By A.P. Crawford (ap.crawford@skipatrol.ca)
Louise Langlois joined the CSP in 1972 and from the outset demonstrated her leadership abilities across multiple functions at all levels of the organization. With more than 50 years of service (and as the first female patroller to reach that distinction), her contribution and knowledge base is vast.
She has worked tirelessly to improve the quality of first aid taught and practiced within the CSP. In 2013 she took on the position of the CSP Laurentian Zone training manager and oversaw a significant improvement of AFA and on-snow training. In 2014 she participated in the training of instructor-trainers in different areas of the CSP Quebec Division.
Louise has participated in the development of multiple first aid/skills competitions at the zone and division level, and is always available as a volunteer for these events. For the most recent annual conference held in Montreal, Louise worked as technical coordinator for the national common ground skills competition. At the same conference she also translated at the various workshops to ensure francophone participants had appropriate access to the information and discussions being held. She provided similar translation services for the friendly anniversary skills competition held in Ottawa in 2016.
Louise has also provided her language skills to the training and development portfolio in other highly valuable ways. She worked on an initiative called PCI (to cultivate uniformity between French and English terminology) with the aim of standardizing terms to ensure that texts in both languages are as close to identical as possible. As a training manager, she participates in the rewording of the written exam questions with the aim of improving the French versions for the bank of questions from which the annual exam questions are drawn. Given the different nuances between the two languages, this is not an easy task.
Outside of the training and development stream, Louise was elected to the CSP Quebec Division board of directors in 2015, taking on management of the division’s financial requirements. She supported the various zones in the division in the preparation of their annual financial statements. She stepped back from the board at the time of the last election.
Louise is also a member of the critical incident stress management (CISM) team and assists her peers as necessary following critical events they have encountered.
In 2023 Louise completed her mandate as Laurentian Zone president, where her legacy includes increasing the number of patrollers in the zone, improving intra-zone communications, increasing the zone’s equipment inventory and, of course, helping with the various training courses that took place.
She has been recognized at all levels of the CSP, including as Laurentian Zone Life Member No. 18, holds Canadian Ski Patroller (CSP) Award No. 771, has been awarded the Trophée d’Agent de Formation par la Division du Québec, the President’s Trophy in both 2005 and 2015, Récompense Québec No. 55, and Quebec Division Life Member Award No. 8 in 2019.
This year, National Life Member Award No. 92 was added to the list, in recognition of Louise’s ongoing major commitment to the CSP, a recognition very much deserved. Congratulations.