Journal Of Commerce
On this episode of The Construction Record Podcast™, digital media editor Warren Frey speaks with Natasha Callender-Wilson and Stephen Callender for Bass Installation about their experiences as Black business owners and operators in the construction industry.
Stephen explained how he came from Barbados to Toronto and worked his way up in the industry before founding his own company and was joined by his daughter Natasha who split time between higher education and managing the business end of the glass installation firm. From there they’ve worked on some of the biggest towers in Toronto including the BMO Building, CIBC Square and the Shangri-La Hotel Toronto.
Stephen is also one of the founders of the Afro-Canadian Contractors Association and he discussed the challenges of both finding other Black contractors to hire and the racism they continue to face. Natasha also relayed her experiences as the only Black woman on a work site. Both Natasha and Stephen also addressed the recent push towards diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives which have seen some progress but can at times also be more “box-checking” than real social change.
You can listen to our recent interview with British Columbia Institute of Technology instructor Justin Perry about holistic forest management here and all our episodes are available at the Daily Commercial News and Journal of Commerce websites, on Libsyn and at Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music’s podcast section. Thanks for listening.