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00;00;11;01 - 00;00;33;16 Unknown Welcome to the Move Rural Canada podcast, where every week we showcase incredible businesses and real in Northern Canada businesses that are not only growing but are looking to hire. We're here to show you companies and communities outside of the big cities that are building stronger and more inclusive workplaces, workplaces that want and are encouraging newcomers, immigrants and refugees to work with them.

00;00;33;18 - 00;00;52;07 Unknown Let us be your guides to help you find the best places in Canada to not only immigrate, but build a career and settle. I'm your host, Leah Mitchell, and I am your co-host, Lindsay Rubeniuk. Join us as you learn about all of the amazing career opportunities in places that you may not have ever thought of moving. Let's get started.

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00;00;56;08 - 00;01;01;09 Unknown Hey, everyone. Welcome, to Move Rural Canada, and thank you for joining us today.

00;01;01;09 - 00;01;25;00 Unknown We have Erin Brasch, she is the CEO for Vermilion Growers. And she's going to provide insight into how her company has worked in terms of recruiting newcomers to come work for them, how they've been able to retain their newcomers, and the opportunities that are within their organization. So anyways, I just want to give a little bit of a backdrop in terms of how I met Vermilion Growers, and it was basically when,

00;01;25;00 - 00;01;27;05 Unknown Vermilion Growers had, you know,

00;01;27;05 - 00;01;28;02 Unknown built their greenhouse.

00;01;28;02 - 00;01;40;00 Unknown And I'm going to let Erin explain all of that and what they do. But basically vermilion Growers currently has a ten acre greenhouse. And so they had built it, which is a phenomenal few to and they're located

00;01;40;00 - 00;01;48;01 Unknown in rural Manitoba. And often however, when they when they got it built, the one thing that they realized was that they had a workforce shortage.

00;01;48;01 - 00;01;51;11 Unknown And that is, you know, quite a problem when you want to,

00;01;51;11 - 00;02;17;27 Unknown you know, make your, your business thrive. And they looked around and they realized there was a lack of workers within the surrounding areas. And so I had met them through one of their board members and or, I should say, one of their investors. And I started doing labor market impact assessments for them, because that was basically the only way that we could meet the needs of vermilion growers is through doing a labor market impact assessment, which creates,

00;02;17;27 - 00;02;22;21 Unknown opportunities for that business to hire people from overseas.

00;02;22;23 - 00;02;28;15 Unknown And so I started doing a number of those and then shortly after that, they brought on Aaron

00;02;28;15 - 00;02;44;11 Unknown who basically caught on to how you can do a labor market impact assessment. You, you know, came into that easily, and she started taking over that, which was great. And then she took over the human resource part. And she eventually became the CEO of Vermilion Growers.

00;02;44;18 - 00;02;45;05 Unknown So,

00;02;45;05 - 00;03;10;11 Unknown I've been working with them in terms of assisting them and identifying and coaching them with their labor market impact assessments. And basically, though at this point they're pretty independent. And we want to bring Erin on the podcast. So, you know, to provide a better insight into how they've been doing and how they have been working with newcomers and their ability to retain them.

00;03;10;13 - 00;03;14;00 Unknown So we want to welcome Erin. Thanks for coming on the show.

00;03;14;00 - 00;03;15;20 Unknown Thanks for having me.

00;03;15;20 - 00;03;18;03 Unknown It's great. You're very welcome. So

00;03;18;02 - 00;03;22;00 Unknown what else can you tell us about the greenhouse right now and where you're at?

00;03;22;00 - 00;03;23;20 Unknown And give us a little bit of history about it,

00;03;23;21 - 00;03;27;17 Unknown So when people hear greenhouse, they think standard

00;03;27;18 - 00;03;28;27 Unknown hoop style

00;03;28;26 - 00;03;33;18 Unknown plastic greenhouse. This is not that. This is a state of the art glass

00;03;33;19 - 00;03;36;11 Unknown building. It is beautiful based on,

00;03;36;11 - 00;03;41;13 Unknown technology that comes from the Netherlands. And they have mastered this. We have,

00;03;41;12 - 00;03;46;13 Unknown coffee. The same thing is in Ontario widespread there, but we are the first in Manitoba,

00;03;46;13 - 00;03;46;26 Unknown this

00;03;46;26 - 00;03;49;16 Unknown beautiful zen low roof system and

00;03;49;16 - 00;03;51;03 Unknown it's an amazing structure.

00;03;51;03 - 00;03;54;21 Unknown that's just the exterior. The inside we have in this

00;03;54;21 - 00;03;57;07 Unknown frigid winter temperatures. We have

00;03;57;07 - 00;03;58;13 Unknown beautiful little

00;03;58;13 - 00;04;08;17 Unknown world in there where it's warm and humid and there's bees buzzing, and the tomato plants are growing like a forest in there. And

00;04;08;17 - 00;04;13;05 Unknown yeah, we have ten acres of the tomato plants and,

00;04;13;04 - 00;04;19;18 Unknown we're about to get into heavy duty shipping again here soon and sending them out mostly.

