WBE Canada Welcomes the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority to its Government Membership
Women Business Enterprises Canada Council (WBE Canada) is thrilled to announce that the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority has joined WBE Canada as its latest Government member supporting Canada’s women-owned business enterprises (WBEs).
The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority is the federal agency responsible for the stewardship of the lands and waters that make up the Port of Vancouver, Canada’s largest port and the most diversified port in North America. Trade through the Port of Vancouver connects Canadian businesses and consumers with the variety of products that we use every day from markets across the globe, and generates tax revenues and secure employment for local communities.
“We are very pleased to be joining the Women Business Enterprises Canada Council’s membership,” said Efrosini Drimoussis, Director, Infrastructure Procurement, at the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority. “As we prepare to develop a number of significant port and transportation infrastructure projects, one of our main goals is to incorporate EDI into all phases from procurement through construction. A key aspect of this is supplier diversity, to strengthen the involvement of women throughout the built environment supply chain, and we believe we will be more successful by working together with an organization like WBE Canada with its leading-edge vision for diversity and inclusion in Canada.”
“It is incredibly exciting to have the Port of Vancouver join WBE Canada as our newest corporate member,” said Silvia Pencak, President, WBE Canada. “The Port of Vancouver facilitates Canada’s trade objectives, ensuring goods are moved safely while protecting the environment and considering local communities. As the depth and breadth of our WBE Community expands, so do the incredible opportunities that government organizations such as the Port of Vancouver bring to Canada’s women-owned enterprises. This is such an important development and opportunity for our WBE community and WBE Canada as a whole.”
About the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority
The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority is the federal agency responsible for the stewardship of the Port of Vancouver. Like all Canada Port Authorities, we are accountable to the federal minister of transport, and operate pursuant to the Canada Marine Act with a mandate to enable Canada’s trade through the Port of Vancouver, while protecting the environment and considering local communities. The port authority is structured as a non-share corporation, is financially self-sufficient and does not rely on tax dollars for operations. Our revenues come from port terminals and tenants who lease port lands, and from port users who pay various fees such as harbour dues. Profits are reinvested in port infrastructure. The port authority has control over the use of port land and water, which includes more than 16,000 hectares of water, over 1,500 hectares of land, and approximately 350 kilometres of shoreline. Located on the southwest coast of British Columbia in Canada, the Port of Vancouver extends from Roberts Bank and the Fraser River up to and including Burrard Inlet, bordering 16 municipalities and intersecting the traditional territories and treaty lands of several Coast Salish First Nations. The Port of Vancouver is Canada’s largest port, and the third largest in North America by tonnes of cargo. Enabling the trade of approximately $240 billion in goods with more than 170 world economies, port activities sustain 115,300 jobs, $7 billion in wages, and $11.9 billion in GDP across Canada. For more information about the Port of Vancouver, please visit https://www.portvancouver.com/
About WBE Canada
Women Business Enterprises Canada Council (WBE Canada) is a Canadian non-profit organization working closely with corporations and government organizations advocating for inclusion of Canadian Women Business Enterprises (WBEs) in supply chains across Canada and abroad. To ensure diversity in supply chains WBE Canada works closely with its Corporate and Government members to provide necessary training and support to help establish and develop supplier diversity initiatives. Explore our Corporate/Government membership here.
Media inquiries: Alysha Palmer, Marketing Coordinator, WBE Canada
Email: marketing@wbecanada.ca