West Canadian News Archive

Sept. 16, 2008 - Team West Canadian, raises over $2,400 for Cardel Walk a Mile in Her Shoes With big hearts and better balance, Tim Flaman, VP Sales & Marketing and Sid Nieuwdorp, VP Business Development took to Olympic Plaza in stylish stilettos to raise money for the YWCA Crisis Housing Fund. The fund will support women and their children to successfully transition into permanent, stable and supported housing after leaving YWCA's emergency shelter or crisis transitional housing. Two laps around the plaza was enough for the duo, who where eager to get back in their flats. Despite the pain, both Tim and Sid where glad to be apart of the event and are looking forward to next year; they have already begun recruiting for Team West Canadian 2009. June 2008 - Business in Calgary - Mr. Stampede honoured with Distinguished Business Leader Award 2008 It is a quintessentially humble and plain-spoken George Brookman that sits in his office at West Canadian Industries Group on 10th Avenue and 8th Street SW as he contemplates the latest recognition he received... Please click here to read the full article May 18, 2008 - Calgary Herald - Meet Calgary's No.1 Leader How a man with gung-ho personality built an empire & respect. West Canadian Industries CEO George Brookman has been awarded the 2008 Distinguised Business Leader Award. Please click here to read the full article May 20, 2008 - West Canadian: new building, new look, same trusted company. West Canadian Digital Imaging Inc. today unveiled its new revitalized corporate identity. The new brand is designed to reflect the exciting changes that are taking place in 2008 for West Canadian, while still being recognizable to their current and past customers. West Canadian, a company that has been in operation in Calgary for more than 50 years and has been in its present location since 1980, is moving to historic Inglewood. "The new building will house our corporate business solutions and our full service digital printing facility. We're proud that our new building has a variety of LEED components, such as a green lawn roof and birdseed walls," said George Brookman, CEO of West Canadian. March 11, 2008 - Over $110,000 in donations for Arcelie Laoagan Fund The community support around Calgary is just amazing! We have surpassed $110,000 in donations for the Arcelie Laoagan Fund. More than 500 individuals and corporations donated to Arcelie's fund. Thanks again to the perfect strangers, friends, customers, suppliers and competitiors of West Canadian for coming together for Arcelie's family. Please see the news release from January 22 below on how you can help. March 4, 2008 - BOSTON - Kirtas Technologies Provides West Canadian With the Latest in Digitization Quality and Speed

AIIM INTERNATIONAL EXPO AND CONFERENCE -- Kirtas
Technologies, the leader in quality, high-speed, nondestructive book
digitization, today announced it is providing West Canadian Digital Imaging
Inc., a leading provider of document scanning, records management, newspaper
archiving and digital printing services in Canada, with additional solutions
to augment the company's existing offerings to their university and library
customer base.

West Canadian is installing the Kirtas APT BookScan 2400RA(TM), a new,
high-volume fully automated book scanner. The system provides remote access
allowing users to capture raw images in one location and process them at
another. The system will also provide increased storage capacity and a faster
processing speed.

"We are excited about the opportunities the Kirtas BookScan brings to West Canadian's strategy of delivering rich, clean, digitized quality images of bound books to all Canadian archives, libraries and universities," said Irene Price, president of West Canadian. "The BookScan provides us with the ability to efficiently scan bound collections for the purpose of preservation and research. Archives and collections will be digitally brought to life for the world to see."

Currently West Canadian provides microfilming and digitization of
newspaper collections for their existing university and library customers. The
new Kirtas APT BookScan will allow them to expand their offering to include
digitization of bound book collections.

"Digitization of bound documents-particularly the collections held at
universities and libraries-provides an entirely new generation of users with
electronic access to historic documents", said Kirtas CEO and Founder Lotfi
Belkhir. "West Canadian realizes what a tremendous value this is to their
customers, and Kirtas is excited to be supporting them as they deliver this
significant capability."

About Kirtas Technologies

Since the company was founded in 2001, Kirtas Technologies has pioneered
and perfected the technology used today in quality, high-speed, nondestructive
mass book digitization. The company's revolutionary technology redefines
digitization of all bound documents, delivering the gentlest handling, the
highest image quality, faster and with fewer errors than any other solution in
the marketplace today.

February 2008 - Charmaine Reid's Quest for the 2008 Beijing Olympics

The Olympics will only allow 86 men and 86 women participants for the Badminton competition - the top 38 male participants in men's singles, the top 38 female participants in women's and top 32 pairs each in men's, women's and mixed doubles competition based on the international badminton rankings.