00;04;19;18 - 00;04;22;29 Unknown Well, all across Canada are really mostly

00;04;22;29 - 00;04;25;18 Unknown to the west. But,

00;04;25;18 - 00;04;28;03 Unknown yeah, it's it's pretty exciting. And,

00;04;28;03 - 00;04;31;24 Unknown it's just. Yeah, it's a it's a great thing we get to have,

00;04;31;24 - 00;04;39;03 Unknown sustainable food source that's locally grown. And that's the goal of Vermilion Growers is to provide

00;04;39;04 - 00;04;46;12 Unknown something local that we can have locally grown food. And it's amazing.

00;04;46;11 - 00;05;06;22 Unknown It's pretty exciting to think we can have a fresh tomato here in Manitoba when it's been -40 for, I think, about seven years now. You'll was going to say it feels like a long time. And so yeah. So it's pretty exciting to go out there and see this world that's happening. And it's just an amazing building.

00;05;06;22 - 00;05;25;09 Unknown Yeah. It's both built on efficiencies and we recycle the, the small thing, like recycling the snowmelt off of our roof is just something that amazed me since the beginning, that we can have these types of things going on here in this world in the middle of winter. There,

00;05;25;09 - 00;05;30;20 Unknown we just it's just a very unique place. It's very exciting to be part of it.

00;05;30;20 - 00;05;42;01 Unknown So in terms of, you have a ten acre greenhouse, I know you guys are looking to expand. However, currently, right now, how many employees do you actually have working at the greenhouse?

00;05;42;04 - 00;05;45;23 Unknown Right. So we had about 25 working in the actual crop.

00;05;45;24 - 00;05;51;05 Unknown and then we also have the packing line where everything's packed and shipped out. So,

00;05;51;05 - 00;05;55;15 Unknown another 5 to 7 probably in our packing line. And,

00;05;55;15 - 00;05;57;13 Unknown we're always working at becoming more efficient.

00;05;57;12 - 00;06;08;14 Unknown So our numbers maybe I started a little larger before now. Ours are workers are getting trained because this is the only facility like this in Manitoba.

00;06;08;17 - 00;06;34;05 Unknown We didn't find anybody with experience. So we're all learning. But now our workers are getting. Now we're having more experienced workers and we're kind of toning down on not needing as many workers, but having trained skilled workers, which is our goal to get our crop off and everything done as efficiently as possible.

00;06;34;05 - 00;06;36;21 Unknown And those plants, they're pretty amazing.

00;06;36;21 - 00;06;49;17 Unknown Their boat. Well, they're at least 25ft tall now, which is just incredible to see. But they they take a lot of work to keep everything growing properly. And so, yeah, those people, they work hard.

00;06;49;18 - 00;07;01;23 Unknown And you're located, I'm assuming right outside of Dauphin. Sort of. Yes. Just on the outskirts of Dauphin. Yeah. Okay. So dozens of smaller city and,

00;07;01;25 - 00;07;22;06 Unknown Yeah, it's it's very remote to most. So. Yeah, it's, it's, it's a what's the size of Dauphin, would you say, because it's considered a city. Right. It's the city of Dauphin, right? Yeah. Yeah. Just, just I think what is the population? Lindsay I am not dancing. I think I think it's, I could stand corrected. I should know that.

00;07;22;06 - 00;07;36;14 Unknown Yeah, but I don't. But. Yeah, so. But, you know, a really good question I because I think, you know, we're going to jump around probably with you because we don't want to make this a structured, you know, conversation. But like you just said, you know, one one thing that's really important, she asked where you're located

00;07;36;13 - 00;07;53;20 Unknown so Erin, if Romilly Growers is located on the outskirts of Dauphin, how does your, employees, specifically your newcomers, who often don't have transportation, how do they how do they get to work? Right. Yeah. So we face that problem, when we first started working because,

00;07;53;20 - 00;07;58;03 Unknown we were searching, like, it's hard, it's hard to attract a labor force.

00;07;58;03 - 00;07;59;04 Unknown And then,

00;07;59;04 - 00;07;59;26 Unknown we were

00;07;59;26 - 00;08;29;22 Unknown had to immediately explore options through immigration. And these people are coming, and they don't have abilities to get outside of doors. And it's some wanting to walk, but there's winter and there's extreme conditions here. So we had to, as a company, really look at this situation and explore the options. And we just felt that, taking care of this independently because we're maybe not always structured with our work day.

00;08;29;24 - 00;08;54;18 Unknown We're an agriculture industry. So some days were working longer, shorter days. So, Yeah. So we purchased us a bus used for shuttle and yeah, we pick up our workers. And actually one of our workers is our driver. She does a great job, and, she picks everybody up in the morning, gets them here, and then she gets them home at the end of the day.

