The seeds for an SFPE Chapter in the Ottawa region were sown in a meeting held January 15,
1981 at the Ottawa offices of the Canadian Wood Council. The four individuals in attendance
were Ross Thomson of the Canadian Wood Council, Kurt Brewer of National Defence, Stuart
Hornby of the Fire Commissioner of Canada’s office and Ken Richardson of the National
Research Council. The group agreed that the formation of a chapter in Ottawa appeared
feasible and should be investigated further. The first action of this Organizing Group was to
determine the reaction of the SFPE Montreal-Ottawa Chapter (now the St. Laurent Chapter)
to the formation of a separate chapter in Ottawa.