Operation Lifesaver, is a unique public-private partnership that saves Canadian lives and suffering from injuries incurred at highway/railway crossings and from trespassing on railway property. The program is unique, because it has been so successful; so Canadian, because few can recall having heard of it.

The program, sponsored by the Railway Association of Canada and Transport Canada, is supported by Canada's railways, police forces, safety councils and leagues, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, community groups and some 500 volunteer presenters in communities from coast to coast. Without the program, more Canadians would have been seriously injured, or killed.

In 1980, there were 826 collisions at highway/railway crossings in Canada. Roger Cyr, the original Operation Lifesaver national director in Canada, says the program started with little more than an idea and some reference material gathered from the American program. Mr. Cyr had a desk and a filing cabinet, and eventually an assistant. He dug in and started to establish Operation Lifesaver in Canada. He accumulated data, worked his contacts in the railways, and developed ties with government agencies.

Gradually, the OL network came into being. Operation Lifesaver committees in the provinces were set up. The Canada Safety Council and the provincial safety councils and leagues in eight provinces became important partners.

Saskatchewan joined in 1981. Nova Scotia was the last to enter in 1988. Initially, the program had one mandate - promoting crossing safety. In 1989, however, the anti-trespassing component was added.

To promote its railway safety message to the public, OL established an education program to target the general population, from school age children to adults. How was this done? By using the three E's - Education, Engineering, and Enforcement. Partnerships with various agencies, such as police forces, and engineering groups, were developed.

During this 10-year period, Roger introduced a wide range of public awareness programs, such as crash simulations, rail safety days, billboard campaigns, and mall displays. He also was instrumental in introducing a new cross-buck safety symbol in Canada.

The results were positive. Crossing collisions declined from 826 in 1980 to 386 in 1990, to 279 in 2001. Deaths fell from 83 in 1980, to 48 in 1990. In 2001, 41 men, women and children were killed in crossing collisions. Injuries dropped from 435 in 1980 to 201 in 1990, and, following a change in classification, to 47 serious injuries in 2001.

In 1991, after 41 years of service at CN and 10 years with Operation Lifesaver, Roger decided to retire. He was the original OL staff member. When he left, the program had a National Director and an Executive Assistant, Karen Jones, who had joined OL in 1991.

Ben Levesque joined Operation Lifesaver as National Director on January 1, 1992 following his early retirement from CN in his early 50's. The programs that were already in place had worked quite well and involved volunteers, mostly railway employees, railway police officers, some provincial and municipal police forces, and the provincial safety councils and leagues.

It was time to build on the solid base that had already been established. A survey had just been completed across Canada. It revealed that only 11 per cent of Canadians had heard of Operation Lifesaver and its railway safety message. Education, the first "E" of Operation Lifesaver, became the principal theme of the new program.

In 1992, OL introduced the first "Officer on the Train" program in Canada. With the cooperation of CSX police officers, they ran the first exercise between Chatham and Sarnia, Ontario, with great success. As a result of that initiative, enforcement agencies became keenly aware of rail-related public safety issues.

In the mid-1990s, Mr. Levesque had been invited to attend the Program Development Council of Operation Lifesaver Inc. (OLI) in the U.S. and had been accepted as a member of Council. This was a great opportunity for him to observe what was happening south of the border.

OL had been around in the U.S. since the 1970's and it counted numerous volunteers and various awareness programs. One interesting initiative was the Presenter Program. Ben saw an opportunity to introduce a new tool to Canadian OL to promote railway safety and to attract partners to the program.

Excited, he returned to Canada with the American material. It included a manual, flipcharts, carrying case, and tripod -- to sell the idea and, if successful, package it for OL north of the border.

Ben put together a team to do this, including Frank Binder of CN Police; Ric Ladouceur, CPR Police Service; Ray Marchand, Canada Safety Council; and Gary Drouin of Transport Canada. The team reviewed the material and decided it was a worthwhile project to undertake.

The Canadian presenter kit was developed. Through Frank and Ric, it was introduced to CN and CPR police officers and to other volunteers. The program really flew from this point. OL now had a tool it could use to promote a consistent message throughout the country - something needed because everyone was doing their best to bring their own experience to the students and to the public in general.

The unionized employees, the front-line people, were always there to support OL. Quite a few members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers were active in the program. They too included their personal experiences in their safety message to deliver powerful presentations to the public.

The Presenter Program expanded dramatically. Groups and individuals interested in becoming involved in the program now had a concrete means to do so. These included members of the Optimist Clubs, railway enthusiasts, provincial, municipal and federal police forces, health professionals, and other railway employees, including administrative staff and management.

As the program grew, a logistics problem developed. OL only had one Master Trainer at the time, Frank Binder. It was time to recruit some help. Ernie Oliphant of OLl in the United States responded. Together, they held a Presenter-Trainer session in Calgary during which 17 Presenter-Trainers were trained.

While they were developing the Canadian Presenter Program, a review of the Railway Safety Act was undertaken and completed, and new recommendations were made to the Minister of Transport. One of these was to reduce the number of collisions at crossings and trespassing incidents by 50 per cent by the year 2006.

It was then 1995, and the program "Direction 2006" was established to implement the recommendation. Transport Canada started to recruit railway safety people to join the partnership program, which included representatives from provincial and municipal governments, railway unions, safety councils, and enforcement agencies.

Operation Lifesaver became a partner in this program, and Ben Levesque accepted the chairmanship of the Education Committee. OL expanded its activities through the Presenter Program and its involvement in Direction 2006, demands increased for educational material, a website was developed to increase OL's visibility.

The Presenter Program continued to evolve. Today, the Officer on the Train program has been expanded to promote railway safety awareness to the media and the judiciary. And important partnerships have been forged with groups able to influence public behavior.

The team also produced two important documents: The Presenter Program Guidelines and the Canadian version of the Presenter-Trainer manual. Another important development occurred in 1998. OL had always kept track of presentations and referred to both CN and CPR Police for OL activity updates from their officers. However, the sheer volume of reports from an ever-growing roster of presenters required program management to take a closer look at how they collected their information.

Ranjan Kelly, an expert in the fields of statistics and databases who had been working with the Transportation Safety Board, retired and was recruited to set up a database for Operation Lifesaver to keep track of people, presentations, and activities. The result was D. O. L. I. The acronym stands for Database of Operation Lifesaver Information. D.O.L.I. provides the means to gather all the information needed from presenters, trainers and the activities going on within Operation Lifesaver.

Operation Lifesaver continued to work very closely with Direction 2006, developing new programs, such as the Community Anti-Trespassing Guide, and new videos, such as the Snowmobile Safety Video, produced in cooperation with OLI (US).

New Direction 2006 material and videos are in the works. Operation Lifesaver publications are also being revised. The new "Can you make the grade?" is complete and other documents will be forthcoming.

By 2002, with increased train traffic, more railways, and more vehicles on the road, the number of deaths and injuries along Canada's railways has been reduced. The volunteers and dedicated supporters in several organizations have made OL the best public safety program in Canada, and it has made Canada a better, safer place to be.