Advertisement 1

Young entrepreneur honoured for work on pipelines

Article content

As a youngster, Jordan Jolicoeur would toss aside his BMX bike and drop down with his ear pressed against the damp earth, hoping to hear the sound of oil flowing below.

He’d been told there was a pipeline down there somewhere, beneath ground in that cleared cutline near his home on the outskirts of Stony Plain.

His eager, boyish quest would be in vain — he’d never succeed in hearing a single, solitary thing arising from those shallow depths. But, come this January, he’ll celebrate success when he hears his name read out as winner of the Aboriginal Young Entrepreneur of the Year at the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business’s annual gala in Toronto.

Advertisement 2
Story continues below
Article content
Article content

Fittingly, it was Jolicoeur’s work on pipelines — alongside contracts with the country’s main railways and electrical work on housing projects — that led to the honour. When he accepts that award Jan. 31, he’ll become the first Métis to do so.

Jolicoeur and his brother, Joel, were raised in an entrepreneurial family. His dad worked full time for TransAlta as an electrician, but on weekends and evenings he’d run his own small business, Carvel Electric.

The brothers followed in their father’s footsteps, both of them becoming journeymen electricians. However, not content with running Carvel as a part-time operation, the pair struck out on their own in 2013, taking over the family business, determined to make it a profitable full-time operation. They started with an old service van and a determination to succeed.

Today, Carvel has contracts with some of the largest energy, pipeline and railway companies in North America, along with a full-time workforce of 10, a half dozen of whom are Indigenous.

“When you grow up in an entrepreneurial family, you can never feel fulfilled unless you are exploring that avenue yourself. When we took over, it was a time in my life when I was ready to take this on full time. It is what I love to do,” said Jolicoeur, 28, now president and CEO of Carvel.

Article content
Advertisement 3
Story continues below
Article content

Among clients is pipeline company Kinder Morgan, whose Trans Mountain expansion is causing controversy in some areas of the country. The original pipeline, which was laid in the mid-1950s, was no stranger to Jolicoeur growing up.

“The cutline for the pipeline was the shortcut to my best friend’s house, so essentially I grew up on the pipeline. This was our BMX track and also a place to hunt rabbits and grouse. We also fished in the lake that borders the cutline.”

“I remember when we learned there was a pipeline that ran under our bike trail, we lay on the ground to find out if we could hear the flow of the oil,” Jolicoeur recalled.

Nowadays, life is more complex. Pipelines are things of wonder no longer in Canada.

Jolicoeur respects the views of those Indigenous people who oppose the extension of the Trans Mountain line but also stresses that many Indigenous people understand the benefits such a project brings, both to individuals and companies.

“I can’t speak for the Métis Nation but for ourselves. We respect the growth of industry and want to be a part of it, so our people can be employed in energy with good jobs and good futures,” he said.

Advertisement 4
Story continues below
Article content

JP Gladu, president of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business, understands very well the difficult position politics can put a young Indigenous businessperson into these days, especially those involved in the energy sector.

“Alberta is no stranger to Indigenous business success. On a scale that is hardly seen anywhere else in the country, a lot of that success is borne from tradespeople plugging in alongside major energy projects,” said Gladu.

“I believe there is a strong, silent majority of communities that support oil and gas and mining but, again, it is the ways that these projects develop that is so important in garnishing support.

“The end game is when our communities can manage not just poverty but also our wealth. And the way we will do that is by leveraging our land and our people to build businesses to create that wealth — as people like Jordan are doing,” he added.

Today, Jolicoeur often works near that very same cutline, where he once imagined he could hear the oil flow if he just pressed his ear closer to the ground. Things change, but hope persists.

Article content
Comments
You must be logged in to join the discussion or read more comments.
Join the Conversation

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.

Latest National Stories
    This Week in Flyers