Speaker 0 00:00:00 Good morning, Fort McMurray, wood, Buffalo, and the rest of the world. You tuned into the Mac city morning show. I am your host Elliot Pierre, and we're going to start the show off the same way we start every episode off with a moment of gratitude. I know you could be doing a million other things if your time. So the fact that you spend with us truly does mean the world to me. So thank you on that note, tenor in with the intro.
Speaker 1 00:00:20 Hey everybody, Keith Simpson here from neural Toyota. Uh, just quick chat about, uh, the wonderful community we live in here. As you guys know, we support the L Behrens. We've joined the drive-in movie theater. We're involved in the marathon here in Fort McMurray and make sure we're taking care of the kids and all the local businesses, all the local charities and all the local foundations guys. That's what makes us
Speaker 3 00:00:43 Welcome
Speaker 4 00:00:44 To the Mexican
Speaker 0 00:00:51 All right. And we're back big shout out to our title sponsor. Norelle Toyota. You guys just saw Keith and the guys down there, boys and girls. So Keith fat and dimmer, all the boys and girls down at NARAL. Thank you very much for sponsoring the show. It helps us keep the lights on. We do appreciate it on that note. We're going to start the show as you know, I don't introduce my guests because they can do a better job at that than myself. So on that note, sir, can you please tell everybody at home who you are and what you're about?
Speaker 5 00:01:18 Good morning. I'm Justin Herman, before we start, I'd just like to, uh, put some recognition out there. We're on treaty eight territory and the unseeded land of the first nations here in the wood Buffalo region. I'm Justin Herman. Um, I'm the CEO for the charred may T nation and the CEO also for the target team identity group of companies and also, uh, the owner of one of the owners of Saskatchewan group companies.
Speaker 0 00:01:41 Cool. That's a lot of titles busy, man.
Speaker 5 00:01:44 Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:01:46 That's the one thing that I've always, uh, recognized about you. Like, since we started hanging out as adults, you don't stop.
Speaker 5 00:01:55 Well, it depends who you ask, I guess, because, uh, some people may think, all I do is golf. The other
Speaker 0 00:02:00 People
Speaker 5 00:02:01 Say I don't stop. You know, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle of
Speaker 0 00:02:04 That's. Right? Yeah. So let's kick it off with your history. Like I like, obviously we've spent some time together, so I know a lot about your background, but for some of the people at home, we've never actually had the opportunity to sit down and talk to you. Like, how did this all start? I know Fort McMurray is not home for you. You grew up somewhere else. And he came to Fort McMurray, started going to school here, but let's hear that background, Justin.
Speaker 5 00:02:26 Well, I was actually born in the Northern lights hospital here, and then I was raised out in the community of John VA, uh, by my grandparents. And, uh, so we actually, I was actually raised on the trap line. My first language is actually chip on Denny. I didn't really learn how to speak English until I went to school at father our in Northland school division, John VA. So English is my second language. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:02:50 Yeah. Which is very cool. Like that gives you such a, an edge in regards to speaking to people within your culture. And I see you at, uh, indigenous defense, just like jumping back and forth. And it gives you a level of respect in that community that you can speak the language.
Speaker 6 00:03:10 Well, do you know what doctor at the Northern lakes region regional hospital delivered to you? Was it Dr. Wong?
Speaker 5 00:03:16 Dr. K P Y I think it delivered half the half. The people in the community here,
Speaker 6 00:03:24 Everybody in this room.
Speaker 5 00:03:25 That's crazy. Right. There's gotta be at least a 20, almost a 20 year age difference between myself and the young folks.
Speaker 5 00:03:32 Oh yeah. He delivered so many people. Um, no, but back to the question, um, I don't know if it gives me, um, any more respect to the next person, but it's a lot easier to communicate. Uh, it's a lot easier for myself to relate. Do you know? And unfortunately, um, I'm, I used to be very fluent as it was my, uh, first language, but you know, you start losing a bit of it the more, the less you use it. Right. So I, when I get back to the community, I try to speak it as much as possible to my family and whatnot. But unfortunately there's not that many people in Fort McMurray that, that speak it. Right. So,
Speaker 0 00:04:07 And that's what I was just going to ask you in regards to individuals who want to learn the language, is this something that is still kind of taught like in, could you take a class out, um, back home for you? Or is this something that you kind of have to just pass down through generations?
