Galway's International Arts Festival has launched an Autumn Edition, reviving many key elements of its canceled summer program, with music, visual arts, theatre and spoken word events. The festival will open on 3 September.

Ruairi is no stranger to the Irish In BC newsletter and this week we talked to him about Outpost Recruitment and how it had to adapt during Covid-19.

Ruairi is From Beaufort, Co. Kerry. He moved to Vancouver in 2008 for a role in finance and an opportunity for adventure, leaving that role in 2012 to throw his full weight behind Moving2Canada.com, a website he set up to help people plan a successful move. Moving2Canada was a means to identify global construction talent for his recruitment idea. Both businesses now stand alone in their respective advertising and recruitment fields, but remain complementary to one another.

How Outpost Recruitment  adapted during Covid-19

In March it became clear that the pandemic would have a major impact on global travel, the economy, and specifically the construction sector that we are focused on.  Luckily, lots of our infrastructure clients were able to continue working as normal given infrastructure was deemed an essential service. Our first instinct was to check in on all our candidates to see how they were faring as circumstances differed between construction sectors, roles, and work environments. We had quite a few newcomer candidates who returned home with the blessing of their employers. 

For those not yet in Canada, we kept these candidates updated on travel restrictions through our Moving2Canada feed. Given IEC candidates now require a job offer to enter Canada, it meant our role as recruitment agents became even more critical to their arrival and success in Canada.

For 2-3 months, recruitment activity slowed as our clients waited to see the impact on projects. The construction sector in Canada remains resilient.  Apart from residential activity slowing, we’re seeing lots of activity. Outpost is lucky to be recruiting for mega infrastructure projects such as the Pattullo Bridge, Broadway
Subway, and Site C.

https://outpostrecruitment.com/

Vancouver ISSC (Irish Sporting and Social club) is the longest ran GAA club within BC and Western Canada. It goes without saying that since the formation of the club in 1974, 2020 has certainly been one of our more challenging years as a club!

We had just settled into the beginning of our season with the annual skills academy and an open house recruitment drive for new members, along with weekly pre-season bootcamp classes for both old and new members when the guidelines and restrictions for Covid-19 were implemented in the middle of March, just before our annual Vancouver GAA St Patrick’s games day took place.

After the initial first weeks of the restrictions had passed, the club committee came together to create new initiatives that would help to ensure that we were still supporting and engaging with our players and club members throughout this period. We decided that arranging interactive online classes to help keep their bodies and mind active was the most important objective. With this in mind, each week members were able to avail of online zoom Yoga classes with Roz on a Monday and MarVill Bootcamp fitness class on a Wednesday.

On the arrival of better weather and the easing of provincial restrictions, our coaches formulated a fitness plan to whip us into shape and get game ready. Our ladies football and camogie reps then organised 6 player group pods around Vancouver to help members work on this fitness plan together, while our men’s teams arranged 5-aside soccer to get them back on the pitch anyway they could! 

Instead of participating in the usual weeknight training at Stanley Park and tournaments like the Spring League, Vancouver Championship and Canadian Westerns Championship; we participated in some fun virtual challenges and events. Members of our ladies football and camogie teams soloed loo rolls while the men’s team had a royal flush with an online poker tournament! 

Our sense of community spirit within the club never faltered throughout the pandemic. We ensured regular check-ins between our members and even held our first virtual fundraising event, which we hosted with the other Vancouver GAA clubs. We were thrilled when we were able to come together through a trans-Canada relay raised over $4000 for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank.

Our online fitness classes were made possible with thanks to one of our new club sponsors, S Kelly Construction. We would like to take this opportunity to extend our thanks to them for their generous donation and officially welcome them to the ISSC Family! 

On a final note, we’d like to express our sincere gratitude to our club committee, players and members, both here in Vancouver and at home in Ireland. Thank you for your continued support and patience throughout the 2020 season. The comeback will be greater than the setbacks we’ve encountered this year. 

Ní neart go cur le chéile. 

https://www.isscvancouver.com/

https://www.facebook.com/isscvancouver

 

The Irish Benevolent Society of BC 

In response to the Covid-19 crisis, this Food Voucher Program has been developed by The Irish Benevolent Society of BC. It has been designed to help those who may be struggling to provide themselves with basic food essentials.
The initiative has been generously funded through the Consulate General of Ireland in Vancouver.

Applications are welcome and encouraged from all sectors of the Irish community within BC and can be made by completing the survey below. The program is being administered in a fair and equitable way. All of the information you provide is confidential and will only be shared as required to administer this program. You will be contacted to verify your information.
You can access the application here: Emergency Food Programme Form
For more information on this program, contact benevolentsocietybc@gmail.com.
 

There is also a GoFundMe initiative fundraising to support the program. 

Donate to support this initiative