00;08;54;18 - 00;09;14;14 Unknown And it's just the best option now for everybody to, you know, we're really taken care of and gets to work. And it's amazing because you know everyone gets exactly the opportunity to work if they're not limited by their license. Right. You know it is true. It's it's great to have a driver's license when you move. Right. But in the beginning you might not.

00;09;14;14 - 00;09;22;17 Unknown So to be able to work still and then eventually like that's it's huge for us. It's it's such a barrier that and and being outside of

00;09;22;18 - 00;09;33;29 Unknown the community. Yes. It's something that we had to look at really seriously because these plants are her boss here. They're they tell us when we're busy and when we're not. And we need our crew here.

00;09;33;29 - 00;09;51;18 Unknown So yeah. So speaking about, employees, what types of, positions do you offer? Obviously, you're in agriculture. You know, with that comes specific positions in what you're doing. Can you tell us a little bit about some of the positions that you have? Sure. So our,

00;09;51;18 - 00;09;58;13 Unknown largest position is our crop labor. So those are hard workers in the crop working with the plants.

00;09;58;18 - 00;10;00;12 Unknown The variety of jobs from,

00;10;00;12 - 00;10;09;13 Unknown deleting, lowering the crop. It's all such as science to get those plants at their utmost production. So,

00;10;09;13 - 00;10;22;02 Unknown we do things like attaching a little clip to each stem that holds up the truss, which is a clump of tomatoes. Just to support. There's to do that across a ten acre

00;10;22;02 - 00;10;23;00 Unknown span.

00;10;23;00 - 00;10;46;28 Unknown It takes a lot of work. So yeah, our workers are very busy in the crop, and they all have their sections and they know what has to be done in those sections. And they take pride in their area getting done and done properly. So it's that's one of the main jobs is our crop labor. And equal to that we have our packing line laborers also the packing line.

00;10;46;28 - 00;10;50;24 Unknown They are getting that product out, checking for quality weighing

00;10;50;24 - 00;10;51;24 Unknown bagging

00;10;51;24 - 00;11;14;20 Unknown everything that you see in the store. It's amazing to see it through the process and see, you know, how it's done and how it gets there. It's it's a little labor intensive, but it's also makes you really have a sense of pride. And then, as you go up, we have our supervisors, watching the crop, watching our people.

00;11;14;20 - 00;11;31;12 Unknown We have an IPM, which is we have to take care of bug management. We have it's a little world in there with a big ecosystem, and we have to have good bugs taking care of those bad bugs. We try to do things as natural as possible.

00;11;31;12 - 00;11;34;14 Unknown we have that. The craziest little thing is we have these little,

00;11;34;14 - 00;11;43;19 Unknown cardboard pieces of paper that come and they're called and cast and they're a little strip of eggs, which has to be distributed through the crop.

00;11;43;22 - 00;12;05;04 Unknown And within two weeks, those eggs will hatch. Our incursion will go attack, any little bugs and eat them. This. And so you have this sort of a position that's in charge of those. Yeah. That's the monitor we monitor. How many, bad bugs are in every area by counting on sticky pads that are stuck. How many get stuck in?

00;12;05;04 - 00;12;18;24 Unknown It's it's a little science. It's very cool. If there's too many, it's a fruit flies. Oh, we need to do something. We have to. How do we counter that? You know, it's just it's all a, a science. And then,

00;12;18;25 - 00;12;23;20 Unknown this, our head grower, of course. And he has come from Belgium.

00;12;23;20 - 00;12;37;26 Unknown He has a lot of experience. He helps train our workers and teach his wealth of knowledge to everyone. And he's responsible for fertilization and monitoring. And we have the greenhouses set up with a

00;12;37;26 - 00;12;54;26 Unknown it's called a pre. The system is a computer system that, monitors weather, humidity levels, temperatures, everything. And so he's constantly monitoring the whole system to keep our little ecosystem in balance.

00;12;54;28 - 00;13;05;14 Unknown And yeah, all through there's training where we'd like to have, assistant grower in charge, learning from him being back up and,

00;13;05;13 - 00;13;14;21 Unknown these are things that we would love eventually to have local people learn these skills and, come to our area and,

00;13;14;22 - 00;13;15;19 Unknown want to be,

00;13;15;19 - 00;13;23;17 Unknown members of this community and just part of the whole world here and know that there's these opportunities here as we expand and grow.

00;13;23;17 - 00;13;24;24 Unknown It's very exciting.

00;13;24;24 - 00;13;43;08 Unknown Aaron, can I tell, I just want to talk a little bit about the head grower. So when people hear that, that we had to fill the head grower position, it is a mind blowing experience. So when Vermillion Growers had brought me on to help them, like I didn't fill the position. They're the ones that recruited and found the person.

