Emergency Medical Assistants Licensing Board
Last updated on December 31, 2024The Emergency Medical Assistants Licensing Board (Board) is composed of 3 members, one of whom must be an emergency medical assistant selected in the prescribed manner and another of whom must be a medical practitioner, appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council. The third member sits as the Board chair.
The Board is responsible for examining, registering and licensing all emergency medical assistants (EMAs) in B.C., including first responders.
Under the authority of the Emergency Health Services Act, the Board sets licence terms and conditions. In addition, the board investigates complaints and conducts hearings where necessary.
Board Members
Ryan Sinden, MBA, DipHSc, PCP, Chair
Ryan Sinden works in both the fire service and BCEHS. Ryan started his full-time firefighting career in 2006. Within the fire service Ryan has and continues to be involved in many different specialty teams including high angle and confined space rescue, urban search and rescue, trench rescue, vehicle extrication, and water/ice rescue. Ryan has also been active in the private sector developing and teaching courses and providing contract rescue services in industry.
Ryan’s career in paramedicine started in 2007 with BCEHS as a primary care paramedic. Working in the Okanagan, Whistler, and the Metro Vancouver area for the last number of years Ryan has enjoyed experiencing the variety in service delivery that comes with different areas. Ryan’s interest in training and education continued with his position as an instructor with the Justice Institute starting in 2008 where he teaches the PCP program.
In 2017, Ryan accepted a role with BCEHS Learning as a clinical educator. Ryan currently teaches the various continuing education courses offered to BCEHS paramedics. Continuing education is important to Ryan leading him to complete his diploma in EMS from the Justice Institute in 2015 and Honours Degree in Business Administration from Simon Fraser University in 2016.
Ryan was appointed to the board April 27, 2020, and was reappointed in December of 2023 until December 31, 2025.
John Tallon, MD, MSc, FRCPC, Vice Chair
Dr. Tallon graduated from University of Toronto Medical School with honours. He has a Master of Science in Epidemiology and Community Health from Dalhousie University and a BSc from the University of Waterloo, and Emergency Medicine Royal College specialty certification at the University of Calgary.
He has lived and been licensed as a physician in British Columbia since 2011. He has previously lived and practised in Ontario, Nova Scotia and Alberta in the past.
He is currently appointed clinical professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at UBC where he was interim Co-Head for 3.5 years finishing in May 2024. He has worked clinically at the Vancouver General Hospital Emergency Department for five years and maintains Honourary privileges there. He is also appointed as adjunct professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine, Dalhousie University with cross appointments as adjunct professor in the Departments of Surgery and Community Health and Epidemiology at Dalhousie University. He holds certification as Canadian Certified Physician Executive (CCPE) to 2024.
He is a Past President (2010-2012) of the Trauma Association of Canada (TAC). He has served on the Physician Advisory Board for Accreditation Canada and has been an active surveyor for Accreditation Canada for ten years with primary accreditation experience in Emergency Health Services, emergency medicine, trauma, medical imaging and diagnostics and laboratory testing.
His health systems interests include injury control, injury prevention, trauma and Emergency Health Services systems as well as health care evaluation and accreditation. His clinical research interests include resuscitative airway management and head injury. He has extensive experience in working with and leading multidisciplinary health care teams in different health care regions and authorities within British Columbia, other provinces and nationally.
Dr. John Tallon has served in the past as the first Chief Medical Officer with British Columbia Emergency Health Services (completed term 2020) and as Vice President Medical Programs with BCEHS.
Dr. Tallon was appointed to the Board on December 31, 2024.
Landon James, Member, RN, BSN, MA, ACP, OSTJ
Landon James has been a Registered Nurse since 1997 and a Paramedic since 2002. In that time, he has held various clinical, educational, and leadership positions within various Health Authorities and the BC Ambulance Service. He is currently employed full-time as an Advanced Care Paramedic in Vancouver and is a member of the BC Ambulance Service Airway Management Committee.
In addition to regular employment, he has also had many other opportunities such as establishing the medical services within the Athletes’ villages for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and serving as the President of the National Emergency Nurses Association. Landon was also the founding author of a National Continuing Competency Emergency Nursing Education Program (EPICC) that has proliferated across the country and seen the development of multiple additional courses for other clinical areas.
In addition, Landon has always maintained a high level of volunteerism with a variety of organizations. This began with the St. John Ambulance Brigade within which he held various Provincial leadership positions. Within the last 10 years, much of his time has been spent with Squamish Search and Rescue where he is currently serving as the Medical Program Lead. He has also volunteered for many years with the BC College of Nurses and Midwives on both the Registration and Inquiry Committees, which is where his interest in professional regulation began. Most recently, he has been serving as President of the Society of Professionals in Emergency Care that administers the EPICC Nursing education programs. Always committed to ongoing professional development of others, he and a colleague have also been creating a free podcast for health professionals around the world since 2015 to support ongoing professional development.
Landon has always had an interest in process and quality. He has strengths in identifying gaps in systems that lead to inefficiencies and/or safety risks. He works with the philosophy that engineering strong systems instead of relying on changing actions with people leads to providing care in the safest way possible.
Landon was appointed to the board December 31,2024.