Speaker 5 00:04:23 Well, you know, when I actually went to school here for a couple of years, I'd father Turcotte. And I remember when I went to father Turcotte in grade four, they actually had CRI and Chippewan classes there. Oh, cool. Right. So actually one of our teachers used to be, um, uh, Jeanette Jones flat, and I went to school with her daughter, Christina Jones. Right. And, uh, yeah, I used to go to speak, uh, uh, teach you chip on increa at the, at the schools all the way up until, uh, junior high. And now I'm going to go whole school and St. John's, uh, junior high. And I think I was there the last year that, uh, it was an existence then now the superstores there.
Speaker 0 00:05:01 That's right. So then, so this is like fascinating to me, how you got started as like a business person. So you graduated high school and then like everybody, most people that I know for the most part, like start working at Syncrude Suncor, CNRL Nixon, or a contractor of some sorts. Um, and then you decided to go a different path almost in regards to what you were going to do after high school, which is really entrepreneurial, how you got there eventually.
Speaker 5 00:05:31 Well, you know, actually I did work out at the sites for a while. You know, I started my family young. I had a, I have two young kids, or they're not so young anymore fell and hunter and, uh, you know, so I was, I was working on at the plan sites. I started when I was 19 and then I quit in 2009. My end goal was always to own a business. And I knew that from a very young age, when I was still in high school, I just didn't know how to go about it. Right, right. So, um, I remember sitting there one day, uh, operating a piece of equipment and, uh, you know, I remember going through social media during my break and somebody from my home community was like, oh, thank you. Somebody gave me the opportunity. And somebody gave me a break and helped me purchase my first piece of equipment.
Speaker 5 00:06:16 I'm going to start the business. And I was, I remember being bitter and upset that doesn't, when is somebody going to help me? How come somebody doesn't give me a chance? And then it, it just, I was upset and I was wasting all this negative energy being upset about something. And then I, it just dawned on me, the light switch went off and I was like, you know what? You're, you're upset for the wrong reasons. Focus, all that energy on creating this opportunity for yourself, because nobody's going to hand you an opportunity on a silver platter. That's right. So then, you know, when you're operating equipment, you have hours on hours on hours to think about whatever. Right. So I, so I started focusing all my thoughts and my energy on how to start a business, right? How do I go about it? And so my main worry was being able to support my family while I was pursuing the business.
Speaker 5 00:07:06 Right. Because, uh, when you first start a business, you know, the revenue just doesn't start generating itself. So I said, well, I guess, you know, how could I do this? I need to find a career where it could give me the free time and the flexibility to pursue opening a business and still support my family. So I decided to get my real estate license. So I got my real estate license, uh, while I was still working out at the plant sites back in, uh, August of 2008. And my goal was to, uh, quit full, quit and go, uh, do real estate while I tried to start my business. Right. Uh, but I realized, oh, geez, I need to have a certain amount of savings to do that in case it doesn't work out that's right. So I toughed it out and I worked another six months and I believe I quit working out at the plant sites, uh, February, 2009. And, uh, and I never looked back, I guess. So I didn't, I did real estate for five years. And in the meantime, I was able to start a SCANA, uh, group companies.
Speaker 0 00:08:05 And what is that company all about?
