Emily has worked frontline at two BC SPCA shelters — both in crisis when she arrived. In one, she helped turn a 1,500 square foot facility — sixty cats in care, long length of stay, welfare and biosafety conditions that had reached a tipping point — into a shelter with real foundations, implementing Capacity for Care, welfare tracking, streamlining adoption processes, overhauling intake and vaccination protocols to meet provincial standards, and rebuilding the shelter's relationship with its community.

The shelter she directly managed told a similar story — overcrowding, compromised welfare conditions, serious biosafety concerns — and she took it from there to a 95%+ live release rate and the lowest length of stay in the BC SPCA organization.

Her work extended beyond her own facilities. She supported other BC SPCA shelters across the province through the same process, trained staff throughout her region, and taught dog temperament testing provincially — building the systems and the people behind them.

She knows what it takes to implement these protocols in the real world, with real teams, under real pressure. She has the results to show for it.