January 29, 2008 - Over $30,000 in donations for Arcelie Laoagan Fund

Great news - we surpassed $30,000 in donations today for the Arcelie Laoagan Fund!! The amazing stories just keep coming as more people hear about Arcelie's story. Both corporate and individual donations continue to come in from the many friends of West Canadian as well as caring citizens of Calgary with no direct connection to Arcelie or West Canadian. Thank you so much! Please see the news release from January 22 below on how you can help. We will continue to update the progress.

January 25, 2008 - Arcelie Laoagan Fund donations exceed $20,000

Thank you to all who have donated so generously to the Arcelie Laoagan Fund. With just over $20,000 so far, we have covered the funeral and transportation expenses of approximately $15,000. That leaves $5,000 in the fund for Arcelie's five boys. We really need to keep this going to continue her dream of having her children come to Canada. Please see the news release from January 22 below on how you can help.

January 24, 2008 - Police arrest suspect in Arcelie Laoagan homicide

Police announced that they have made an arrest in Arcelie Laoagan's murder case. They released the information tonight, just moments after Arcelie's memorial service at the Calgary Full Gospel Church. Mourners at the service erupted when told of the news. Click here for the full story.

January 22, 2008 - How to contribute to the Arcelie Laoagan Fund

On behalf of Arcelie's family and West Canadian, we thank you very much for your overwhelming support. We have received countless calls at West Canadian from customers, friends and industry competitors asking how they can help. We appreciate the support and can't thank you enough.

Here is how you can help:

1. Click here to download a donation form (PDF format)
2. Fill out the form
3. Make cheque payable to the "Filipino Catholic Society"
4. Mail or drop off your cheque/cash (do not mail cash) to West Canadian at 901-10th Avenue SW, Calgary, AB T2R 0B5 ATTN: Arcelie Laoagan Fund
5. Alternatively, our West Canadian delivery team would be happy to pick up your donation (within Calgary). Call our dispatch line at 541-5200 and indicate that the pick up is for a donation cheque.
6. Tax receipts will be issued for donations of $25.00 or more

Funds will be used to cover funeral expenses and transportation costs to the Philippines which will total about $15,000. Donations surpassing the $15,000 mark will be put into an account for Arcelie's children to help continue her dream of bringing her boys to Canada.

January 21, 2008 - Fund being set up on behalf of Arcelie Laoagan

We regretfully announce that one of West Canadian's employees, Arcelie Laoagan, was reported missing on Thursday evening January 17th, 2008. Subsequently, on Friday January 18th in the morning, a body was found near the Franklin LRT station in Calgary which was later identified as Arcelie.

West Canadian and its employees are deeply saddened by these events and we are in the process of working with Arcelie's family to establish a legacy fund. Arcelie, originally from the Philippines, moved to Canada three years ago with the goal of bringing her five children and husband to Canada for a better life. Arcelie's co-workers at West Canadian say she always walked into a room with a smile and was an extremely hard worker that they could depend on.

To start it off, West Canadian is donating $10,000 to the family's fund. There will be more specific information soon on how the public can contribute. In the meantime, please call West Canadian's head office in Calgary at 245-2555 or 1-800-267-2555. We will take your name and call you back once we have details on the exactly who to make your cheque out to.

West Canadian has also donated $10,000 to the Calgary Crimestoppers program. We hope this helps raise the awareness of the Crimestoppers program and remind people that every bit of information helps. Anyone who has any information on this case should call Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or submit a TIP online at the Crimestoppers website.

January 4, 2008 - Global National Television interview with West Canadian CEO George Brookman

January 4, 2008 - Calgary Herald article re West Canadian's new building in Inglewood

Click here to view the article.

November 19, 2007 - Charmaine Reid continues Olympic Badminton quest.

After some great results at a tournament in Norway last weekend, Charmaine Reid is en route to China to continue her quest for a berth on the 2008 Canadian Olympic Badminton Team. The doubles team of Reid and Fiona McKee are currently ranked 30th in the world. Keep going Charmaine - we're behind you all the way!

July 6, 2007 - George Brookman is tough enough to wear pink during the Calgary Stampede Parade.

