Day 2: Plenary - Serve, Protect and Reflect

Jean-Michel (J.M.) Blais was appointed to the position of Chief of Halifax Regional Police on October 10, 2012. Prior to this appointment, Chief Blais was a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for 25 years where he worked in Quebec City, Montreal, Winnipeg, Portage-la-Prairie, Ottawa and Halifax, in the areas of federal, provincial, municipal and aboriginal policing. He also completed two U.N. missions in Haiti in 1995 and 2008.He retired at the rank of Chief Superintendent.

Chief Blais has two degrees, one in political science and economics from McGill University and the other in law from Université Laval. He has also published several works on international and national police-related topics.

Born and raised in York Region, Chief Eric Jolliffe began his career with the City of Edmonton Police Service in 1979. In 1981, he returned to York Region and joined York Regional Police. Over his 33 year career, Chief Jolliffe has served in a variety of functions. On December 13, 2010, he was appointed to Chief of Police. The Chief is active in the community and is proud of the partnerships York Regional Police has developed with the various diverse communities in this Region. Chief Jolliffe was presented the Officer of the Order of Merit of the Police in 2015.

Vince Hawkes became Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police on March 29, 2014, assuming leadership of one of North America’s largest deployed police services. Commissioner Hawkes oversees frontline policing, traffic and marine operations, emergency response and specialized and multi-jurisdictional investigations throughout the Province of Ontario. Since joining the OPP in 1984, Commissioner Hawkes has amassed an array of cross command operational policing experience, particularly in frontline service delivery, investigative disciplines and forensic science.

Mark Saunders was appointed the 10th Chief of the Toronto Police Service on May 20, 2015. The City of Toronto is a vibrant diverse city covering 636 square kilometres with a diverse population of more than 2,600,000 people. The Toronto Police Service employs over 5300 police officers and 2700 civilian employees and has an annual budget nearing $1 billion dollars. It is the largest municipal police service in Canada and 5th largest in North America.

During his 32-plus year policing career, Chief Saunders has had extensive investigative experience in Professional Standards, Urban Street Gang Unit, Intelligence Services, Drug Squad, Community Safety Command, and the Emergency Task Force and served as the Unit Commander of the largest Homicide Squad in Canada.

Hamlin Grange is a diversity and inclusion strategist. He is President and co-founder of DiversiPro Inc. a diversity and inclusion consulting company based in Toronto. As a diversity change management consulting firm, DiversiPro works with managers and their teams in projects related to the integration of cultural diversity into their work and work force. DiversiPro has been engaged by corporations, not-for-profit agencies and Governments in Canada, the US, and Europe. Hamlin has made numerous presentations or conducted diversity and inclusion training to a variety of organizations, including, the Nova Scotia Community College, Centennial College, University of Toronto, the Ontario Police College, the Toronto Police College, Toronto Police Services, the Ministry of Correctional Services and the Family Responsibility Office.