success again in 2011. This show incorporates the Tri-Lateral Security Conference program to offer attendees the opportunity to learn from world-class industry experts on current industry topics.

We also continue to offer a number of leading educational programs and courses that are accessible in classroom and online formats throughout the year. These include a wide range of professional development options, from business management to hands-on technical training. In 2010, we partnered with SIA to offer the Certified Security Project Manager (CSPM) program in Calgary and Toronto, to much acclaim. We created a new course in French, the Central Station Operators Level 1, through a partnership with the Central Station Alarm Association (CSAA). Our Alarm Technician Courses (ATC) offerings also increased. We reignited a partnership with Parkland College to offer ATC 1 and 2 to the security industry in Saskatchewan. Overall, classroom attendance of ATC 1 grew across Canada over the last year.

Moving forward, we are further expanding our ATC course offerings and educational partnerships and are increasing the educational content at SCC to offer shorter, more “digestible” training sessions called Education Flashes. The CSPM program is being offered in more locations across the country this year and we are aiming to meet the specific professional development needs of our various Chapters and Sub-Chapters. In March and May of this year, our Manitoba Chapter offered a free Voice-Data-Video (VDV) training class to help members prepare for the Limited Specialized Electrical Licence exam, which is mandatory in Manitoba for those who work with electrical equipment in their profession.

All of our work is made possible by our invaluable volunteers. CANASA, our volunteers, and committees work together to provide solutions for a better future for our industry. We welcome Mr. Spector and any of our members who are interested in security education to join our Education Committee. Members are the driving force behind CANASA and the direction of our initiatives, including education, and our door is always open for feedback and suggestions. For more information on security education and committee involvement, I can be reached at jfchampagne@canasa.org.