00;13;43;08 - 00;14;06;27 Unknown But I learned a lot from, like Cambria at that point. And what I learned was there's very few had growers for, greenhouse with tomato plants worldwide. Yeah. So if you if you want to talk about I feel that people should be looking at getting into. Because I feel greenhouses are the way of the future for all northern Canada.

00;14;06;27 - 00;14;28;23 Unknown And just a food source in Canada is general is, you know, something as as a head grower as well paid. You know, it does require, you know, lots of education, but to have, somebody like that be living and working in Dauphin and be able to attract them to come and live and work in Dauphin was a huge feat, I think, for, for a million growers because I remember,

00;14;28;23 - 00;14;39;10 Unknown you know, that like, Vermilion growers having to go out to basically, you know, to different conferences and looking for people and recruiting.

00;14;39;10 - 00;15;00;15 Unknown So I just have to say that, that alone to, to have a head grower is something else, like. Yeah, it's just like if to find someone was just the process and. Yeah. So just want to give a shout out to you guys for finding and retaining a head grower here in Dauphin because good news, you guys must be a great company to work for.

00;15;00;18 - 00;15;27;07 Unknown Yeah. Well, we we offer him a lot of challenges for adapting his experience to our amazing Canadian winter. It's like. And one winter is not the same as the next winter. So it's like you don't figure it all out. It's just a constant work with it. And yeah, his knowledge and what he brings here to adapt is it's just it's just pretty incredible to see that.

00;15;27;10 - 00;15;49;13 Unknown Yeah he knows what works but oh it's -40 and the wind is blowing. And now our roof is full of snow and ice. It's like oh okay. We're going to learn how to run a greenhouse a different way. Yeah, yeah. Crazy. So with so many, different positions, you know, from entry level up to more management supervisor. Yes.

00;15;49;13 - 00;16;06;11 Unknown What is your company's expectations in terms of that language piece? How are you? You know, are you working with local supports? What are your thoughts? And then, I guess, and how are you. Yeah. Managing that or supporting and things like that. Right. Like I think,

00;16;06;10 - 00;16;26;00 Unknown I've kind of followed Lindsay's lead here with things just being addressed very basically, and common sense and very just as we go, we figured this out, but, yeah, when we started, we had, a large there's a large amount of, Ukrainian

00;16;25;29 - 00;16;27;14 Unknown people that have moved to the area.

00;16;27;14 - 00;16;39;06 Unknown So that was my first language to work with. And I find we have I and then we've moved into the Spanish speaking. We have,

00;16;39;07 - 00;16;55;07 Unknown from different areas. And, I think that as we've grown, we've found people who have excelled in those areas that have moved kind of up to be into more of a supervisor role that have those languages.

00;16;55;09 - 00;17;24;19 Unknown So we've been very lucky because we have people here in our group that can translate for us and work well. Myself, I if from the beginning my translator on my phone has been my best friend, I think it's my number one used app on my phone and they appreciate my struggling and they're very patient with me. And yeah, you know, the first interview I did, I think,

00;17;24;18 - 00;17;29;11 Unknown one of the first interviews I did was with, no English speaking Ukrainian lady.

00;17;29;11 - 00;17;29;28 Unknown And

00;17;29;28 - 00;18;02;04 Unknown I had started from my background. I came from, you know, I have my interview questions. I'm pretty structured. We're going to ask all these questions. I realized in about three seconds that I was tossing those aside, and we were having some real life chats, like, very quickly. So, yeah. So it's it's just it's been a very feel it out and do what's common sense and what works and finding people who are, suited to this type of work.

00;18;02;04 - 00;18;23;01 Unknown Yeah. So it's not a barrier. In other words, if they don't have a certain level, you're not going to necessarily turn them. Turn them away. Right. Are you willing to adopt. Yes, yes. Now are there supports locally because we all know, you know, a big piece of success in Canada is is getting the language eventually are there supports in in the Dauphin area where people can can get that language?

00;18;23;01 - 00;18;45;22 Unknown It's incredible. They have the regional connections in our area, offers English classes, and I think most are taking them. And then, like I know they try here too. We do a little bit. And then we were offered this opportunity to do regional connections, to offer an English at work, program. And so, we were selected.

00;18;45;22 - 00;18;53;27 Unknown It was amazing. So that they're doing that now with our Spanish group. So they come here to the greenhouse twice a week.

00;18;53;28 - 00;19;14;18 Unknown we have an amazing instructor. She is just so flexible with our lesson schedule. And she teaches them basic language. She's like the smallest thing, like, the slang that we use, you know, and I, I realized that from the beginning that the way I speak doesn't always translate properly.

00;19;14;18 - 00;19;27;19 Unknown And they laugh at me a lot, but I'm a little get to the point more often now. But yeah, she is teaching them some basics and we've just really worked with them. I think, we realize that

00;19;27;19 - 00;19;29;20 Unknown having the English language isn't

00;19;29;20 - 00;19;30;25 Unknown our number one

00;19;30;25 - 00;19;36;23 Unknown need. Like we can work with it, we are adaptable and yeah, we have many different languages.

