An official agreement for collaboration between the Fenestration Association of British Columbia and the Fenestration and Glazing Industry Alliance was finalized on Feb. 9, developing mutual synergies that will allow both organizations to best support their respective members. The collaboration enhances the reach and visibility of both organizations while ensuring efficiencies in monitoring codes and regulatory affairs in Canada.
"FEN-BC looks forward to this new partnership," says Zana Gordon, executive director of FEN-BC. "Our organization shares many goals with FGIA, and together, the two can benefit and better serve both memberships through collaboration in several key areas of the industry."
To recognize the work of FEN-BC and FGIA and to support the publication and dissemination of the respective organizations' products, the associations have agreed to collaborate in the following primary areas:
- Events
- Education
- Advocacy
- Technical standards
- Product certification
- Research
"FEN-BC is an authority on fenestration and glass activities in British Columbia, so having discounted access to those association events is of great value to FGIA members doing business in that province," says Janice Yglesias, FGIA's executive director. "Offering reduced fees for FGIA conferences and education programs to unique members of these collaborating partner organizations may incentivize participation, creating a larger network of industry professionals and broader distribution of our organization's technical work."
"The initial primary focus of our collaboration is making FGIA's IG Fabricators Workshop accessible to FEN-BC members," Gordon says, "but there is a considerable library of FGIA online education courses available as well which could be of great value to our members."
The partnership also strengthens both organizations' collective ability to influence Canadian code and regulatory decisions to affect positive outcomes for members and the industry.
"Provincial associations are already tracking provincial developments closely so it would be duplicative for FGIA to invest resources in tracking this same information," says Yglesias. "Instead, a more efficient approach is to share information with FGIA providing national Canadian developments to the provincial organizations in exchange for the provincial reports."
