Profiles & Features

Jamaican power line technicians epitomize BC Hydro diversity

Blaine Kyllo
For bchydro.com

It’s a long way from Jamaica to northern British Columbia, but that didn’t stop Gerald Ellis and Junior Phillips from seizing an opportunity in Canada.

The two men were recently hired by BC Hydro and arrived in Fort St. John, in the northeastern corner of the province, in mid-December. Gerald and Junior were no strangers to cold and snow because they had previously worked in Pennsylvania and Michigan, respectively.

But even those experiences couldn’t prepare them for a northern Canadian winter. “It was like somebody hit me with a brick of ice,” says Junior. “But the beauty of it here is you can have snow all over the place and at the same time the sun is shining.”

Gerald and Junior's path to BC Hydro is an example of how BC Hydro has emerged as a leader in employer diversity, a status underlined by the company's inclusion among Canada's 45 Best Diversity Employers list for 2010.

The path to BC Hydro

Both Gerald (right, in the photo), from Jamaica’s Clarendon parish, and Junior (left, in photo) , who comes from the Kingston area, were trained by and worked for the Jamaica Public Service Company, the provider of electricity to the country. Limited opportunities for advancement there led both men to look outside the country for career development.

Gerald worked in Pennsylvania and Junior spent time in Michigan and Texas, before both ended up working in Florida. Then BC Hydro identified and recruited them.

In recent years, BC Hydro, the third largest electric utility in Canada and serving over 94% of British Columbia’s population, has recruited power line technicians from international sectors to make up for a shortage domestically. Places such as Jamaica and the Philippines have similar infrastructure, so skilled tradespeople from those countries often have the necessary experience to work with BC Hydro, where power line technicians are working with live, electrically charged, lines.

Diversity initiatives

BC Hydro was an appealing career move for both Gerald and Junior because the company provided an opportunity for them to get further experience working on power lines with "sticks", insulated poles used to manipulate live wires. Previously, most of their work on power lines had been while wearing insulated gloves.

The emphasis on safety within BC Hydro is also something that Gerald and Junior speak highly of.

“Throughout the company,” says Junior, “the priority is safety. It’s a world-class standard.”

Gerald agrees, and says that when he talked to BC Hydro employees before taking the job, they made it clear that safety was a “key issue”.

At times while working in the U.S., Gerald says, people he worked with seemed to have a problem with him. But he doesn’t expect the same problem at BC Hydro. The workforce, he says, is already diverse.

 “The guys I’m working with are decent people,” he says. “They are friendly and we get along really well.”

Junior says he strongly believes that BC Hydro’s diversity initiatives are a benefit to the company. He did some research on the company before coming to Canada and realized the different backgrounds and nationalities that BC Hydro employs.

“I have a different idea from a guy with a different ethnic background,” says Junior, but in the end the objective of everyone is to get the job done safely.

Life in a northern town

Gerald and Junior are quickly adapting to life in Fort St. John. Gerald has been playing indoor soccer and is learning to skate. He admits to falling frequently in the early going. “It did hurt a little that first day,” he says. “But I can stand now.”

And while participating in their first curling competition, a friendly event coordinated by some BC Hydro employees, Gerald and Junior’s foursome ended up in the semi-finals.

Both men enjoy being outdoors and say they look forward to warmer weather, so they can take part in other activities that are popular in their new home, such as fishing and hunting. “As long as nobody mistakes me for a moose,” jokes Gerald.

Blaine Kyllo is a Vancouver-based freelance writer and frequent contributor to bchydro.com.