Ready for anything: UBC’s approach to community safety and emergency planning for the summer soccer games

“As UBC prepares for FIFA World Cup 2026 Vancouver, ensuring the safety and smooth operation of campus life is a shared priority. Sam Stephens ( SS ), director of UBC Community Safety , and Hailey Maxwell ( HM ), director of Emergency Management and Continuity Planning , are leading this work. Stephens and his team focus on keeping the campus community safe, while Maxwell leads institutional emergency preparedness, response, and recovery planning across the Vancouver campus and university neighbourhoods. For the tournament training at the National Soccer Development Centre, this means working with operational staff, UBC leadership, as well as partners like the City of Vancouver, Vancouver Coastal Health, Metro Vancouver, the provincial government, RCMP, and fire services. Together, their teams work closely when situations have the potential to impact campus operations and require a coordinated institutional response. In this Q&A, Stephens and Maxwell share how they are working together—alongside many partners across UBC and beyond—to ensure the university is ready for anything when international teams arrive on campus. What are some things people might not realize go into this preparation? SS : Planning for an event of this scale involves both local and national partners. While many resources are focused on tournament activities, we’re also ensuring the broader campus community continues to be supported. One challenge is shared industry resources, such as security personnel—we need to maintain service levels even as demand increases. HM : And that pressure is felt across teams. While the NSDC is just one site, we’re preparing for a range of impacts, from watch parties and increased tourism to the possibility of supporting communities during a potential emergency. Preparation is about balancing these moving pieces while keeping campus operations running smoothly. How are different teams across campus working together? SS : UBC has a strong culture of collaboration. Early on, we adopted a ‘one team’ approach by establishing a working group to centralize planning across units, from reviewing contract details to aligning government partners and coordinating emergency responses. HM : During the games, this group will work together as an emergency operations centre to support information sharing and rapid decision-making. Two years of collaboration have built strong relationships that will help make us effective in an emergency. SS : While planning might be complex behind the scenes, the goal is for everything to be seamless for our partners and the community. What does it mean for UBC to serve as a training ground on a global stage? SS : It’s an opportunity for UBC to demonstrate that we’re prepared to operate at the highest level and support an event of global significance. It is also a platform to showcase our beautiful campus to many international visitors and provide a welcoming experience to teams on campus. HM : It’s also a chance to deepen response partnerships and processes before an emergency occurs. With so many safety and emergency personnel focused on preparing for the games, we can make meaningful progress on planning for incidents like evacuation, because the partners have aligned priorities: Enjoy the games, keep people safe, and be ready to work together if need be! What types of risk planning and scenario preparation are going into this event? SS : We’re planning for a wide range of scenarios around event-specific risks, in addition to assessing how the response to more frequent challenges, such as protest activity, needs to be adapted to the new working environment during this event. A key priority is meeting two commitments at once: supporting tournament activities while continuing to serve the campus community. HM : Emergency Management prepares for all types of incidents, from evacuations and wildfires to unexpected events during the games. We focus on having the right partners, training, systems and processes in place, and regularly run exercises with campus staff and faculty to practice responding to complex emergencies. How does your team coordinate with the various emergency services and safety partners to ensure seamless operations? SS : Supporting an international event involves multiple layers of emergency services working together. Our role is to understand available resources, how to access them and how they integrate with UBC’s operations—while streamlining coordination through our established working groups. HM : A core function of emergency management is building strong regional partnerships. Leading up to the tournament, we’ve worked closely with adjacent emergency management teams to align how we operate and strengthen mutual aid arrangements to ensure smooth coordination during emergencies. What does “readiness” look like from a safety perspective in a global event like this? HM : Readiness starts with strong fundamentals: communication, information sharing and decision-making. When these are in place, teams can respond quickly and effectively. For the community, success feels like everything is running smoothly, with minimal disruption and issues resolved behind the scenes. SS : I’d add that readiness isn’t just about one team, it’s about the strength of the entire network. Planning for the tournament helps us build that capacity, but these capabilities need to be in place every day, not only for major events. Featured Subject Hailey Maxwell Director, Emergency Management and Continuity Planning, Safety & Risk Services Featured Subject Sam Stephens Director, Community Safety, Safety & Risk Services

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