Diversity is the one true thing we all have in common. Celebrate it every day. – Author Unknown
It’s been a little more than four months now since the COVID-19 outbreak dramatically changed the way we all live our lives – in our homes, at work and in our communities. While we’ve been physically separated it’s been a time of unity and it’s amazing what we can all achieve when we have a common goal and work together.
At Bruce Power, our main focus at the beginning of the pandemic was to reduce the number of people working at our site while safely maintaining core operations that allowed us to implement prevention and protection against COVID.
This was different than a snowstorm which causes short-term interruptions – something we have been used to dealing with during our Bruce County winters. The outbreak forced us to take swift action but also prepare for the long term as we are home to Canada’s largest private sector infrastructure project to extend the life of our units. We were able to move about two-thirds of our workforce to working remotely, which is key to ongoing business and operational functions and allows us to effectively carry out tasks as we planned and prepared for what we call “Business Continuity”.
While it’s only through the collective contributions of the entire organization that we continue to deliver safe, reliable operations, specific recognition goes out to our operations, maintenance, outage and construction staff that carried out essential, targeted work. It’s through their professionalism, dedication and commitment that Ontario kept powering through the first stage of this pandemic and maintained our supply of isotopes moving forward.
It’s these individuals at Bruce Power who collectively step up and demonstrate leadership. As someone who grew up in Port Elgin and has spent most of my life in Bruce County, I sincerely believe it’s our people – and their diversity – that distinguishes the company as a leader. Last month, we saw members of our communities come together to celebrate Pride Month and National Indigenous History Month. People marched and kneeled on the streets of Owen Sound, Southampton and Kincardine in peaceful protests against racism. At Bruce Power, we’ve created a diversity program that places a priority on inclusiveness, dignity, human rights and accessibility. We’ve come together to fight COVID with unity and it’s what we can do to tackle so many profound challenges.
We understand that by having employees of unique backgrounds, education and experiences, we will foster innovation and a sustainable future. As we’ve seen around the world, there remains work to be done to eliminate racism, prejudice and bigotry. We’re committed to fighting racism and creating an environment that attracts, develops and sustains a diverse workforce. As always, please contact me at james.scongack@brucepower.com if you have any questions. You can also follow me on Twitter (@jscongack).
