Talk Business - Kamloops by KamloopsThisWeek

Q&A: We chat with Norm Daley of Daley & Company LLP 6

Just the ﬁgures: Venture Kamloops’ Economic Indicators 10

Company Chatter: Meet three tech companies from Kamloops Innovation 18

talk FLY DAY

POWER RANGERS PUTS KAMLOOPS IN THE SPOTLIGHT

FILM

MIGRATING WORKERS FROM THE INTERIOR FEEL OIL'S SLUMP p.12

THE BUSINESS OF

p.14

"NOT A HOKEY LITTLE TOWN" — Tourism Kamloops CEO Beverley DeSantis, p.8

WOMEN IN TECH CREATING A COMMUNITY OF FEMALE INNOVATORS, p.16

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talk JUNE 2016 | ISSUE 3

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Talk Business is published four times per year by Kamloops This Week. No part of this supplement may be reproduced without the publisher’s written permission. Unsolicited materials will not be returned. The publisher assumes no responsibility for editorial information. Contact Christopher Foulds and Jessica Klymchuk, publication editors.

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inside: Q&A with Norm Daley

A Focus On Business Law

Venture Kamloops: Economic Indicators

Company Chatter

Movers & Shakers

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Q&A

NORM DALEY has been partner at Daley & Company LLP Chartered Professional Accountants since 1991 and is a well-known community advocate.

Amid a fragile economy, how is business today? It is an interesting time in the economy. Some of my clients are having years that are better than back in 2008 and some are having the worst years ever. That said, I believe there is a lot of confidence in Kamloops and B.C. about the economy. Things are not perfect, but we are better off than Alberta and some of what is happening there is benefiting Kamloops with skilled workers moving back home.

What are some advantages to doing business in Kamloops? We are a big small city. In Kamloops, you have an opportunity to know the major players in banking, development, with the city and province. We have generally all of the amenities businesswise, which you would normally find in communities much larger than ours. We are a regional city and that helps in that we draw from much more than the 90,000 people who live here. I believe Kamloops is a place that finds ways to get things done.

Why have you made community service a priority? When I was young, I saw my parents involved in the community and it was something that they believed in and instilled into me. I was fortunate when I moved to Kamloops that I was able to get involved.Â Being part of events and being involved in community service is actually a lot of fun. Many of my best friends have come from this involvement in events. Having been able to forge many relationships through this involvement has allowed me to do things I never thought possible, including starting or attracting national and international events. Community service is important in that there is not enough dollars to fund everything. If we do not have volunteers, Kamloops would not be the amazing place it is to live.

Would you still like to see a performing-arts centre built in Kamloops? How do you see that happening? It was interesting going through the PAC process. I learned so much about the needs of the arts community and its economic impact.Â We definitely need a PAC in our city. I think it will happen through a ground-swell of support from the arts community. The referendum for the Tournament Capital program was driven by the sports community and for a referendum to succeed it likely needs to be driven by the arts community.

You were involved in organizing the 2014 Brier and the 2016 IIHF Womenâ€™S World Hockey Championship. What would you like to see Kamloops host next? Both of those were amazing volunteer experiences and I am again so grateful that I have been able to be involved in these events. The next event is one I can buy tickets for, sit back relax and enjoy the show (whatever it is).

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TOURISM

With 30 years in the biz, new Tourism Kamloops CEO has big plans for the River City

" NOT A HOKEY LITTLE TOWN" by Jessica Klymchuk

PHOTO: DAVE EAGLES

everley DeSantis knows why certain travellers don’t leave the Trans Canada Highway on their way through Kamloops. Up until two months ago, she was one of them. The new Tourism Kamloops CEO has been vacationing in the Shuswap for more than 30 years and purchased a home in the houseboat capital six years ago. As a seasonal resident, she frequented the Tournament Capital Costco, but admits she had never ventured down the hill until accepting the top job with the city’s destination-marketing organization. Her experience reflects one of the city’s biggest challenges — convincing passersby that Kamloops has much to offer weekend visitors. “I was sad and in shock that I didn’t know how much there is here because I think we would have spent a lot more time 8

