Canadian Government Executive - Volume 24 - Issue 02

10 / Canadian Government Executive // March/April 2018 I n 2016, the community of Fort Mc- Murray, Alberta, located in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo (RMWB), was ravaged by a wildfire conjuring up images indel- ibly etched in the minds of all Canadians. The fire, which began in May of 2016 and raged on throughout much of the summer, burned up to 5,900 square kilometers and wasn’t finally extinguished until the fall. Insurance Bureau of Canada estimates that almost 1,600 buildings were affected by the fire, including nearly 2,500 living spaces, making this the costliest disaster in Canadian history. This has all had enor- mous social and economic impact on a community already feeling the effects of the global energy markets. For public servants involved in emer- gency response efforts, it was a daunting challenge that required unprecedented, coordinated response efforts from all lev- els of government and the international community of wildfire professionals. For public servants working in the Re- gional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, many of whom were personally affected by the disaster, work didn’t stop when the fire subsided. Since then, efforts have shifted to community recovery and incor- porating lessons learned into Emergency Response practices. In this issue, George Ross, CGE’s Editor in Chief sat down with Annette Antoniak, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, Alberta, to discuss the recovery efforts in Fort McMurray and more broadly her views on developments in Municipal Gov- ernment. Q: Let’s begin by giving CGE readers a little bit of background on your public service journey. Annette Antoniak: It’s been a great jour- ney. I am fortunate to have experienced an unbelievable career and to have been involved in so many different projects that have been life-changing. I began working for the provincial government in British Columbia as part of a team working on Expo 86 for the BC Pavilion Corporation. Once that ended, I was asked to work for a federal crown corporation: Canada Place Corporation in Vancouver, where the Canada Pavilion was housed. We did the retrofit into the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre, which also houses the Pan Pacific Hotel and the cruise ship ter- minal. INTERVIEW Chief Administrative Officer of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, Alberta By George Ross Annette Antoniak An Interview with