Speaker 5 00:08:07 Well, first of all, Saskatchewan, my language actually means my children. So when I was thinking about starting the business and the name, you know, I thought about what what's important and what my end goal was. And, and it was basically to provide for my community, my family, and to leave and potentially, and hopefully leave a legacy for the next generation being my children or whatnot. So I called it SCANA and Denny, it means my children. Right. So then I got, I had an opportunity to, uh, to pursue, uh, safety work out at one of the mines. And, uh, soy is one of my friends gave me an opportunity after me getting everything kind of set up in place. And so I started a Saskatchewan safety. Right, right. And then, but, but then unfortunately that, that opportunity fell through. And then I started the company back in 2010 and, uh, when, uh, the kind of sat there and not doing much for the first year.
Speaker 5 00:09:03 And then I met, uh, one of my good friends, Jamie, Maddie. He said he was as a strong safety background, him and his wife, Ashley. And he said, well, honestly, Justin, like, I'm looking for a new opportunity, new options. So I said, well, uh, you know, I don't want to become partners. Sorry. Actually, it was his idea. He says, why don't you make me be one of your partners? You know, I have a strong safety background. And I said, okay, in business partners. And then, um, we started off like that. And, uh, uh, a couple of years we were, uh, you know, just primarily in safety work contracting, uh, and CSO was out and safety professionals. Right. And then, you know, in 2014, the downturn hit oil kind of crashed. And then he said, we've got to do something because the safety market is dying down. And I said, well, we have to diversify. Right.
Speaker 0 00:09:53 You
Speaker 5 00:09:53 Know, we can't just put all our eggs in one basket. Right. And then, so at which led to us expanding to, uh, construction services, staffing, uh, we purchased, uh, insulation, blankets, soft cover fabrication shop from, uh, SITA or half of it, I should say. And, uh, we got electrical division and, uh, you know, a couple of other ventures on that.
Speaker 0 00:10:15 Yeah. Yeah. It's definitely ballooned into a pretty like substantial well-rounded organization in regards to the services that are offered.
Speaker 5 00:10:23 Well, you know what I think for a period of time that we want to be the company that never said no, you know, we just, we were pursuing the opportunity no matter how big or how small and, you know, and, and that's, that's how we got by, you know, we, you know, we basically did whatever we had to do to make ends meet, and then eventually all the hard work and fortitude, uh, paid off and, you know, we've, um, had some strategic alliances and, and diversified in the right regions. Right. Or in the right scopes of services I should say. And that basically I led us to having some stability and being able to, now, now we're, now we could say no of like,
Speaker 0 00:11:04 Yeah,
Speaker 5 00:11:04 We don't have to say yes to everything. That's right now it's a matter of just not over-committing and managing our girls. Right,
Speaker 0 00:11:11 Right. Very cool. Cool. Well, listen, Tanner gave me the signal and he's got his questions ready for the Mac city minutes. So he's going to ask you some questions, but before we get started, got to give a big shout out to the Mac CD minute sponsor for today's episode. It is Napa. Napa. Thank you very much for supporting this. If you guys don't know what NAB is all about, definitely go to their Facebook page, check them out. They have an upcoming event, a trade show coming up. I think it's a virtual trade show when I think, I mean, I know, um, definitely check out NABA. Thank you very much for sponsoring this segment. Tanner had, Justin went to Maxine minute.
Speaker 6 00:11:44 Uh, Alrighty. Question number one. What is the weirdest thing you've ever had to auction off?
Speaker 5 00:11:53 Jeez, what is the weirdest thing I've ever had to auction off? I had to auction off a wooden horse that somebody, um, made for the kids forever. I was, I, you know, I started, I used to have to auction, uh, stuff for a voluntarily for kids forever foundation. And, uh, a gentleman made a kid's horse and I ended up auctioning it off for, I think it was $20,000. Holy cow, I've got a couple of the right people in a bidding war. Right,
Speaker 0 00:12:20 Right.
Speaker 6 00:12:22 Must've been like, was it real, is it a real horse or
Speaker 5 00:12:25 It would have been cheaper to buy a real horse. Just a little like a small rocking horse for a toddler.
Speaker 6 00:12:30 Wow. Question number two. What is your favorite part of owning a business within wood Buffalo?