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JUNE 2016

here,” DeSantis said. Nonetheless the Calgary native and her husband had been looking for an opportunity to move to the region since she sold her interest in her business in 2010. DeSantis led business development for a group of travel agencies in Western Canada, with offices from Manitoba to Victoria. She stayed with the franchise, Uniglobe Travel International LP, for 21 years. “Since then, it’s been finding what would be a nice fit for the next phase of our life and our forever home and this came up and it’s a beautiful fit for us for sure,” DeSantis said. Tourism Kamloops chose DeSantis because of her personal connection to the area and her industry expertise. She’s been involved in the travel business for more than 30 years, starting as a tourism student at Mount Royal University simply because

she liked to travel. It was her love for people and international experience that kept her interested. After leaving Uniglobe, she spent some time in academia, working as a program co-ordinator at Bow Valley College, where she launched the tourism program. Most recently, she was employed by Business Link Alberta, a non-profit organization that works with entrepreneurs. Though she’s had varied professional experiences, tourism is her passion. “I will leave, but always get drawn back into some sort of tourism and travel. That’s where I belong,” DeSantis said. “From this perspective, because I know what attracts people to a destination, from speaking to the consumer, I can use that experience from the other side of the table. It’s different, but it’s the same. You’re just sitting on opposite ends of the desk.” In her first month with Tourism Kamloops, DeSantis focused on team building, revisiting the organization’s mandate and its key values. The annual general meeting will be held at the beginning of June and then they’ll dive head first into five-year planning. “There’s no end to possibilities and opportunities and I think my biggest challenge will be to choose the opportunities that will reap us the most benefit as far as tourism goes,” she said. “It is so easy to have a community like we have with so many things to offer and not be strategic and target where you need to target.” The strategy is to encourage visitors to “spend one more night here.” DeSantis sees great opportunity in not asking travelers to spend their entire vacation in Kamloops, but focusing on regional visitors who can come to the Interior for one- or two-night stays. Kamloops needs more compelling stories to draw those vacationers into the city, DeSantis said. She envisions expanding on the collaborative marketing initiatives the organization already has with Sun Peaks and the Shuswap to Sicamous and Vernon. “I think we’re just as competitive and a complementary destination to Kelowna, Vernon, Sicamous, Salmon Arm,” she said. “It always starts or ends in Kamloops, so just by the sheer location, as far as product development goes, we are a very desirable location. “This is not a hokey little town. From the eyes of a new-

comer to the city, I’m elated at the opportunities here.” In order to effectively target the focus of the organization’s marketing, DeSantis wants to collect better data on visitorship. The data Tourism Kamloops has is only a reflection of about 20 per cent of visitors. They’re taking a leap that those statistics are indicative across the board, she said. It’s a challenge all cities face. A recent workshop with Destination BC showed most cities are only able to collect data on between 16 and 30 per cent of visitors, DeSantis said. “They’re not going to let us put a toll bridge on the Trans Canada Highway to measure visitorship,” she said. “But we are always looking at ways of gathering data to measure who is coming and how long they are staying and what their experience is like.” Though Destination BC aims to offer solutions through social media and SEO to gauge visitorship, DeSantis said face-to-face engagement is still a key strategy. There will continue to be a team at the departures lounge of Kamloops Airport doing exit interviews with travellers. Tourism Kamloops is also working with the Kamloops Central Business Improvement Association Customer Care and Patrol Team to talk to patrons downtown. Staff will also do interviews with hikers at trailheads. Tourism Kamloops also gets data from Rocky Mountaineer and hotels, though some don’t provide information. Accommodation tax receipts indicate tourism growth as revenue from the city’s two per cent tax increase in 2013 and 2014. Last year’s numbers will be released in the annual report in June. In Alberta, tourism is tied closely to the success of the oil and gas industry, but here, DeSantis believes tourism can only enrich the already stable economy. Going forward, DeSantis wants to see Tourism Kamloops be less reactive and more proactive to opportunities and avoid trying to be “everything to everyone.” “We just need to pull that in and through this process coming forward, we will be able to be targeted and very decisive on what we’re doing,” she said. “I don’t see many challenges other than the obvious, which is really getting the word out on what a fabulous destination Kamloops is and getting people to take the exit off the highway. Once you do that, I think you’ve got them.”