00;19;36;23 - 00;19;40;09 Unknown They work with each other. They know. And I think,

00;19;40;08 - 00;19;44;28 Unknown they're for the most part happy to have a work environment that's flexible. And,

00;19;44;28 - 00;19;57;29 Unknown they appreciate how my translating doesn't always come through. They enjoy it, I think. But we get there in the end. Yeah. We figured it out as we went and that's amazing to hear.

00;19;58;04 - 00;20;19;05 Unknown That's my background. It's all language and workplace language and all of that. So I it makes my heart happy when I hear of companies who are because it is to me, language is professional development. You're investing in your employees and it's a great retention strategy as well. You know, if people are getting a great job and they're getting language at work, they're going to stay longer, you know, great, you're going to grow.

00;20;19;05 - 00;20;48;09 Unknown So that's awesome to hear. Yes. And as we get to have a little less time, but we have really offered them, they can always come and message me. You know, if they have their always little confusing things in a different country. And what am I doing with this, Erin? You know, it's and and we're just it's a, it's a thing you have to give a little extra and it goes a long ways because these little things are, are small to us.

00;20;48;09 - 00;21;02;24 Unknown But can be a big thing to them and help them to be feel comfortable here and get the supports they need to feel like they're comfortable and happy to be here in this area.

00;21;02;24 - 00;21;15;28 Unknown Well, you know, and I want to just to add on to that here. And in terms of immigration, though, they do have an expectation at some point when people should be, you know, so they've been with the company for a certain amount of time.

00;21;15;28 - 00;21;37;16 Unknown And that, you know, is their expectation by vermillion growers to say, okay, so if you've been here for a certain amount of time, we do have an expectation of your communication, to be a little bit better than those that May had just have arrived. Like, is that right? And you know, because they're so young, we're learning all these things as we go with our second season.

00;21;37;16 - 00;21;44;29 Unknown And it's it's very early in the learning stages of what we do really need of our employees.

00;21;44;29 - 00;22;00;18 Unknown I think we've made it our goal at first to work with these people. But yeah, I can see how even for them and their level of comfortability in the community, that gaining that some English language is, is great for them.

00;22;00;18 - 00;22;01;24 Unknown I think it would make them,

00;22;01;24 - 00;22;02;20 Unknown happier,

00;22;02;21 - 00;22;18;29 Unknown go more into the community and feel part of it. And I just think it's it's a great asset. And I kind of harp at them a little bit, but they take it with a grain of salt. But I'm like, take the English that we're offering. Take it, you know, like take advantage because yeah, this is great.

00;22;18;29 - 00;22;43;10 Unknown If you decide not to stay in kind of or you don't, you have this for the rest of your life. These tools that will help you come back or stay here, whatever. Yeah. So, you know, and to add on to that as well is just to we are recording this in February 2025. And to make the point of how important it is to have, the ability to speak English is very important.

00;22;43;10 - 00;23;04;28 Unknown I get this asked often of my clients and lower skilled occupations and they say, well, you know, how important is it? And right now the point system for Manitoba provincial nomination is really, really high, right? So we have to really encourage even those with, lower skilled occupations to focus on the English language, because are the French,

00;23;04;28 - 00;23;11;06 Unknown you know, because the more like, the more you know, a one of our official languages, the better off you are in terms of immigration.

00;23;11;14 - 00;23;33;01 Unknown And I tell my clients all the time is that, you know what? There's only so much a business can do for you, right? So they're offering you courses, they're providing you the opportunity to, you know, develop English and whatever else that may be. But the onus is also on the newcomer to really take advantage of those programs, because in the end, the business can only do so much in the community, can only do so much.

00;23;33;01 - 00;23;57;27 Unknown And the immigration is ultimately up to the individual. So, yeah. So I think it's really great that your company is doing all this for them. And I think encouraging them to learn, English as much as possible because it's going to help them. And you also, said just to veer off, is that you have promoted people that started off as crop laborers.

00;23;57;27 - 00;24;21;19 Unknown So let's talk about that. And that may have something to do with their ability to communicate. Well. And that's yes, we I and that's what is a little bit difficult because you can see some people with the skills and that had potential that could move up. But without that English component, it's, it's a barrier for them.

00;24;21;19 - 00;24;54;28 Unknown Definitely. So that's why I'm trying to open it up and open in. Some are of course, just like anyone else not interested in the next person is just jumping at every chance and you know, they everybody has different, intentions and goals. And so if they do want like we'd love to provide them with the abilities and then to go further and take more English if they want, because it's definitely something that would help them advance in this field for sure.

00;24;54;28 - 00;25;06;22 Unknown Because communicating with the whole team is pretty important in those upper levels. And yeah, as we expand, like as we've said, that we're ten acres now, like in the future,

00;25;06;22 - 00;25;20;25 Unknown like 70 acres here is the goal and off. And so that means multiples of these rules. And tomatoes is our crop now. But peppers is a huge demand.