Speaker 5 00:12:38 Well, honestly, the, the, one of my favorite parts is the community and wood Buffalo, so supportive and inclusive. So, and, and being able to hire local indigenous people and watch them grow as a person and Korea grow as well.
Speaker 6 00:12:54 Question number three, what is one service your business provides that might shock people?
Speaker 5 00:13:03 Well, I don't, I think it's pretty tough to shock people in Fort McMurray nowadays, but, you know, um, what we, I would say the blanket shop, uh, you know, a lot of people don't know about that. It's a fairly new acquisition. So we, we provide the insulated blankets for piping and flanging and, or welding blankets went.
Speaker 0 00:13:19 Right.
Speaker 6 00:13:20 Question number four. What is the story behind the best round of golf you've ever played?
Speaker 5 00:13:27 The best round of golf? I was playing with a gentleman by the name of Don Adams at Mitch golf course, years ago in the original setup. And we're just playing a regular round at men's night. And, uh, it, I was essentially couldn't miss a shot. And, uh, I ended up shooting eight under 64.
Speaker 0 00:13:47 What,
Speaker 5 00:13:49 Wow.
Speaker 6 00:13:51 And your final question, what is your proudest moment in your time as a business owner?
Speaker 5 00:13:59 Well, when people ask me this, I know the one thing that I always say that I'm one of the things that I'm most proud of. And, uh, Elliot was there too, is the mentoring at, uh, father Patrick mercury for the Paul Martin Aboriginal youth entrepreneurship program. Right. So to be able to encourage and, uh, the youth and, you know, kind of break the cycle of them thinking that they could only aspire for something and they could actually aspire for wherever they want. Right. So, uh, pretty proud of that.
Speaker 6 00:14:27 Those have been your five questions.
Speaker 0 00:14:29 Yeah. That was a phenomenal program that they had. And the growth that you saw with those children or young adults, um, throughout that program. And especially some that, like, I was able to see the following year, unbelievable.
Speaker 5 00:14:43 Oh, for sure. And you know, my self coming from a small rural indigenous community or, and, uh, you know, uh, coming into the, moving into the city and whatnot, I think one of the biggest obstacles is, is the self-belief and knowing that, uh, are you somebody who just needs somebody to believe in you and somebody to basically give you the right push in the right directions to let you know that you're capable of accomplishing more than you think that's right. Right. So, and that's, that's all it takes sometimes
Speaker 0 00:15:12 Is huge. So let's switch gears into, I don't like some people might think it's a hobby for you, which I, I know it kind of is, but business gets done on this platform as well. You are an avid golfer.
Speaker 5 00:15:26 Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:15:26 How did you get into golf?
Speaker 5 00:15:29 Well, I remember my first round of golf. I was 15 years old, my aunt, myself, and one of my, my best friends, actually my longest friend is Jamie London. We tree planted in the Bush for, I think it was 60 days straight and we stayed in a tent, isolated. We never came to town for anything. We tree planted. We're 15 years old. We came out after how, you know, two months solid working every day. And we got paid and our, we looked at our paycheck was $1,500. We looked at each other like we're rich. Yeah.
Speaker 5 00:16:02 And so, you know, and so we vacation. So we took a road trip down to camera's who went and seen roadside attraction. My first concert ever tragically hip were headlining. And then from there, we went to the pilgrimage at lake sedan. And when we got to the pilgrimage analytics and now, which is just outside of Alberta beach, how Jamie said, let's go play golf. It's like, what's golf. It's like, you just go over there and hit the ball around and said, okay. So we went there and we, we played one round. I said, oh, ran around the golf course, like a couple of wild teenagers and had a blast, never thought of it again until I was about 19 years old. And then one of my other good friends, Kelsey, John VA, uh, you know, he's, he was golfing pretty regularly then. So I said, I'll do something with him. So I started golfing and then, uh, it turned out that, uh, I was, you know, uh, I was getting good at it and I fell in love with the sport. Right. And me being as, uh, crazily competitive as I was, especially back then, you know, I just couldn't stop until I could be the best I could be, I guess. Right,
Speaker 0 00:17:07 Right. Right. And I have a golf tournament coming up.
