Employee Involvement

Jeanne-LeBer Primary School is located near the MMC in the neighbourhood of Pointe-St-Charles. In a joint decision with the VIA executive, the Centre’s Green Team has entered into a partnership with the school in order to help support it. “At the start of the summer, the school principal accepted the first cheque from us, in the amount of $5,000,” Alain proudly reports. “This donation will help build a school yard that can accommodate children with minor disabilities. It will also be used to revamp the school library.”

The national Easter Seals campaign has been helping children with disabilities in Canada for more than 70 years, and the BC Lions Society has been running the Easter Seals campaign in BC since 1952. VIA employees have been active participants in annual Easter Seals 24-Hour Relays in cities across Canada for more than 20 years.

Organizers were able to give 100 per cent of the proceeds from ticket sales to the Camps campaign, which sends 850 children with disabilities on one-week camping trips to specially equipped and staffed Easter Seal Camps each summer. Costs were covered by an ongoing bottle collection: VIA employees in the Vancouver area collected pop bottles left behind by passengers on the train and raised over $3,000 in the process, enough to cover all the hidden costs such as the service fee for ticket printing and dispensing.

Dubbed the Railroader Express, the special train sold out well before train date and became the talk of the town. The initiative involved months of planning and involved employees from all departments in the Vancouver area, as well as CN, CP and Burlington Northern, who contributed the use of their respective tracks.

Vancouver Maintenance Centre’s Chris Lyth, a long-time Easter Seals 24-hour relay team captain, played a major role in coordinating volunteers and the different contributing organizations. “I was truly touched by the beaming faces of the many children with disabilities who travelled on the Railroader Express,” said Chris afterwards. “It really made all the hard work worth it. We’re already talking about next year’s train.”

“At VIA Rail Canada, we believe giving back to the community is important," said James Lindsay, senior manager of the Vancouver Maintenance Centre. "All of us are proud of the employees who contributed their time to help organize and staff this event. We are delighted that our employees, partners and sponsors jumped on board for this worthy cause."

As a demographic group, gays and lesbians are less likely to have children, giving them more disposable income, and research shows that a sizable portion is spent on leisure activities and first class travel. This represents a lucrative market, and VIA has already carved itself a valuable niche within it.

According to Darrell Schuurman, senior specialist, Leisure Travel, VIA is reaching the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) market through relationships with travel web sites like outtravel.ca and Alio. It has also established partnerships with organizations like IGLTA (International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association) and Travel Gay Canada. “These are all great ways to develop our visibility in the market, remain active and make ourselves known,” says Darrell.

At the same time, these activities are another expression of VIA’s community involvement: “VIA is well-known for being an open and gay-friendly organization,” explains Anne-Marie Martin, representative, Leisure Travel. “We have become a sponsor and member of the Canadian Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, as well as the Chambre de commerce gaie du Québec, and they in turn have become valued partners at VIA.” One can easily bet that these partnerships are only the beginning.