Event Agenda

November 3rd – 4th, 2026 // Montréal, Canada

Theme: Securing Our Critical Operations Through Building Practical Cyber Resilience

Day 1 – November 3rd 2026 Conference Chair: Martin Laberge, Exec. Director Cyber Security, CISO, Énergir 08:50 – 17:45
	08:50Opening Address : Martin Laberge, Executive Cyber Security Director, CISO, Énergir
	09:00 Why are IT and OT still at odds when it comes to cyber security priorities, ownership, and risk tolerance? Has IT/OT convergence improved cyber security outcomes, or has it increased complexity and new exposure? How effective are current cyber security policies, governance models, and controls – including network segmentation – across IT and OT environments? How critical are clear policies in making IT/OT security work in practice, from culture and communication to operational trust and accountability? – Moderator: Tom Bornais, CISO, NAV CANADA – Alex Charbonneau, CISO, Lassonde Industries – Abu Thomas, IT Director, Contract Pharmaceuticals Limited – Adina Schoeneman, Sr. Product Marketing Manager, CrowdStrike – John Walsh, Field CTO, IGEL Technology .
	09:40 This session will examine how Zero Trust principles and a platform approach—secure endpoints and workloads, a common control plane for governance and policy enforcement, a broad and secure application ecosystem, and secure interfaces to the surrounding IT/OT environment—can help bridge legacy, current and future operations. How to reduce fragmentation and enable IT/OT convergence while enabling trusted execution, segmentation, continuous verification, contextual policy and multi-framework governance without compromising OT availability and lifecycle requirements. . – John Walsh, Field CTO, IGEL Technology
	10:20 Networking Break
	11:00 Understanding OT-specific disaster recovery and incident response challenges: legacy systems, downtime costs, and cyber threats How we can build a comprehensive OT disaster recovery strategy aligned with IT continuity and business objectives Best practices for data backup, failover systems, and recovery procedures in industrial environments Where we can integrate automation and monitoring to detect failures early and reduce recovery time The lessons learned from real-world OT disaster recovery scenarios .
	11:40 How modern leaders manage security priorities, operational resilience, and business continuity How best to lead cyber strategy in an evolving threat and regulatory landscape Where you can build trust across executives, operators, partners, and stakeholders and what the CISOs role is How we are preparing critical infrastructure organisations for future cyber challenges . – Carl Ouellet, Director, Architecture & Cybersecurity, Héma-Québec .
	12:10 The Abstract: Bill C-8 just redrew the compliance map for Canada’s critical infrastructure — but the organizations that only meet the letter of the law will be the ones caught flat-footed by what comes next. This talk exposes the incidents and pressures that forced regulators’ hands, then makes an unapologetic case: resilience isn’t written in a policy document; it’s engineered — by people who understand how your systems actually fail under stress. Drawing on WSP’s integrated OT/IT, controls, and telecom expertise, the session closes with six converging forces set to outpace tomorrow’s regulations. Compliance is the floor. Resilience is the outcome. . – Ali Ahmadi, Senior Manager, Industrial OT Cybersecurity, WSP
	12:20 Understand the pivotal roles IT/OT systems play in managing industrial processes Explore the fundamental differences between IT and OT and why these distinctions matter Discover vulnerabilities that OT networks face and the potential impact of cyberthreats Discuss how we can best communicate the risks to our board level executives to ensure effective proactive threat detection .
	12:50Lunch hosted by IGEL
	13:50 How we utilised advanced risk-modeling frameworks to identify hidden third-party threats, factoring in physical plant safety, operational downtime, and strict global compliance liabilities Where we implemented aggressive vendor due diligence protocols, airtight service level agreements (SLAs), and component integrity audits How a zero-trust network boundary controls, dedicated industrial jump servers, and multi-factor authentication controls monitored third-party risk Where shifting culture through targeted workforce training helped to prevent a major breach . – Timothy Feeley, Lead, OT Cyber Risk & Security, Nova Scotia Power
	14:20 Practical lessons from conducting OT risk assessments in industrial environments Insights from hands-on experience across differing critical infrastructure sectors Key successes and common pitfalls in OT risk management Actionable takeaways to improve risk assessment processes, identify vulnerabilities, and strengthen security posture .
	14:50 How we bridged IT and OT environments to create a secure, connected foundation for industrial transformation What we did to enhance visibility across critical assets, networks, and operations to improve security and resilience How we protected converged industrial ecosystems against evolving cyber threats while enabling innovation Where we empowered smarter, more resilient operations through integrated security and digital capabilities . – Razi Farooqui, OT Cyber Security Lead, Greater Toronto Airports Authority .
	15:20 . – Gilles Loridon, CEO, Cyberium
	15:30Networking Break
	16:00 . T1. Developing Secure Remote Access for OT Environments – Ryan Bowery, Principal Solutions Engineer, Claroty . T2. Utilising Effective Tools for our Patch Management Programmes – Dragos . T3. Overcoming Burnout & Mental Health Challenges in Security Teams – Tom Bornais, CISO, NAV CANADA.
	16:40 Bill C‑8, An Act Respecting Cyber Security has been given royal assent and introduces new cybersecurity obligations for critical infrastructure operators across Canada. But what does the legislation mean in practice—and how prepared is your organisation?This interactive session helps CISOs and senior security leaders navigate Bill C‑8 by clarifying which provisions apply, how key terms are defined, the anticipated implementation timeline, and the practical steps organisations should take now to prepare for its operational implementation. The discussion will focus on the protection of critical cyber systems spanning ICS, OT, IT, and AI environments, including supply‑chain considerations and the detection and reporting of cybersecurity incidents as defined under the Critical Cyber Systems Protection Act (CCSPA).Tailored for leaders in energy, transportation, telecommunications, finance and other CI sectors, participants will leave with clear takeaways, practical guidance, and a realistic view of their organisation’s readiness in an evolving threat and regulatory landscape. . – Richard Larose, Cyber Principal, Strategic Advisor on Bill C-8, Cyber Partnership, Canadian Centre for Cyber Security .
	17:20Closing Remarks: Martin Laberge, Executive Cyber Security Director, CISO, Énergir
	17:45Drinks Reception
	19:00Dinner Hosted by Nozomi Networks (Invite Only)

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