Speaker 5 00:17:10 That's right. Yeah. So part apart from SCANA, I'm also, uh, like I mentioned, at the beginning, I work with my home community of John VA and the charred meat team. So on the meaty side of the community, uh, it's uh, the charred meeting nation, we're actually having our first, uh, annual golf tournament, the charred meaty invitational on July 8th and all the proceeds from that golf tournament will go towards social programming for the community
Speaker 0 00:17:35 Right on. So how can people register, get in contact with that, get involved with that call tournament that you have going on?
Speaker 5 00:17:43 Well, you could either reach out to me directly, or you could email
[email protected] and we'll have the sponsorship packages rolling out here shortly.
Speaker 0 00:17:52 Nice. That's good. It's nice to things are kind of loosening up a bit in regards to COVID restrictions and whatnot. So hopefully this summer, we see a lot of that kind of stuff going on and people coming out to participate more than anything else.
Speaker 5 00:18:05 Oh, I hope so. You know what? I was actually planning on having this Gulf term and last year, but because of the restrictions and the pandemic and whatnot, we decided to postpone it a year. And, uh, you know, I think the timing is great. The restrictions are starting to loosen up, uh, businesses starting to get a little bit busier. Oil prices are up so we could raise, uh, raise some resources for the community and the members.
Speaker 0 00:18:26 There you go. Now you said your, uh, your father too. I know this, but how old are your kids now? Like I know one for sure. Your son has graduated. Has your daughter graduated?
Speaker 5 00:18:35 My daughter graduated in 20, 20 she's 19. She just got accepted to a sate. Uh, she took the first, first year she went to grand McEwen. She took a year off and now she's going, she's actually applied for multiple universities. So the first approved, um, yes, she got us from St and I think she was waiting for a couple. That's my daughter, Isabella. She goes by Bella. My, my son hunter graduates this year. He's 17. And he told me that he's, uh, he's applied for a Saint as well. And his goal is to go to university in Calgary. He
Speaker 0 00:19:10 Is only 17. Yeah.
Speaker 5 00:19:12 He's
Speaker 0 00:19:13 Huge.
Speaker 5 00:19:13 His, yeah,
Speaker 0 00:19:14 He's a big boy. I figured that because I saw a picture. You guys went out, I want to say fishing, like during the pandemic. And I saw something on Facebook, I'm like, oh, he's a, he's an adult. He's only 17.
Speaker 5 00:19:24 It was only 17. He turns 18 here in may. And uh, but you know, he's, he's, he's fairly tall, but with his hair, it gives them an extra two or three inches of height. Right. So
Speaker 0 00:19:35 That's awesome. Yeah. Well, listen, man, that was the end of 20 minutes. Excellent flies. So before I cut you loose, though, everybody gets a shameless shout out or plug. So you got the camera, the mic delights have fun.
Speaker 5 00:19:46 Again. I just want to, uh, plug the golf tournament again. It's July 8th. It's going to be at the miscon. The golf club. All proceeds will be going to the social programs for the community, for the charred matey nation. We hope to see you there.
Speaker 0 00:19:59 Cool. There we go. Well, Justin, thank you very much for coming today. Do appreciate it. Please feel free to come back as many times as you want, man.
Speaker 5 00:20:05 I'll call you every five minutes. There you
Speaker 0 00:20:06 Go. Awesome. Fort McMurray with Buffalo, the rest of the world. Thank you for tuning in big shout out to neuronal Toyota for being our title sponsor and another big shout out to Napa for sponsoring the Mac city minute. We do appreciate it. If you're out there and you want to sponsor the show, please feel free to give us a call. We want to keep this going as long as possible. I hope you're having a great day and we'll see you tomorrow. Peace,
Speaker 7 00:20:30 Uh, Dalio Wade. And another morning show later by us.
Speaker 9 00:20:47 Talk about quenching your ugly thirst.
