Ottawa was one the safest places in Canada as paramedics across Canada gathered in the capital city on Monday.

It's a yearly event that brings upwards of 60 paramedics to meet with 40 different MPs and committee members to speak about health care, public safety, and paramedic and emergency services around Canada. Local chapters across Canada gather on the hill on Ottawa, and meet with either or local MPs, or MPs that involve paramedics such as the minister of health or public safety.

They are there to advocate on behalf of the 40 thousand paramedics across Canada, speaking on different issues. Some from the past and some are new issues that have arisen in the last year.

Moose Jaw's Chief paramedic Kyle Sereda was honoured to be there, saying "it's great to see that there are so many paramedics in their local jurisdictions that are facing the same challenges. We all do the same job. We all are trying to evolve the profession to work at our maximum potential, so it made me very proud to be shoulder to shoulder along side so many paramedics across Canada to talk about the same messages to government. And I think government tends to listen when you have a number of people in a profession that are all facing the same challenges, and was very receptive with who we did meet."

The opioid crisis was one issue that continues to be kept the spotlight as a challenge for paramedics as well as the health care system.

Commumity paramedics was another topic, in regards to how paramedics can be used in non traditional roles outside of the 911 type response that have now.

Another topic they spoke on was constructing a national monument. Paramedics have been advocating for a monument that honours those who have fallen in the line of duty. There have been 48 paramedics that have lost their lives in the line of duty, and they feel it's important to bring light to and honour those who have fallen.

"When it comes national monuments and Heritage Canada," said Sereda, "there are certainly some rules to follow when it comes to where that would be placed. We're looking for it to be placed in Ottawa, somewhere on the hill, like the other monuments that are there for military, police and fallen fire fighters. There is certainly lots of support for it, but the challenge is around funding and a site. It's important to recognize them nationally, and to have that in an appropriate place that can be visited by many that visit the monuments that are currently on the hill or around parliament in Ottawa."

They also met with Minister Goodale, on some of the initiatives that have taken place around paramedic and emergency services mental health, mental wellness, and looking for resources to make sure they are available to emergency services of all facets.

"Speaking directly to local constituents is an important reason for going to Ottawa," said Sereda. "While we all do the same job, we have different challenges in local areas. Localizing and personalizing it to what's happening in their constituency and having them speak to it in committee or House of Commons, draws attention to what other jurisdictions might be facing. And the more people that talk about these issues and tell the stories of what's happening in their constituency, tends to gain traction to the decision makers that can really have an impact to making changes or identifying areas that need improvement in para medicine or the emergency services in general."

Sereda said they have been meeting for a few years now, and that he can see that the work of advocacy is proving to be invaluable, seeing some investments in mental health and public safety around research and development around PTSD and PTSI. Because of the work of paramedics and other emergency services like police and fire who have all advocated for different areas of the work that related.
"We've seen investments and time and resources put into the initiatives because of some of the work that we do," said Sereda, "and that's why we continue to do it. Because if we didn't keep these issues in the spotlight and keep educating and informing our government officials on these initiatives, maybe we wouldn't see these things change as quickly as we have. So they have proven to be very valuable and have provided results over the last couple of years."