Community-driven initiatives inspire change, resilience and awareness—and they’re essential to building and maintaining positive relationships. That’s why we’re proud to support community projects and organizations that help protect British Columbia’s environment.

Here are some of the projects we’ve supported to help enhance, conserve and protect B.C.’s natural spaces.

1. Wellington Park trail cleanup

Our employees were excited to support the City of Port Coquitlam by volunteering to help resurface a walking and biking trail in Wellington Park.

Brad West, mayor of Port Coquitlam (left), Jason Marshall, deputy fire chief (centre left), Doug Slater, vice-president, Indigenous relations and regulatory affairs (centre right), and Amber Sadgrove, community relations manager at FortisBC (right) together at Wellington Park, Port Coquitlam.

The day was organized by Amber Sadgrove, community relations manager at FortisBC, who, along with a hard-working team of employee volunteers, made the project look easy. Amber told us that supporting this project was a great opportunity to continue to build a positive relationship with the City of Port Coquitlam while contributing to an initiative that will benefit the community.

FortisBC’s Jenelle Anderson, program manager, climate action partners public policy (left), Nicholas Phillips, operations supervisor (centre left), Roger Dall’Antonia, president and CEO (centre right), and Amber Sadgrove, community relations manager (right), working to clear debris from the trail in Wellington Park, Port Coquitlam.

When we heard the city was passionate about this project, we were excited to help,” she told us. “Luckily, many of our employees from our operations team were available to volunteer, so we were able to clean up the trail quickly and efficiently.”

A team of operations managers from FortisBC resurfacing the trail in Wellington Park, Port Coquitlam. 

Refurbishing the trail began with volunteers collecting litter from the walking path. This was followed by removing debris and invasive species from the area. Once the trail was clear, the volunteers resurfaced it with crushed stone. “It’s important to remove invasive species like ivy from these paths because it’s known to harm trees,” Amber said. “And now that the trail is clear and resurfaced, it will be safer and more accessible to walkers and bikers.”

2. Okanagan Nation Alliance’s Fish in Schools program

This year, we were able to provide funding to Okanagan Nation Alliance’s (ONA) Fish in Schools (FinS) program to ensure students continue to receive hands-on education about the environment.

Since 2003, ONA has successfully delivered their FinS program, a fish-focused education program where students learn about the salmon lifecycle, particularly Sockeye salmon, and their habitat. ONA provides participating classrooms with the equipment and support needed to raise salmon from eggs to the fry stage. The equipment provided includes the salmon spawn, as well as a fishtank, a stand, an aquarium chiller, and other supplies like gravel, filters, thermometers and water conditioners. The program administrators at ONA deliver the spawn and the equipment to participating classrooms at the start of each year. From that point on, it’s the student’s responsibility to care for the eggs until they hatch and are ready to be released with the other hatchery fry at the annual ONA Sockeye fry release.

We’re honoured to support local programs like FinS—it’s one of the key education programs in the region and it’s remained popular for over 20 years. In 2024, 60 schools in the Okanagan and Upper Columbia region participated in the program.

3. Mission Possible community cleanup day

We were happy to sponsor a community cleanup day organized by Mission Possible, a Vancouver-based charity focused on empowering people and communities with
meaningful work.

FortisBC’s Mission Possible community cleanup day volunteers (left to right): Parsoua Shirzad, community and Indigenous initiatives liaison, Vanessa Connolly, director, community and Indigenous relations, Tyler Bryant, director, decarbonization and sustainability, Siraz Dalmir, manager, community relations, and Mandy Assi, senior manager, community and Indigenous relations. 

Every year in June, Mission Possible organizes a community cleanup day where supporters of the movement head out into their communities to clean up neighbourhoods, streets and parks. Led by a Mission Possible associate, our employees volunteered to help clean up litter in Vancouver.

FortisBC volunteers Parsoua Shirzad, community and Indigenous initiatives liaison, and Mandy Assi, senior manager, community and Indigenous relations, participating together at the Mission Possible community cleanup day in Vancouver. 

The cleanup day was an important chance for our volunteers to engage with others who are equally passionate about enhancing B.C.’s environment.

4. Myra Bailout Trail maintenance

Our commitment to environmental stewardship goes across our service territory to an extensive network of hiking and mountain biking trails on the south side of Kelowna. We adopted a trail of our own in this area, the Myra Bailout, a six-kilometre stretch that climbs 500 metres to join the lower sections of Kelowna’s provincial parks.

The trails in this area need to be carefully maintained to ensure they’re safe and accessible. That’s why we’re long-time supporters of the Friends of the South Slopes Society (FOSS), a local volunteer organization that maintains the public trail systems around Kelowna. The funds we supply to FOSS are used to purchase the equipment and tools they need to maintain the trails.

5. BC Rivers Day shoreline cleanup

In celebration of BC Rivers Day this year, our employees, along with the team at Langley Environment Partners Society (LEPS), volunteered to clean up a portion of the Nicomekl River Floodplain and the Brydon Lagoon.

FortisBC employees who celebrated BC Rivers Day together by volunteering to help clean up the shores of the Nicomekl River and the Brydon Lagoon.

BC Rivers Day is Canada’s largest river appreciation event that has been celebrated for over 40 years. Founded by the Outdoor Recreational Council of BC, the goal of celebrating BC Rivers Day is to build public awareness around protecting the fresh waterways of British Columbia, which are among the most fragile and at-risk ecosystems on the planet.

Volunteers Sam Nezirovic, technical support manager, Michelle Evans, director, people services, and Colin Murdoch, senior manager, employee and labour relations, cleaning up litter together on BC Rivers Day.

Our team understands the importance of protecting B.C.’s rivers and creeks. That’s why we volunteered to clean up shoreline litter on BC Rivers Day this year. Together with our employee volunteers, and with support from LEPS, we’re proud to say we collected approximately 25 pounds of litter from the shores of the Nicomekl River and the Brydon Lagoon.

The BC Rivers Day volunteers proudly displaying the litter they collected from the shores of the Nicomekl River and the Brydon Lagoon.

Our commitment to enhancing B.C.’s environment 

We believe that working with community members and local organizations that value B.C.’s environment is an important step in conserving and protecting the natural spaces where we live and work. It’s one of the many ways we’re serving our customers and contributing to the well-being of a thriving B.C.

Do you have a project or know of an organization that focuses on safety, education, Indigenous initiatives or the environment? Visit our Community Investment Program webpage to find out more about where we invest and who we’ve supported.