Exercise Thunderbolt '91

In the spring of 1991, Roberts was posted to Toronto Militia District Headquarters (now called 32 Canadian Brigade Group) to co-ordinate public affairs during this internal security exercise. The two week long exercise culminated with the deployment of reserve troops to guard specific sites in the Toronto area. To ensure that the public was fully aware that the movement of armed soldiers in the streets was an exercise, and minimise concern, a focused public awareness program was undertaken. Capt Roberts visited and addressed several council meetings, he met with key local politicians. He produced posters with a brief explanation of the exercise that included a contact telephone number. These were hand delivered to residences adjacent to exercise locations a week prior to the deployment. The exercise generated a considerable amount of television news coverage, all of it positive. There were no complaints from any home owners.

During the two and half day, weekend exercise, Roberts co-ordinated the visits by six television national and regional news crews to the three exercise locations. One station, CITY-TV in Toronto conducted two live broadcasts during the exercise. In 1991 live feeds from remote locations during a news broadcast were not as common as they are today.