" From the eyes of a newcomer to the city, I’m elated at the opportunities here.

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ECONOMIC

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE

THOMPSON NICOLA REGION SOURCE: STATISTICS CANADA LFS

CANADA

THOMPSON NICOLA REGION

8.6%

CANADA

SOURCE: STATISTICS CANADA LFS

BUSINESS LICENCES

222 158 BUSINESS LICENCES ISSUED (YTD)

8.6%

7.2%

6.4% BC

APRIL 2016

7.6%

2015

6.5%

7.4%

8.6%

2016

EMPLOYMENT RATE

RESIDENTIAL BUILDING PERMITS ISSUED (YTD)

COMMERCIAL BUILDING PERMITS ISSUED (YTD)

SOURCE: CITY OF KAMLOOPS

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INDICATORS AIRPORT PASSENGER VOLUMES

YTD TRAVELLERS

RESIDENTIAL (YTD)

35,501,737

3,832,016

27,740,892

2016

2015

SOURCE: CITY OF KAMLOOPS

2015

2016

2015

SOURCE: CITY OF KAMLOOPS, STATISTICS CANADA

2016

364,000

AVERAGE RESIDENTIAL PRICE • APRIL 2016

385,000

NUMBER OF HOUSING STARTS YTD

131

REAL ESTATE

145

HOUSING CONSTRUCTION

SOURCE: CITY OF KAMLOOPS

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28,096,993

COMMERCIAL (YTD

MONTHLY TRAVELLERS

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CONSTRUCTION VALUE

116,584

2015

24,492

24,434

2016

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INDUSTRY

Migrating workers from the Interior feel oil's slump

FLY DA by Jessica Klymchuk

he unemployment rate in the region is climbing, but whether it’s affected by migrating workers suffering oil-industry layoffs remains to be seen. Latest numbers from StatsCan show the unemployment rate for the Thompson-Okanagan is sitting at 8.6 per cent — down 0.8 per cent from March, but up 1.2 per cent from April of last year. In March, unemployment reached a high of 9.4 percent. Local Kamloops statistics are no longer released by StatsCan. The Financial Post recently reported Alberta’s recession is expected to last into 2017, with the biggest declines seen in oil and gas. Oil prices hit a low of $27 a barrel in February, but have recently rebounded to almost $50 a barrel. Venture Kamloops executive director Jim Anderson said although his organization is aware there is a certain portion of the workforce that migrates to oilpatch jobs, that data doesn’t exist. “The only data we have is the unemployment rate and the trend is upward — that’s certainly true,” he said. “What percentage or portion of that is due to fly-in fly-out workers or people who are working in the oilsands, we don’t know for sure.” In the second week of May, the federal government added B.C.’s Southern Interior to the list of 12 economically challenged regions now eligible for extended employment insurance. The Kelowna Daily Courier reported that an estimated 5,000 workers in the Okanagan Valley commute to Northern Alberta oilpatch jobs. Kamloops’ Horizon North reduced its workforce in the wake of the oil slump, laying off off more than 80 workers in February and another 34 in April, but classified the losses as temporary. Despite the downturn, Anderson said Kamloops is not greatly affected by the Alberta recession. “The downward pressure on the oil industry because of low gas prices and low oil prices, we are feeling the effect, but we have the luxury in Kamloops of enjoying a pretty diverse economy,” Anderson said.

DAY “We weathered the economic downturn of 2008 fairly well, considerably better than many places. Something like the downward pressure on the oil industry, we definitely aren’t immune, but we’re certainly weathering if better than many places.” Blair Gray, program director at Open Door Group, said there has been an influx of oil and gas workers accessing employment services dating back to October 2015. Overall, Open Door Group has seen an increase of about 20 or 30 per cent in skilled and experience workers who are laid off or jobless. “There definitely has been an uptake in those types of clients,” he said. “We started noticing that trend. There was an increase in people who were coming in who were laid off working in the oil rigs. “A lot of them are on EI because they are still eligible for it, but they are getting near the end of that EI, so that’s when they come in. They are looking for work closer to home, but a lot of the time that means taking a job for less pay.” Most oilpatch workers rely on EI for a portion of the year, but with the ongoing slump, Gray said some are more fearful their jobs no longer exist and might choose to retrain in a new field. “There still are people who are working up north. It's not like everything is totally shut down at this point, either,” Gray said. “There still are positions they are applying for. It's just a little bit more difficult of a job market, I would say.” Fred Legace, managing director at Kamloops Airport, saw a

