Fraser Windsor’s first week as an Environmental Technician for

Triton Environmental Consultants wasn’t the easiest.

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“It was a bit of shock,” he said. “I was out of shape, and I had

to travel back and forth by boat, then walk all over the place

for water quality testing.”

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Seven years later with Triton, Windsor is confident, comfortable,

and happy.

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“It grew on me. Now I like doing what I’m doing,” he said. “I like

working outdoors and you meet a lot of nice people.”

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While Windsor performs a lot of different duties in his role, most of his work centres around fish. That makes a lot of sense to Windsor, who is Haisla and lives in Kitimaat Village, right on the ocean. “I’m in the fish clan in our village, and there I am salvaging fish,” he said, laughing.

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Before Windsor, now 51 years old, worked at Triton, he had different jobs in the forestry industry. But work was inconsistent. And due to tough circumstances, Windsor never finished high school when he was young.

“When I was growing up, I struggled. A lot of my friends had unfortunate and accidental deaths. It was hard times,” he said.

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Windsor chose to complete his Dogwood in 2002, and that’s when, through class assignments, he discovered his love of poetry. “I realized I was pretty good at writing comical short poetry,” he said. Windsor is also a painter – combining traditional native forms with modern techniques such as spray brush art – and a photographer. “I bring my own camera out when I’m working in the bush. You can get some really great photos,” he said, bringing up an image on his phone of two baby eaglets in a nest. 

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A couple of years ago, Windsor asked Triton for the winter off so he could focus on his art. The company granted his wish. “They are very reasonable,” he said. “If you ever have an issue, with your house or family, for example, they let you deal with it right away.”

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Windsor lives with his father, who is 82, as well as his sister and her fiancée.

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“Working at Triton helped me pay off my house and help my family out as well,” he said.

Another plus to Windsor’s work is that he’s always close to home, working around Kitimaat Village or down the road in Kitimat.

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“There’s work, it’s local, and I’m happy where I am, so I plan to keep on going,” he said.