EFMA member profile on Calvin Morven

MAkIng A DIFFEREnCE Up noRTh EFMA member profile on Calvin Morven

By shAynA WIWIeRskI

It isn’t easy running schools in Northern B.C., but Calvin Morven loves the job so much, he’s been there for 22 years.

Morven is the director of operations for School District #92 (Nisga’a). Located 100 kilometres north of Terrace, B.C., the district is small with only four schools and is the only Aboriginal provincial school district in Canada. As part of his job, Morven is in charge of transportation, maintenance, custodial, housing, and health and safety.

The 66-year-old was born in Prince Rupert and graduated in Surrey, B.C. where he went into carpentry. After getting his carpenter journeyman certification, he went on to get his plumbing and gas fitting certification in Alberta where he ran his own small business. After moving back to B.C. a number of years later, the school district was looking to hire for his position, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Although Morven does a number of different jobs in his position, one of the achievements he is most proud of is upgrading the heating and lighting systems through the BC Hydro Power Smart program in their facilities. Because of that, he received the BC Hydro Power Smart Excellence Award for overall energy saving in 2003/2004.

“Our electricity is our only source of energy, so when I completed the project, our overall electrical usage decreased by 27 per cent annually,” says Morven. “I landed way up on the top with other organizations whose savings were in the millions. Our percentages

were just as high as theirs as far as savings go, so I won that award in terms of excellence for energy savings.”

Morven has also done a number of other changes in the school district. A few years ago, he created a plan to improve the ventilation and heating systems in all school buildings with new efficient boiler installations in two of the schools. He then continued to find ways to improve energy use in schools and got two new biomass boilers approved, which will be completed this year. In terms of transportation, Morven has moved the department fleet towards more energy-efficient buses and vehicles as part of the BC Carbon Offset Program.

Since School District #92 is so rural, to bring in propane by transport would be too expensive, so electricity is their only source of heating. Morven says that their location is also hard to get contractors to bid on tenders for projects, and because the closest town is Terrace, which is where the hotels are, accommodations are an added cost to contractors whenever they do projects for the school district.

Morven has been a member of EFMA for 21 years and became a member practically right after landing his position. He says that the association is one of his main resources in terms of education and the areas of work he gets to do.

Aside from work, Morven is married with three children and has three grandchildren. In his spare time, he enjoys fishing, connecting with nature, and curling. He says he’s also one of the leaders in the community, so he likes to connect with other residents and make an impact on their lives as well.

“I involve myself in community things,” he says. “What I’m into now is healthy living styles with people, especially with our youth. [I enjoy] guiding them on healthy choices in life through cultural connection.” n

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