Canadian Region
The Fenestration Association of British Columbia (FenBC) has become a Canadian region of the Fenestration and Glazing Industry Alliance (FGIA). The boards of both organizations approved the creation of FGIA’s first Canadian region by integrating FenBC as the newly formed FGIA FenBC Region.
The FenBC Region will operate similarly to the pre-existing FGIA United States regions, FGIA Southeast Region and FGIA Western Region, and will focus on regulatory and government initiatives, product installation, commercial contractor interests, and related needs within British Columbia. In addition, a region-specific one-day in-person meeting and a one-day virtual event are targeted for inclusion each year.
“By expanding FGIA regional offerings to include FenBC, FGIA strengthens its Canadian presence with a strong and well-respected provincial organization. Members from both organizations will realize greater opportunities for networking and building business relationships,” said Dan Parrish, chairman of the FGIA Board and engineering manager with Pella® Corporation. “The joining of these two industry associations will expand our diversity of expertise, which will benefit the entire membership, and signals a greater international cooperation of members that will promote further unity of our industry standards. The combined organization will benefit from economies of scale, thus strengthening future viability, and will also strengthen our collective ability to influence Canadian code and regulatory decisions to affect positive outcomes for members and the industry.”
In February 2021, the FGIA and FenBC signed an official agreement for collaboration with the intent of developing mutual synergies to allow both organizations to best support their respective members. The collaboration enhanced the reach and visibility of both organizations while ensuring efficiencies in monitoring, which will continue with the FGIA FenBC Region.
“Providing for continuity of FenBC’s operations with a focus on both residential and commercial markets, members now have the backing of a large North American organization whose member base aligns well with our current membership, while expanding our network,” said Dave Goldsmith, chairman of the FenBC Board and senior code and compliance engineer with Ply Gem® Canada.
“FENBC members will have a voice in a leading North American industry alliance at a time of supply chain uncertainty and instability,” added Goldsmith. “It will also allow for greater collaboration relative to events, education, advocacy, and technical standards and will avoid the duplication of effort between separate industry associations, while maintaining a FenBC Board of Directors as an FGIA Region Board of Directors.”