Month: February 2023

It’s funny how one little thing can sometimes send a day spinning.

Yesterday, I arrived at the ICBA office and discovered our coffee machine wasn’t working. It’s such a small thing, but it threw me for a loop – it was out of my routine, and I felt off.

It’s amazing the power of little things. We feel it most acutely when a little thing goes awry, like a coffee not being ready, or losing our keys, or stepping on a LEGO, or whatever.

But the power of little things can also be used for good. A little change, a little surprise, a little tweak, a little gift for someone else. An unexpected funny text from a friend. A pat-on-tbe-back from the boss. If the coffee machine is down, grab two at Tim Horton’s and surprise a co-worker.

“Small, seemingly insignificant acts are powerful agents of change and growth – if we pay attention to them,” wrote Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval.

What’s a little thing you can do today to make life a little better?

Each week, ICBA’s Jordan Bateman reflects on what we’ve learned as we participate in ICBA’s Workplace Wellness Program. ICBA’s Workplace Wellness Program is helping more than 90 companies and nearly 10,000 construction professionals better understand mental health. This program is free for all ICBA members – check out icba.ca/wellness for details.

We often talk about how ICBA is the #1 sponsor of trades apprentices in British Columbia – and how our apprentices are eligible for $1,500 worth of bursaries as they work toward their Red Seals.

But whenever someone talks about stats or managing paperwork or a large program like this, it’s easy to forget that every one of those 1,700 apprentices is a person working to make a better life for themselves, their families, and their communities. They’re investing in themselves, and putting their dream to the test of a four-year education and training process.

Last night in Burnaby, more than 100 people gathered at our ICBA Red Seal Graduation Dinner, to honour our new Journeypeople (that’s what you become when you graduate the apprenticeship program with your Red Seal – a Journeyperson). Nearly 50 apprentices received a grad certificate and our congrats. We had some instructors on hand to give out the certificates, and it was great for them to be a part of this too.

The event was put on by the ICBA Training team – so a special shout out to Todd, Sabine, Kerry, Jenny, Ally and Nicola for putting the event together!

The professional photos will arrive in a week or so, but here’s a couple of snaps from last night.

Great job, ICBA Training – and congratulations to all of our new Journeypeople! And if you’re interested in apprenticing — or are a company that would like to bring on an apprentice — check out icba.ca/apprentices to see how we can help.

This weekend, BC construction icon and ICBA life member Larry Fisher passed away. The following note, by ICBA President Chris Gardner, remembers Larry.

I wanted to reflect on some sad news we received over the weekend about the loss of an icon in our industry, someone who gave much to ICBA, the construction industry, the open shop movement, and to British Columbia.

Over the weekend, Lark Group founder and ICBA Life Member Larry Fisher passed away after a courageous battle with cancer.

Larry was an incredible supporter of ICBA and open shop construction from our earliest days. When he formed Lark in 1972, he quickly became a strong and outspoken advocate for free enterprise – for the investment, jobs and opportunity that result from open and fair bidding on government tendered projects and on an economy founded on free markets.

Not one to stand on the sidelines, Larry’s passion for getting things done and building B.C., led him to unapologetically support Social Credit and, later, the BC Liberal Party.

It’s impossible to overstate how important Larry and Lark Group have been to open shop construction. Larry was one of the leaders who successfully pushed to open EXPO 86 to non-union construction companies. It was a simple proposition – if companies and their workers had the skill and experience to get the job done, why shouldn’t they have an opportunity to work on taxpayer-funded projects? And he practiced what he preached: Lark sites have a healthy mix of open shop and building trades sub-contractors working on their projects. It was hard work and results that mattered to Larry.

His affection for ICBA never wavered, and he always looked back fondly at his work in the 1980s: “Convictions were so strong that we just believed in what we were doing and if you ran across a concrete wall, you’d step back, go sideways and find a hole in the wall and just keep marching on,” he told ICBA in 2016.