downturn in travelers last fall, but also can’t isolate what percentage of those are migrating workers. The airport was down about 4,700 passengers from its targets in December, but slightly up year over year. “We were off in terms of plan, where we had anticipated we would be,” Legace said. “That was kind of our first inclination that there was going to be a few problems.” A decrease in fly-in, fly-out workers was offset in early 2016 by increased tourism to Sun Peaks due to the low Canadian dollar, Legace said. Year-to-date travel is up six per cent. An uptake in migrating workers to Northern Alberta began in late 2013, Legace said. Imperial Oil was operating a chartered flight out of Kamloops for its Kearl oilsands project before it moved into an operating phase. However, for the most part, workers use regularly scheduled flights. “We were seeing a lot of oil-company vehicles even being parked in the parking lot,” Legace said. “So, that told us there was a significant number of people in the traditional oil and gas sector.” Legace expects to see more migrating workers travelling for B.C. LNG projects in the future. “The work that is happening at Site C right now, the airport there is starting to see an influx of people to support that project,” he said of the BC Hydro project. “We are starting to see a little bit of a shift now into northeastern B.C."

" We were off in terms of plan, where we had anticipated we would be. That was kind of our first inclination that there was going to be a few problems."

JUNE 2016

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INDUSTRY

Power Rangers puts Kamloops in the spotlight

FILM THE BUSINESS OF

by Jessica Klymchuk

ilm crews were front and centre in April for one of the most high-profile productions the city has seen — and on the heels of the Thompson-Nicola Film Commission’s (TNFC) busiest year yet. Though direct spending for the Power Rangers shoot will remain a mystery until filming wraps up, the spinoff in Kamloops was predicted to be worth upwards of $250,000 — a number film commissioner Vicci Weller said might actually be on the lower side of estimates. “It’s a good estimated guess based on some research, but everyone wants to know, “What’s in it for me? Why are we having this project?’” Weller said. “People understand money. “We look at production as more organic. It’s not hard and fast until it’s in the can, and even then…” In 2015, the TNFC received the highest number of locations inquiries and spent the most time touring the region with production teams since 2005. It also celebrated one of its most diverse years in terms of product — six commercials, four documentaries, one American TV show, one foreign feature film and music videos. However, it wasn’t the most profitable year, with $800,000 in direct spending and an economic impact estimated at $2 mil-

KTW FILE PHOTO

lion. The record still belongs to 2003, when production spending totalled $6.4 million. An Unfinished Life accounted for most of it — about $6.2 million — and the spinoff was predicted to be close to $18 million. In 2008, 2012 spent $2.125 million filming in Kamloops, Savona and Cache Creek. The A-Team spent $1.5 million filming in Kamloops and Ashcroft in 2009. “Kamloops always benefits,” Weller said. “They are staying at hotels while they’re scouting or, a lot of times, they will base here, mostly because of accommodations.” Dollars filter into the community through various avenues: location fees, expenditures like food, rentals, security and much more. It’s difficult to define exactly where the cash goes, Weller said. Even when she sees what direct spending totalled, the breakdown is unclear. “They try and hire locals and they buy and rent all this money worth of signage and equipment and food and props and it just goes on and on and on — gasoline, parking,” Weller said. “In terms of the unit coming here, there is a ballpark amount.” Power Rangers crews were in the city for three weeks, shooting for seven days. location fees went to the city to cover road closures, traffic control and advertising to notify

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residents of detours. Tammy Robertson, communications and community engagement manager for the city, said a deposit was secured prior to filming to cover costs, but not to profit. The production company made a donation to the Kamloops Central Business Improvement Association to cover its costs, such as the Customer and Patrol Team’s efforts to liaise between businesses and crew. The company also donated to the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc. Up to 170 people were booked to stay in downtown hotels: The Plaza, Hotel 540 and The Thompson Hotel and Conference Centre. Crews had not planned to shoot inside any businesses, but ended up transforming Jade Garden Restaurant into a soda shop. Weller said the restaurant owners were compensated. Companies will often make donations to local charities, as well. When Firewall filmed, producers donated to the United Way and those behind An Unfinished Life donated much of their props to charity. “It’s about promoting economic development, so you want as much money to go to private sector, but the government should never be out of pocket, either,” Weller said.

