Supervisors at Agassiz’s Mountain Institution were honoured by the Canadian Armed Forces last month for their efforts to support military reservists.
On Feb. 26, warden Greg Fortnum and deputy warden Morgan Andreassen received the 2019 Provincial Employer Support Award for their generosity and flexibility in accommodating the sometimes difficult schedules of reservist employees.
According to a Canadian Forces Liaison Council press release, the pair were nominated by four different reservists working at Mountain Institution.
Reservists are members of the military that typically have a civilian job while working one evening a week and one weekend a month for the military. However, reservists often participate in additional training or deployments that can see them taking unexpected time off work.
For corrections officer and army captain Ben Cheung, having flexibility from supervisors like Fortnum and Andreassen is possible because the “goals are the same.” Cheung had received an offer to deploy to Latvia to help reinforce NATO’s collective defence in eastern Europe on short notice, and was given the go ahead by his employer.
“I believe they gave me that time off because our goals are the same,” Cheung said in the release. “In the Correctional Service of Canada we protect Canadians – and in the Reserves we want the same thing.”
Fortnum agreed.
“We recognized very early on the importance of providing our reservists the time they need to fulfill their duties and obligations,” Fortnum said in the press release.
“They provide us exceptional leadership skills and competencies and this is a unique opportunity for us to assist them in contributing to protecting Canadians both at home and abroad.”
grace.kennedy@ahobserver.com