Jessica Lagacé Banville

Head of division-Bureau d'intégration des nouveaux arrivants à Montréal

Jessica worked for 6 years in emergency management at the City of Montreal, mainly in natural hazard analysis and coordination of large-scale projects with partners. She participated in the coordination of several events, including the extreme heat events in 2010 and the H1N1 flu crisis in 2009. More recently, she has participated in the development of specific intervention plans, including one for a major water shortage. She has also developed several communication tools to raise awareness among the Montreal population of the risks present on the territory and of the proper behaviours to adopt during a disaster.

She joined the Bureau de la résilience in 2016 as a planning advisor responsible for the development of the City of Montreal's urban resilience strategy. This position led her to become more aware of social issues, including the socio-economic integration of immigrants. Jessica has been working at the Bureau d'intégration des nouveaux arrivants (BINAM) since March 2017, where she is responsible for aspects of inclusion through innovative processes, among other things. She holds a Master's degree in Geography from the University of Quebec in Montreal and a Bachelor's degree in Physical Geography from the same institution. She is the recipient of numerous scholarships for excellence, including the NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarship at the master's level. Following her studies, she worked in international cooperation in a project in Ecuador where she developed several strategies for dialogue between different political and social actors to promote the implementation of sustainable development projects.