As far as economic benefit to the community, Weller said much of the impact is hard to measure. “Maybe people will come downtown next year because they are going to say, ‘This is where they shot,’ she said. “How much is Odeon going to make extra on Power Rangers because people will come because it was shot in Kamloops? That’s the kind of economic driver you want to look for.” There’s also value in exposure. Whether it’s a large production or a low-budget commercial, Weller said filmmakers return to the region once they are familiar with it. Power Rangers executive producer Brent O’Connor previously filmed Firewall in the area. The location manager working on 2012 also returned to the region to film Night at the Museum. Power Rangers might not have been the biggest budget movie Weller has worked on, but it was certainly the most complex to co-ordinate. “How many times do you have these cranes and falling debris and people running around?” she said. “It’s really just kind of a novelty thing. I’ve had this job for 16 years. What are the chances of it happening again? I’m working on it.”

“ Kamloops always benefits. They are staying at hotels while they’re scouting or, a lot of times, they will base here, mostly because of accommodations.”

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KAMLOOPS’ FREE ALTERNATIVE NEWS RAG

FREE

COMMUNITY COMMUNITY

Creating a community of female innovators

WOMEN by Jessica Klymchuk

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manda Chan and Caitlin McKinlay met on Twitter and, as self-described techni-gals, they know some of the ins and outs of the tech industry. Both have met several women on Twitter who are interested in technology, but when the pair finally met in person at TechBrew, a trade-show style event featuring innovators, they noticed a not-so-secret trend: a lack of women. Chan had just been hired by Kamloops Innovation and McKinlay, a community manager with RTOWN, was live-streaming the event on social media. “We were just standing around after the event and I realized at that point that throughout the event there wasn’t a lot of women present and that it would be cool to do something on our own,” McKinlay said. “It can be a little intimidating, a little uncomfortable in the tech environment. Some people see it as being a male-driven industry and getting young women interested in going into technology or sciences through post secondary education, even — it’s not a women’s world. But, there is a lot of really high-powered women in our industry.” Chan and McKinlay decided to start the Women in Tech community on their own, with the idea to gather women from or interested in the industry who could learn from each other. They’ve hosted three successful events and are hoping to bring Women in Tech back this summer. Most recently, Chan attended a women in tech panel in the Okanagan in recognition of Women in IT week, from May 16 to May 20. The week culminated with the 2016 North American Women in IT Forum. The pair has looked to larger organizations for ideas, with the possibility of joining a wider national network down the road. Ladies Learning to Code is a non-profit organization with chapters across Canada providing resources for women who work with and build technology. The organization also started with a Tweet. Another is Canadian Women in Technology, a volunteer organization encouraging women to pursue careers in tech. According to them, women represent 47 per cent of the workforce, but only 24 per cent of the Canadian Advanced Technology Sectors workers are women. “If you put together a tech social, you might not see that many women, necessarily,” Chan said. “There’s a lot of guys in the office, they were excited to hear about the Women in Tech thing, because everyone wants to see more women in the industry.” The first social meetup was held at Kamloops Innovation in February 2015 — affectionately dubbed the Tweetup in

IN TECH

recognition of how Chan and McKinlay met. They invited three techni-gals to speak: Tammy Uyeda, creator of the fitness app FitSpark; Cristina Ostapovitch, RTOWN’s regional digital media strategist; and Tarah Ferguson, who hosts a tech web video series out of Vancouver interviewing female innovators and entrepreneurs. They populated the premiere event using social media, tech contacts and via word-of-mouth. The response was positive, with women from diverse backgrounds showing an interest. Among the attendees were managers, corporate business employees, designers, developers, computer science students and some women interested in a possible career change. The diversity also showed there were women interested in the community not necessarily from tradition technology companies — women running home businesses, blogs or using Instagram to build a customer base. “All of the jobs aren’t just about sitting in front of a computer writing code all day,” McKinlay said. “There’s a lot of diverse jobs and a lot of women don’t realize that. It can be hard to get into it.” Based on feedback, most people wanted to see more networking opportunities in addition to workshops and speaker series. Chan and McKinlay have since organized a second social and a learn-to-code workshop open to any skill level, which attracted a full-house at the TRU Generator. Female volunteer instructors showed an interest in participating again. “For them, it was exciting to help teach something they do full time and be able to share their passion and share their knowl-