George Brookman, CEO of West Canadian and President & Chairman of the Board of the Calgary Stampede blended in with tens of thousands of Calgarians and visitors that were "tough enough to wear pink" during the Calgary Stampede's "30-Hours of Tough" campaign. The campaign raised over a half million dollars for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation - Alberta/NWT Chapter. For more information on the "30-Hours of Tough" campaign click here.

May 18, 2007 - Charmaine Reid and Fiona McKee win gold...

Reid and McKee defeated the U.S. Women's Badminton doubles team of Lee and Mangkalakiri to take gold in the 2007 Pan American Badminton Championships last night. George Brookman was at the event to cheer them on.

May 16, 2007 - Charmaine Reid continues to amaze...

This morning in the Pan American Badminton Championships singles quarter-final, Charmaine Reid defeated Brazilian Paula Beatriz Pereira. Then, in the doubles quarter-final, Reid and her partner McKee, defeated the USA team of Coleman & Kesythelyi. The semi-finals take place tonight at the Calgary Winter Club; starting at 6:00 pm. Reid is up against Peru in both singles and doubles matches. Good luck from the team at West Canadian!

March 25, 2007 - Canada's Charmaine Reid and Fiona McKee Win Badminton Gold in Romania!

West Canadian-sponsored Charmaine Reid and her partner, Fiona McKee have won their first International gold medal in women's doubles at the Banuinvest International Badminton Championships in Romania. They beat the home team Romanians in a very tight match. Charmaine and Fiona are off to Finland for one last tournament before returning to Canada to prepare for Olympic Qualifying which begins in May. The Pan American Championships are in Calgary May 15-19, 2007 so come out and show your support for Charmaine and the rest of the Canadians.

November 6, 2006 - We're growing in Edmonton!

It didn't take long to outgrow our Edmonton plant. We have tripled our space and have a fantastic new facility at 10567 - 109 Street, just a half block north of Grant MacEwan College. Check out our business centre - self serve computers, copiers and printers, laptop plug-ins, internet access and a video conferencing room at your convenience from 7 to 11, Monday to Friday.

New Additions to the WC Sales Team

Our Edmonton office is also pleased to have Terry Masson join the team as Divsion Manager - Document Management Solutions. Terry has over 20 years experience in records management and electronic document management solutions. Please feel free to give Terry a call at (780) 424-1000.

In Calgary, please welcome Kevin Marshall as Account Manager - Digital Printing and Reprographics. Kevin has 10 years of sales experience with the last 4 years at Rileys Reproductions and Printing. Kevin is looking forward to sharing his extensive knowledge of the digital print business with West Canadian's customers. Kevin can be reached at (403) 541-6427.

Calgary Plant Relocating to Inglewood in 2008

After almost 30 years in our current location on the corner of 8th Street and 10th Avenue SW, we have sold our building and purchased land in historic Inglewood. Plans have been submitted to the City for a brand new West Canadian facility to be constructed on the corner of 9th Avenue and 15th Street SE. At 50,000 square feet, the four-storey brick building will enable us to streamline the operation and support our expansion plans. Watch for updates on the progress!

Irene Price assumes the role of President of West Canadian

March, 2005

George Brookman is pleased to announce that Irene Price will assume the role of President of West Canadian Industries Group effective April 1st, 2005. Irene has been with West Canadian since 1985 and has been a major factor in the growth of the company. She has held the role of Executive Vice-President for the past nine years.

Mr. Brookman will remain actively involved in the business but will be spending an increasing amount of time on his duties with the Calgary Stampede

West Canadian operates Digital Print Services in Calgary, Edmonton and Ft. McMurray

Commonwealth Legal is Canada's largest national litigation support service

Vistek West is a major Camera & Photofinishing retailer in Calgary.

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West Canadian is a proud sponsor of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation Run for the Cure

October, 2005

West Canadian would like to thank everyone for supporting the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation Run for the Cure on Sunday October 3, 2004. With over 170,000 participants Canada wide, this year's event was a huge success raising over $19.2 million for breast cancer research and awareness programs.

Calgary's race took place at Eau Claire market with 12,500 registered participants and raised $1.3 million. West Canadian was there to take complimentary team photos, pass out balloons and distribute cookies. We would like to share some of the photos taken that day.

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West Canadian Promotional Videos

View our three new promotional videos promoting our services. Document scanning, Personalized print and Outsourcing.

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West Canadian, Kodak Take 50-Year Friendship to New Heights...

