Dump trucks to diggers, Suncor's front line pays a heavy-duty tribute to fellow essential workers
Oilsands workers salute health, food, emergency workers who risk exposure to COVID-19 to serve Canadians
Using a chorus of trucks, heavy haulers and buses, a group of about 150 Suncor base plant employees produced a video salute to essential workers across the country.
The video pays tribute to those essential workers who are "getting up every day and laying it on the line," says Shane Rose, who organized the effort with Norm Gallant.
Over 36 hours, teams from across the plant assembled heavy equipment to honk and flash their lights in a clamorous show of support for all essential workers including food and agriculture workers, first responders and health-care workers.
"We are proud to be here providing trusted energy," Gallant said. "We also want to get loud and salute our fellow essential workers."
Gallant and Rose first shared the completed video with Jennifer Burke, the plant's manager of operations integration.
"When I finished wiping away my tears, ... I knew it was something that more people needed to see," Burke said.
"When you see those people all coming together in a way like this to just really show how much heart our operation has, it's pretty moving to be a part of, and I couldn't be more proud to be a leader on this team," she said.
There was so much enthusiasm for the effort, the hardest part was ensuring the clips submitted from each department made it into the video.
The exercise was a good way to bring base plant workers together to show their resilience even as they worry about their own health and the health of their families, Burke said.
"It was a great way to recognize all the people in our community that are supporting us too," she said.
Feedback on the video salute has been positive, she said.
"It's been really phenomenal to just see how moved everybody has been by the video and how energized it's been making everybody."
The video, it seems, has a contagious quality, with employees at Suncor's Fort Hills oilsands site making their own video.