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PHOTO: AMANDA CHAN

edge,” Chan said. “There’s positive feedback from that, too — that there’s women who want to give back and do different things. Chan and McKinlay would like to continue coding workshops, potentially for different skill levels and looking at different languages currently used in the industry. They’d also like to collaborate with other groups in the community, such as Thompson Rivers University and Kamloops Makerspace, which hosts open houses and workshops of its own. Networking socials will always be a priority because many women are interested in building connections but traditional tech events can be intimidating. Ultimately, future events will be based on the feedback from the women who attend Women in Tech meetups. They are there to facilitate and organize, Chan said, but she and McKinlay just want to answer to the interests of the community. “We’re just building a little bit of a tribe,” McKinlay said. “You can watch tutorials online until you’re blue in the face but we really want to try to create a community out of it.” There could also be opportunities with the newly launched Startup Kamloops under the national entrepreneur network Startup Canada, which could potentially provide funding for a larger Women in Tech event in the future. “We are definitely trying to encourage the growth of our whole tech community and that it’s not just a male-driven industry,” McKinlay said. To learn more about Women in Tech and future events, tweet McKinlay at @cmck_ or Chan at @amanda_chan

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meet three tech companies from kamloops innovation AMPLYTICA INC. CEO: LEE BERGSTRAND

WHAT: The tracking and monitoring of microbial communities is becoming a hot area in research as well as in industries such as waste water treatment, mining, agriculture and personalized medicine. People want to know how microbes influence the treatment of wastes, crop growth and even the human body. Various genomics techniques have been developed to monitor these communities; however, the datasets produced by these techniques are large and therefore hard to analyze and process. With the cost of these techniques dropping rapidly, scientists and engineers are becoming inundated

with data. At our startup, Amplytica Inc., we are building a cloud platform to facilitate the storage, organization, processing and exploration of these datasets in order to help our clients analyze microbial communities at scale. WHO: Our team has three members: Lee Bergstrand, CEO and bioinformatics engineer. Lee is a sixth-year undergraduate student (graduating April 2017) with research experience as a bioinformatics analyst in a microbial ecology laboratory at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Jonathan Van Hamme, scientific advisor and associate professor of microbiology at Thompson Rivers University. Jon is a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant holder with an active research program at TRU. Matt McInnes, lead developer and security analyst. Matt is a 6th year undergraduate student (Graduating April 2017), an excellent developer

and self-honed security expert. We’re developing clients and partners in mining, environmental consulting and personalized medicine industries. WHEN: I came up with the idea while attending various microbiology conferences during the summer and fall of 2015. We started operating spring 2016. WHY: In our opinion, current off-the-shelf academic microbial community analysis software tools are not ready for industry thus we are creating our own cloud platform that is easy to use, robust and scalable. HOW: Our website is www.amplytica.io Inquirers can contact me directly via lbergstrand@amplytica.io FAVOURITE PROJECT YOU’VE WORKED ON? For the past few months we have been building an upload server and web user interface which, has been quite exciting.

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ITEL NETWORKS COO: DAN RINK

WHAT: iTel Networks is a national provider of voice, Internet and cloud services for businesses. Our network connects all of Canada’s largest telephone and Internet systems and serves the networking needs of large and small businesses with services including fibreoptic Internet, bonded Internet, SIP trunking, cloud solutions and

STREAMLINE TRANSPORTATION TECHNOLOGIES INC. CIO: ANDRE LAROUCHE

WHAT: Streamline Transportation Technologies Inc. a subsidiary company of Arrow Transport Systems Inc. As a company, we do fleet management system called Navistream. We do consulting activities in order to help the transportation industry to bridge some gaps between available technologies and operations. We also do have electronic engineering services so we can communicate with the engine of any moving assets.