After decades as a customer, West Canadian Becomes an Authorized Reseller of KODAK Products.

September 29, 2004

ROCHESTER, NY, and CALGARY, AB, August, 2004 - Eastman Kodak Company announced today that West Canadian, a leading Alberta-based digital imaging centre, has become an authorized reseller for Kodak's document imaging products.

Founded in 1952 as West Canadian Graphic Industries Ltd., a service bureau in Calgary, West Canadian has owned and operated KODAK Micrographic Equipment from the start, and when digital imaging systems evolved, the company chose to own and operate Kodak's high speed production scanners and document archive writers.

"For our high volume scanning operations, we have always preferred KODAK High Speed Scanners," said Irene Price, executive vice-president, West Canadian. "Their document handling is excellent, which is very key to a service bureau, as is the image quality. When we saw the new KODAK i600 Scanners launched this year at AIIM, we were totally impressed and decided it was time not just to buy one of those for our operation, but to give our clients all of the options available - a well rounded mix of products to suit what's best for their application and need."

"We are always pleased to welcome an enthusiastic new reseller," said Roger Cunningham, Operations and Channel Development Manger, at Kodak Canada in Toronto. "In this circumstance, it's even more exciting because West Canadian speaks with the knowing and confident voice of a longtime customer who processes more than 50,000 pages per day. Not only will they put our equipment in their catalog - they'll bring customers right into their shop to see our scanners operate first hand. 'Innovation you can count on' - live and in person."

Today, West Canadian offers a complete range of digital reproduction services including graphic and web design, large format digital printing, microfilm and scanning, imaging equipment sales and repair. As well as being an owner and reseller of Kodak's document imaging equipment, West Canadian's Print Services group is also proud to offer Print On Demand service from a newly installed NEXPRESS 2100 Digital Production Colour Press - product of NexPress Solutions, a Kodak Company.

We feel we're more rounded from a production standpoint, with Kodak's high speed scanners," Price concludes. "We want to show our customers what they can do with Kodak's document imaging equipment, too."

About Eastman Kodak Company and info imaging

Kodak is the leader in helping people take, share, print and view images - for memories, for information, for entertainment. The company is a major participant in infoimaging, a $385 billion industry composed of devices (digital cameras and flat-panel displays), infrastructure (online networks and delivery systems for images) and services & media (software, film and paper enabling people to access, analyze and print images). With sales of $13.3 billion in 2003, the company comprises several businesses: Health, supplying the healthcare industry with traditional and digital image capture and output products and services; Graphic Communications Group, offering on-demand color printing and networking publishing systems consisting of three wholly owned subsidiaries: Encad, Inc., NexPress Solutions, and Kodak Versamark; Commercial Imaging, offering image capture, output and storage products and services to businesses and government; Display & Components, which designs and manufactures state-of-the-art organic light-emitting diode displays as well as other specialty materials, and delivers imaging sensors to original equipment manufacturers; and Digital & Film Imaging Systems, providing consumers, professionals and cinematographers with digital and traditional products and services.

For more information, visit www.kodak.com/go/docimaging online.

Kodak and NexPress are trademarks of Eastman Kodak Company.

� copyright 2004.

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West Canadian is Growing Again

This time by opening an Edmonton location. The new West Canadian store will open for business on January 2004.

The Edmonton location will offer the same services as the Calgary store does including CAD printing & plotting, documents scanning, digital colour printing, large colour posters and banners and litigation copying and scanning.

The Edmonton store will be opened Monday to Friday from 7:00 am until 11:00 pm.

For more information phone (780) 424-1000.

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Free Desktop Access to Million Dollar Printing Technology

It's the best of both worlds. Businesses of any size now have free 24 hour desktop access to the world's best in digital printing technology with West Canadian Industries' new Heidelberg Nexpress 2100.

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George Brookman adds press to high-end print operation

George Brookman, owner of West Canadian Graphics, stands besides his new $1 million Heidelberg NexPress digital press, which is capable of producing 2100 pages per hour and is the only one of its kind in Calgary. Read the recent article from the Calgary Herald.

>> see full story

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WC Installs NexPress 2100 Digital Colour Press

West Canadian a $15 million company with over 150 employees has installed a NexPress 2100 Digital Colour Press. Remarked Tim Flaman, Vice-President, Sales and Marketing at WC, The NexPress delivers the quality, registration, and substrates expected from our most demanding customers...."

>> see full story

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