00;25;20;25 - 00;25;38;15 Unknown So that's and then these have to be based on efficiency. So their, their own greenhouses for a certain crop. But the peppers and cucumbers are in the, in the plannings for later. And you know, you need separate supervisors, you need separate,

00;25;38;15 - 00;26;02;02 Unknown all the upper levels. It's, it's if you think in the future it's like, oh, get your English and take all the chances you can offer to you because, building someone in your company and, growing with the company is just a great asset to growing and being in an advanced position in the future.

00;26;02;08 - 00;26;21;26 Unknown Well, and there's huge. But you're investing in your future, like you said, there's huge potential coming. So it's like start now. So you're ready right? When those opportunities, come up because it takes time, you know, to get there. Yes, yes. I have a question just as we're talking about the different positions and obviously, we always like to bring up different pathways.

00;26;21;26 - 00;26;45;20 Unknown Lindsay. This is probably more your, your realm, but so you are open to different immigration pathways for employees if they're a good fit for. Yes, I guess. Am I saying it right Lindsay. That's that European pathways. Okay. So do you support, like letters of support, things like that? Is that what you'll do to, if needed for an employee?

00;26;45;25 - 00;27;12;08 Unknown Things like that? Yes. Yes, I am a letter of support machine. I have written so many letters of support. I support all of our people. I think I, I it seems they come very often, the requests and the needed assistance, you know, the little little things they need to help them out. And I always wonder about other companies and how, you know, if you're in a big city or somewhere where you're not known.

00;27;12;11 - 00;27;21;14 Unknown Well, you know, like, I just feel like we have a real personal touch here. And, that's one of the reasons I love a small community. And,

00;27;21;14 - 00;27;32;16 Unknown a company like this is just close to my heart because I just feel like there's these little things that you can do for people that can make or break. It's just such a big difference.

00;27;32;16 - 00;27;42;21 Unknown And they know they come to me. And yes, we're going to write this letter seven times. But you know what? I want to give them all the chances they can to,

00;27;42;20 - 00;27;59;10 Unknown further themselves. And, if they want to get their permanent residency, if they want, to buy a house, if they want, letter of support, if they want to get a driver's license, they come and they can I will give them all the help they need.

00;27;59;10 - 00;28;22;00 Unknown And we just, get them and I, I've taken many trips with many people all over to all these different places and to banks to, you know, like all these places, help them get set up and get the things they need to be comfortable and happy here. And, we've done a lot of laughing along the way because I'm, I've learned a lot myself.

00;28;22;00 - 00;28;44;15 Unknown And yeah. So it's it's good everybody's patient when you, when you go in and I would say I don't know what I'm doing, but we're here to learn all of us. And yeah, we we just give them what they need, the supports they need and trying to give them the best opportunities they can for a happy life here in this area.

00;28;44;16 - 00;29;05;11 Unknown Yeah. I've had the opportunity, where some of their employees have elected me to represent them, through their process. And I can vouch that Vermillion Growers is a huge supporter of, supporting their employees to go through with, provincial nominee program, any other pathways that are available to them. So, yeah, thank you guys for being such a great company.

00;29;05;11 - 00;29;26;25 Unknown And we also have Immigrate Park land to which is located in the Dauphin area. So that as well helps those that maybe don't have as great as chance as those of higher point. So so we do also have another resource which is immigrate park land, where they can also provide actual letter of support, to. But you know what?

00;29;26;28 - 00;29;48;26 Unknown Yeah. Before we let you go, we kind of want to get more into the details. If someone is. So it's a I'm taking Leah's role. We're, like, switching roles here. Leah. So but in terms of if someone wants to apply to vermillion growers and knowing what you know now, like what are what are some things that you expect from newcomers, what do you want to see on resumes?

00;29;48;26 - 00;30;12;23 Unknown Like where do you advertise? Give us the whole kind of shebang on that, right? Yeah. So, we, I think like word of mouth has done a lot for us. I think that spreads a lot. We haven't done huge advertising. But when we have, just promoted ourselves on LinkedIn or, indeed something like that which we have done in the past.

00;30;12;23 - 00;30;50;18 Unknown But, I find most come with your website. Definitely. And I like to say to check out our website, I anybody who comes in, I always say like what do you know about us? Have you looked at our website? Have you looked at the pictures? If you know me, I enjoy taking pictures. I have, a few pictures on my phone and I love to post them on our, on our web page and on our Facebook and our social medias and, it's just, it's good to get an idea of its, of the type of greenhouse we are.

00;30;50;25 - 00;31;19;02 Unknown It's a commercial greenhouse. It is an agricultural field. We work and we see our rewards from that hard work. And so I strongly tell people to like what type of, labor this is. But definitely our our website is a great place to look at the gallery of pictures and just get an idea of what's going on. We have the, the links there on our website.