hosted PBX services. Our goal is to become the largest independent network in North America, democratizing enterprise networking and unlocking the future of the cloud. WHO: We have the best team of network nerds, sales superstars, marketing mavericks, engineering Einsteins and management mavens. We currently have 40 people, but are expanding to 60 in June and plan to hire 10 new team members each month going forward. Our clients are any company with the need for high bandwidth Internet or networks between multiple locations. A few examples are: municipalities, school districts, hotels and medium to large enterprises

WHEN: The company was founded in 2007. WHY: We identified a market need while operating another company. It was a natural progression for that company and became our main focus. HOW: Visit itel.com to learn more about our services, office culture and career opportunities. We can be reached at 1-888-899-iTel or you can email us at info@itel.com FAVOURITE PROJECT YOU’VE WORKED ON? Building our company and constantly expanding Canada's largest IP Telephony and aggregated fibre-optic network.

WHO: We have a team of 22 employees mainly focusing on three core competencies which are development, quality assurance and provisioning. Development and QA people are mainly coming from a software engineering background where the provision employees have more an electronic background. We also have few employees helping out with administrative tasks. Our employees work from Kamloops and Toronto. The bulk of them are in Kamloops. Any companies that have moving assets and needs a tighter fleet management can generate a good return using our solution. WHEN: It started 15 year ago, long before I was employed by Arrow in 2009. My mandate with Streamline five years ago was to analyze the potential of commercializing Navistream. Since we have decided to move on with commercialization, the team was working countless hours to get the product out the door and the first release was pushed in production March 2015.

WHY: The company was formed 15 years ago to specifically serve Arrow Transportation Systems Inc. At that time, Arrow acquired a telematic solution and kept developing on that asynchronous platform until they have decided to move toward real time system using cellular and satellite communication strategies. That was the beginning of Navistream first generation. Navistream is a fleet management product developed by Streamline. The solution we commercialized recently is the second generation of Navistreram and is using the most recent communication and cloud computing technologies. Navistream is now a Service as a Software (SaaS) product. HOW: All the information to contact us is on our website at www.stti.ca, we would be happy to demonstrate our technology and we pride ourselves on finding the value of using Navistream with our customers.

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NEW CATEGORIES FOR BUSINESS EXCELLENCE AWARDS

The Kamloops Chamber of Commerce and TD have launched the 30th annual Business Excellence Awards by introducing four new award categories. Joining the list of categories are Project of the Year, Small Business of the Year, Notfor-Profit of the Year and Environmental Stewardship Award, the latter being an amalgamation of two former Green awards. “Our awards criteria is now a little more stringent and definitely in keeping with the prestige of our awards,” Kamloops Chamber of Commerce president Ryan Scorgie said. “When we reviewed all of the award categories, we identified some gaps and are proud to announce the four new categories.” The call for nominations will be followed by the close of nominations on June 30, the announcement of finalists on Sept. 8 and the gala on Oct. 22. For more information, go online to kamloopschamber.ca.

MINIMUM WAGE GETS RAISE British Columbia’s minimum wage will rise to to $10.85 per hour effective Sept. 15, with the 40-cent increase moving the province out of last place nationally for the lowest hourly wage a worker can be paid. The current minimum wage is $10.45 an hour — the lowest among Canadian provinces and territories. The Nunavut territory has the highest minimum wage in the nation, at $13 per hour, while Ontario boasts the highest minimum wage among the 10 provinces, at $11.25 an hour. For the first time, the 2016 increase in B.C. will be based on the Consumer Price Index. In the past, changes have been pegged to inflation as opposed to economic performance of the province. Due to a stronger economy, the provincial government has decided to add an additional 10 cents an hour to the CPI increase. The minimum wage is set to rise to $11.25 on Sept. 15, 2017. The B.C. Federation of Labour, which led a “10 bucks sucks” campaign to promote an increase that took effect in 2010, is now calling for a $15 minimum wage. Using the CPI formula, it might take until 2034 to reach $15, according to the federation. 20 talk

JUNE 2016

NURSES AGREE TO CONTRACT

B.C. nurses have voted 85 per cent to accept a contract with the provincial government that deals with staff shortages. Five-million-dollars is included for about 850 nurses to take specialty training. The agreement includes $2 million for rural and remote areas the B.C. Nurses’ Union (BCNU) said could be used for housing assistance or tuition relief to make positions more attractive. Nurses are the last major provincial employee group to settle under the B.C. government’s economic-stability mandate, which provides a share of economic growth that exceeds independent forecasts. The nurses’ deal also includes a 5.5 per cent wage increase over five years, similar to other public-sector wage settlements. The contract covers 45,000 registered, psychiatric and licensed practical nurses represented by the BCNU, the Health Sciences Association and the Hospital Employees’ Union.

