Public Risk Conference Material

The Alberta Municipalities' Public Risk Conference is hosted once a year and covers emerging risk topics affecting our membership, dives into important conversations and arms our members with tools to take back to your municipalities and associations. 

2023 Public Risk Conference

Have Upstanding Citizens: Slips and Falls and Municipal Duty of Care

In conjunction with recent decisions and the Municipal Government Act, we will discuss the aspects of a municipality’s duty of care and due diligence as it relates to how the work is carried out, components of a contract/snow removal policy and record keeping regarding snow and ice removal. Other important areas of discussion will focus on risk management, what types of systems should be in place to monitor the work and how to address unexpected/significant winter events.

Navigating Property Values in Volatile Economic Times

The presentation will look at the impact the global pandemic had on the Canadian economy and where construction market emerged leaving property owners scrambling to ensure they understand today’s costs and have adequate protection in place.

Water Damage Mitigation

This session illustrates how water damage can occur and its effects on building materials. It will show how quickly secondary damage happens and the actions taken to reduce the damage, including the best water removal processes and equipment. The steps of mitigation as well as mold growth will also be discussed.

Modernizing Liability Insurance for ABmunis members

It is important to stay on top of changes in the insurance market, and keeping the insurance wordings and coverages for your program up to date. In this session we will discuss the changes made to the liability insurance coverage wordings in 2023 and how that affects your organization.

Emerging Issues and Stakeholder Collaboration

Severe weather is increasing in frequency and severity across the country. In 2022, we experienced Canada’s third costliest year for insured damages in our nation’s history. Insurance is all about risk and Canada is becoming a riskier place to do business. What is being done to help develop solutions for some of our biggest severe weather challenges? This session will provide information on what the insurance industry is doing, and the collaborative work with government, to build more resilience across the country.

Trends in Municipal Defences

This session will discuss MGA defences with updated case law on how municipalities are able to use the various statutory defences to immunize themselves from claims and lawsuits. We will discuss the various decisions we have been successful with where the claims has been dismissed either after a summary dismissal application or a full trial. There will also be info on various claims like occupiers’ liability, personal injury, trespass, and collateral attacks. We will discuss the trends in the courts for future claims and interpretation of the MGA.

Workplace Harassment: Risky Business for Employers

Municipalities are unique employers in that their employees deal directly and regularly with the public. Unfortunately, this can often lead to municipal employees receiving harassment in the workplace. This presentation will review many of the risks for municipal employers arising from workplace harassment, and some strategies to deal with it.

How to Manage a Cyber Claim for Public Entities

This session will include examples of Canadian cyber claims that have been experienced as well as the importance of a prepared incident response plan. We will outline the role of a breach coach as well as the possible legal issues during breach response. Learn how to avoid decisions that result in insurance coverage loss.

Waivers, Assumptions of Risk, and Facility Use Agreements - How Local Governments Minimize Risk Through Contractual Means

In this session, we will review the ways in which local governments are able to transfer liability risk by making use of waivers, assumption of risk language, and facility use agreements. They will cover the form and content required to ensure your contracts are enforceable and the importance of how they are presented to the public in advance of their execution.