00;31;19;04 - 00;31;32;05 Unknown Those emails come to me. I, check through and I look for agriculture experience, of course, but the work that we're doing is, we're repetitive. We are,

00;31;32;05 - 00;31;54;10 Unknown detail oriented. So I look through resumes for anything that is transferable because, if somebody has these skills and I know that they could stick to a job all day and then I would look at them, it could be not agriculture, but it's just I can usually look through to see what type of,

00;31;54;10 - 00;31;56;26 Unknown positions they've held in them in their past.

00;31;56;26 - 00;32;20;03 Unknown And, yeah, I've done mostly because a lot of people aren't local when they apply. I do. We just set up, a chat and we do a little teams meeting or whatever. It's just through WhatsApp, anything. Nothing too scary. I like people to not be intimidated and to be comfortable when they talk to me. So you can get a really good feel for someone.

00;32;20;03 - 00;32;42;01 Unknown And I think, I try to put that out there too, that ask me what you need, because it's good for people to know what they're coming into when they, get here. And I'm answering your question. Am I getting off topic? No. Do you, Erin, do you do all the interviewing as well? Yes. Yes, yes. We just I'd like to do one on one.

00;32;42;03 - 00;32;48;02 Unknown Mark is our general manager. He's great. So we'll bring him in, for higher level.

00;32;48;02 - 00;33;00;13 Unknown anybody. If just if it's great to meet someone, he'll. If Maria is here. She's wonderful. Our owner, she will stop in sometimes to say hi, but for the most part, I just like to talk to someone myself.

00;33;00;13 - 00;33;02;29 Unknown It's not a very structured interview because

00;33;03;00 - 00;33;08;29 Unknown I find that this is just, agriculture's just a, its own industry in its own world.

00;33;08;29 - 00;33;27;21 Unknown And I just like to talk real to people and get a feel for them, and to be honest, so that they know what they're coming into. And, yeah, it's a it's a real hands on kind of personal interview. And I, I just feel that's the most effective.

00;33;27;21 - 00;33;31;11 Unknown Do you any positions require French. We always like to ask that.

00;33;31;11 - 00;33;52;17 Unknown You know, just be that. That's the other language in Canada. But just curious if there is any. Yeah. You know, I position a first applicant that, posted about their French skills on their resume and I'm like, what is this? You know, we're in Canada with this the first time I think I've seen it. And I thought, you know, what part will this plan in their future?

00;33;52;17 - 00;33;58;28 Unknown I'm not sure. It hasn't been a huge part so far, but I think any language skills are an asset. So,

00;33;58;29 - 00;34;09;17 Unknown they could teach people French as well as English. And there's lunch breaks. I don't know, but what I do, you never know, right. Depending on where you're selling to, right? You never know to. That could be an opportunity.

00;34;09;17 - 00;34;31;27 Unknown Yep. Through I think any language is a is a huge asset to anyone. And right now the federal government is really focused on French. So you know so that person they might have a better chance at immigration because considering if they're very fluent at it, there might be an immigration pathway for them. So, you know, another advantage, just to kind of change gears.

00;34;31;27 - 00;34;49;03 Unknown So when I work with people and they get a job. Okay, great. So I got a job with Vermilion Growers. Where are we going to live? Do you like, how does your company deal with that? Yeah. So housing, from the beginning and starting with immigration and everything was,

00;34;49;03 - 00;34;56;18 Unknown you know, you think about the work and you think about this, and then very quickly, the reality of housing becomes a big issue.

00;34;56;18 - 00;35;05;23 Unknown And what do we do? So we were kind of just doing what we could, renting apartments.

00;35;05;24 - 00;35;06;21 Unknown And

00;35;06;21 - 00;35;15;06 Unknown it was a big it was very overwhelming. And to making people comfortable and then, to finding out they're kind of separated from,

00;35;15;06 - 00;35;23;00 Unknown see, downtown where they could access banks and grocery stores easily was a real concern for us.

00;35;23;03 - 00;35;30;24 Unknown These people having just calling a cab is hard when you have no English and you're not familiar with the new country. So,

00;35;30;24 - 00;36;06;28 Unknown we really had to do some thinking. And how can we do this better? And it's taken a little time, but, in the end, we had the benefits. This was huge for us. So, that, the owners have this huge building, which used to be the city hall in Dauphin and it has been renovated, and, was a living space already, but we, made the decision after searching through Dawson and talking to builders and trying to find different opportunities, that we were just going to have to go with

00;36;06;28 - 00;36;33;09 Unknown this. So we, decided to invest in, make individual rooms. This building has three huge floors, so it's great. They can we've just by Christmas kind of. We had it ready. So it's new for us, but yeah, it's it's a very comfortable space. Everyone is in a good location. And for the most part we have most living there now.