NATURE’S FARE AWARDED INDUSTRY ACHIEVEMENT Nature's Fare Markets, poised to open its seventh store in White Rock, has won – for the fifth time - the Canadian Health Food Association's (CHFA) Brock Elliott Award for Excellence in Retailing for Western Canada. The award was presented at CHFA West, Western Canada's largest natural health and organics annual trade event earlier this month, at the Vancouver Convention Centre. The CHFA Industry Achievement Awards are presented to companies in the natural health and organic products industry for outstanding achievements. "We are so proud to win again this year," says general manager, corporate operations Shaun Daniels. "We simply couldn't have done this without the support of our team, our customers and our vendors." Okanagan-based Nature's Fare Markets are known, by suppliers and customers alike, for their ethical and sustainable practices, rigorous quality standards, and support of local farmers and artisans. Owners and employees pride themselves on providing wholesome products including non-GMO, gluten-free and vegan options – as well as information and resources to nourish body and mind.

ABORIGINAL PEOPLES IN FINANCE CAN APPLY CREDITS TO TRU DEGREES

As a result of an agreement between Thompson Rivers University and AFOA Canada — an association of Aboriginal professionals in finance, management and leadership — graduates of two business designations offered by AFOA Canada can apply their credits toward a degree in TRU’s bachelor of business administration, bachelor of commerce or bachelor of public administration. Certified aboriginal financial managers and certified aboriginal professional administrators can now apply their program credits toward TRU’s business degrees. About 50 students each year are likely to either take courses or pursue degrees on campus or online. “The signing of the articulation agreements is of utmost importance because it provides pathways to higher education opportunities for Aboriginal learners,” said AFOA Canada’s VicePresident of Education and Training Dr. Paulette Tremblay. TRU’s Associate Dean of the School of Business and Economics, Dan Thompson, said, “The new partnership supports TRU’s strategic priority of promoting diversity, inclusion and intercultural understanding with the Aboriginal community. It also greatly expands Aboriginal educational opportunities in the areas of Aboriginal self-governance and economic development.”

SENIORS’ FACILITY SOLD TO ONTARIO COMPANY Ridgeview Lodge, a seniors’ facility in Brocklehurst, has been sold to an Ontario company as part of a $255-million deal involving eight such facilities in B.C. Sienna Senior Living is buying the Baltic properties, which include Ridgeview on Desmond Street in Kamloops and five other retirement residences in the Lower Mainland and elsewhere in the province. Baltic is based in the Lower Mainland. In addition, more than 130 health-care workers at Ridgeview this month voted to join the Hospital Employees’ Union.

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etland Kamloops is a locally owned and family-operated franchise store. Opened in 1996 by Judy and Kevin Chaben, Petland Kamloops was purchased by long-time manager Trish Hines and DelRae Cahoon in 2014. We are an enthusiastic community supporter: JDRF, RIH FOUNDATION, PAWS FOR AUTISM, KAMLOOPS HUMANE SOCIETY, KAMLOOPS FOOD BANK, MS SOCIETY BIKE FOR A CURE, KAMLOOPS ART COUNCIL Children’s Arts festival, Family Tree Centre, as well as contributing to and sponsoring other smaller fundraising events throughout the year. We are focused on helping the community especially where family and pets are concerned. We average $10,000 a year in fundraising contributions with more than 98% of our fundraising efforts going right to local charities and events. Putting all that in perspective that would be over $200,000 raised right here for our beautiful city of Kamloops! Petland Kamloops is a big supporter of the Kamloops Humane society. Petland also invests in our team! Orientation of a new staff member takes 5 full days, plus two days shadowing a team leader, and then our team members can upgrade their knowledge with many courses. They can

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