Thirty seven delegations from 13 nations gathered together Feb. 6-9 in the cold climate of Toronto for the CAA. Hosted by the Canadian Army, the four-day gathering was one of nine conferences in the two-year cycle led by the United States Army.
"The objectives included sharing lessons on how we operate with interagency stakeholders, other governmental departments, etc," said conference secretary, Canadian army Col. Marc Lafortune. "For example, Chile is currently conducting significant firefighting in their country and are interacting with municipalities, provinces and other governmental departments, so this is a great venue to share all the lessons learned."
The focus of the event was Training for the Interagency Environment. When the conference series completes, the lessons learned will culminate with an exercise in November, hosted by the Chilean Army.
"We have to have knowledge of how different organizations, governmental and non-governmental, work, how they think, operate and what their capabilities are," said Chilean Army Brigadier Gen. Edmundo Villarroel, education division commander. "We also have to provide them with the knowledge of our own capabilities."
The delegates, working in small groups, discussed their Army’s specialized role and shared their interagency operations experiences. They also spent this time to define their partnership agreements with one another.
Topics such as environmental considerations, operational level planning and training for expeditionary operations, were part of these discussions which ultimately led to the agreements.
Lafortune called the conference a success and said the objectives were met. He was happy to hear the visitors appreciated the diversity of the briefs and shared experiences.
"It's really about the intellectual content of the conference, and that's what our army commander wanted to ensure happened here; so it would stimulate discussion," said Lafortune.
The week closed in a ceremony with all members in attendance signing the discussed agreements. Once the conference officially closed, the group participated in a cultural event by visiting the Royal Ontario Museum.
The CAA consists of 20 members from North and South American armies who collectively determine the course of action of the organization. It also currently has six observer armies of which five are applying for membership.
The army of the Dominican Republic is scheduled to lead the conference series next year.