00;36;33;09 - 00;36;38;18 Unknown It provides them with the community and support. They're not, different groups

00;36;38;18 - 00;37;11;15 Unknown in different places and trying to bring everybody together there together. And, it's it's just a real, real amazing thing that, Vermillion has done for their workers to have this opportunity for comfortable place for them to live with Pierce, to support them and for them to help each other, which is what we're trying to promote, that this, independence where they can feel a little better about themselves and they can show each other.

00;37;11;15 - 00;37;30;28 Unknown Like I will say, he talked to this person. He's been here for a year now. He will show you where the banks are. He will. You know where I handheld myself at the beginning. I feel like this is a time for them to feel good about what they know and what they've learned, and to show someone else is the best.

00;37;31;00 - 00;38;03;24 Unknown This tool, I feel like that makes you feel better about yourself and your community. So. And they're helping each other find the grocery stores, find these things, and they're right there. Even in these cold temperatures, they can walk easily and get to where they need our shuttle. Pick them up and bring them here. It's just it's it's amazing that, in this short time of a year and a half, really, that we've been in production, that all these things have come to light and we have dealt with them and can provide this to our workers.

00;38;03;27 - 00;38;32;17 Unknown I was going to say I had the opportunity to see, where the workers live. And it's beautiful. It's beautifully renovated. It's a brilliant idea. So you could have 20 plus workers all living in one, one building. It's like a beautiful apartment building. And with low cost. So, yeah, I think to really sum it up with Vermillion Growers is that you guys have been very innovative in terms of providing transportation to and from your worksite.

00;38;32;19 - 00;39;05;24 Unknown You have had the ability to offer English, within, you know, which I think is extremely important. You provide sponsorship letters to those who, those who demonstrate interest and want to perhaps immigrate to Dauphin and as well as you've had the ability and the wherewithal to be cognitive of where someone lives in terms of, you know, you wanted to make everything central and accessible and as well, at the same time, you want them to live somewhere where they could be proud of.

00;39;05;26 - 00;39;35;22 Unknown So I think for growers just being in the immigration field, I would actually say you have done an extremely great job in terms of assessing your newcomers, and I'd be really proud if I was you guys, because I stand in awe at how far you've come from where we started. With a workforce shortage to you has been able to manage immigration practically all yourselves and providing a wealth of a wealth of resources for your newcomers, at Vermilion Growers.

00;39;35;22 - 00;39;58;12 Unknown So great job, Erin. Well, the support we've had from hundreds Meridian and this community has been unreal. Like, like the first time I met with Lindsay and we. And she was telling me about my eyes and everything. My head was spinning. I'm like, there's no way. She's like, oh, you'll become more independent. Like, nope, there's there's actually no chance of that happening.

00;39;58;14 - 00;40;24;09 Unknown I don't even know what language you're speaking right now. And it's been a lot of a lot of learning. Oh my goodness. Like a crash course really. And all the do's and don'ts for we've had to learn. And yeah, I don't know what we'd be without the support. It's incredible to have that base of support where you can grow and learn and be comfortable with it.

00;40;24;11 - 00;40;42;28 Unknown And yeah, to applying for my own LMI is now for a company and talking to SDC just like they're my best friends, I think they actually know my name. One lady said the other day, oh yeah, we spoke and I was like, oh my, I call a lot. I have a lot of questions, but I just feel like ask the questions and learn.

00;40;42;28 - 00;41;05;24 Unknown And, people are usually very supportive and. Yeah. So yeah, so it's been a huge learning curve and I, I am myself actually baffled. Sometimes I take a step back and think, wow, like we have learned this all in such a short time, really. And yes. So well that's great. I think that's a perfect heart to to wrap up here.

00;41;05;24 - 00;41;36;21 Unknown Thank you, Erin, so much for coming and chatting today. You've given us you've given everyone a lot of information. I, I'm telling everyone out there right now, if you're in agriculture, this is the company to go to apply for, you know? Yeah, I think it's a great opportunity. You you're offering everything. So it's it's amazing. I can't wait to see young this be part of the thinking for young people who had thought about agriculture and never considered an indoor agriculture environment like this.

00;41;36;21 - 00;41;50;18 Unknown And for the to become part of the thinking for our area as we grow with it. Hey, this is something that I could excel in and and really? Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Well, thanks again for being on everyone.

00;41;50;18 - 00;41;52;29 Unknown Thank you for listening. Today's episode

00;41;52;29 - 00;41;55;22 Unknown and we will see you all next week.

00;41;55;22 - 00;41;57;06 Unknown Great. Thanks everyone.

00;41;57;06 - 00;41;58;20 Unknown Live rural, Live well.

00;41;58;20 - 00;42;01;14

00;42;01;14 - 00;42;16;29 Unknown If you feel this could assist other people like yourself. Please like and share our podcast as well. We will leave links below to the topics we spoke about today. Thank you for listening and join us next time to learn about another great company and community that is a great place to work and settle.

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