I first met Larry in 1990, when he invited Kevin Falcon and me, university students at the time, to meet with him at 6AM in his office in Surrey to talk about politics. Not one for small talk, he got to the point, and our meeting was over in half an hour. While short, it’s a meeting I will never forget.  I will also never forget Kevin and I, who lived on the North Shore and in Vancouver, looking at each other following the meeting and one of us saying, “It’s 6:30AM in Surrey – now what do we do?”

From that first meeting onward, when it came to discussions about construction, building the province or what was happening at City Hall, in Victoria or in Ottawa, Larry’s voice was never too far from the conversations.

In 2019, ICBA wanted a long-term solution for its head office, and we were looking at sites in Burnaby (where we had been for more than 20 years) and Surrey, (where, in our early days, we had a single room office in a basement), so I called Larry. Lark Group was building City Centre 3 across from Surrey Memorial Hospital. And, two weeks before the COVID-19 lockdown, we signed an agreement to purchase the 8^th floor of the new building. The timing was interesting to say the least, but like Larry, we never looked back.

In the summer of that year, Larry called us with the idea for a photo opportunity that only he could have come up with. After workers poured the 8^th floor of our building, he had a desk craned up and placed in the exact location where my new office was to be located. I will always cherish that amazing photo of he and I, in full PPE, proudly standing behind a desk in the open air, with the Lark Group CC1 building looming behind us.

A couple of months ago, as he was fighting cancer, he called me. “Chris, I’m just on hold waiting for the results of my most recent tests, so I thought I would give you a call. I want to talk about what’s happening in Victoria and Ottawa.”

That was Larry – ever driving, persistent, principled, and always fighting for what he believed in.

As I think about Larry now, I am so glad that I answered his call and had an opportunity to speak with him for a few minutes. I will think of him often as I pass by ICBA’s Builders’ Wall and glance up at his name.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Larry’s family, the Lark Group team, and his many friends. He was an incredible builder and a remarkable person. We mourn the loss of a true icon.

The following piece by ICBA VP-Communications Jordan Bateman ran in Business in Vancouver on Feb. 6, 2023.

Last week, my friend Corey Hirsch was back where it all started for him as our ICBA Wellness Ambassador.

Two years ago, he spoke to a group of leaders at Jacob Bros Construction about his mental health journey and our Wellness efforts. On Friday, he returned and spoke to 300 Jacob Bros employees.

In between, Corey has spoken to dozens of ICBA member companies, partner associations, and thousands of construction professionals about wellness and breaking through the stigma around mental health.

Corey is a former Vancouver Canuck goaltender and one of the most important voices in the fight to end mental stigma in male-dominated industries. He is an engaging speaker that educates, motivates, and inspires his audience. He gives hope to others struggling by showing vulnerability and letting people know they are not alone.

Need a speaker for your next corporate event? Want to make mental health a bigger priority onsite? Consider booking Corey to share his story with your team. Just send a note to events@icba.ca to learn more.

Thanks for all you do, Corey! 

Each week, ICBA’s Jordan Bateman reflects on what we’ve learned as we participate in ICBA’s Workplace Wellness Program. ICBA’s Workplace Wellness Program is helping more than 90 companies and nearly 10,000 construction professionals better understand mental health. This program is free for all ICBA members – check out icba.ca/wellness for details.

It is with heavy hearts that we note the passing of Don Stirling, founder of ICBA member Epscan Industries in Fort St. John.

Our team met Don several times over the years, and his son, Shane, serves on our Board of Directors. Don loved telling the story of Epscan’s founding and growth, and we celebrated the company’s 40^th anniversary with him a few years back.

Don’s deep love for the FSJ community was the cornerstone of his success: “We’ve captured the spirit of Fort St. John in this 40th anniversary, with the friends that are here and the people we’ve had conversations with,” Stirling said in 2019.“The attitude of Fort St. John towards our business and towards the honesty and hard work that we’ve had here at Epscan, they recognize those things and support it. Time speaks for itself, and customers also speak for you.”

Our thoughts and prayers are with Shane and the Stirling family, Epscan workers, and all who knew and loved Don. A donation has been made by ICBA to Don’s favourite charity, the Gizeh Shriners of BC.