She had a full career with the Royal Bank of Canada before retiring as branch manager after 40 years. Then she worked at Causeway Insurance for two years before retiring again. Then she took on the mantle of executive director of the Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce, giving guidance to local businesses for more than six years.
Now, Heather Johnson is retiring again. And this time, she says, it’s for good.
Johnson began her third act with the chamber just as the COVID-19 pandemic began to take hold; now, she’s ready to hand off the reins to someone else.
“I think I was off maybe about eight months,” Johnson told The Times. “Then I was told about this job, and I thought I wouldn’t mind doing that; it’s a few hours a day,” she said.
She soon realized the magnitude of the commitment she’d made.
“It’s a full-time job, but I find it really interesting; there’s never a dull moment, you always have something going on.”
Johnson said the day-to-day of the job is not overly taxing, but as each event the chamber organizes approaches, it can get busy.
“You’ll never get bored because there’s all different kinds of roles and responsibilities within it,” she said. “One, of course, is accounting and bookkeeping. You know you have payroll, you have WSIB, you have payroll and source deductions. So you have to do all of that filing. You keep track of memberships and paid memberships and people that are paying for you know booths or tables and all that.”
Ensuring the office’s rent and bills are paid for is part of the gig as well, but when events approach that’s when some of the real work starts.
The Chamber of Commerce is responsible for three main events each year: the Community Business Expo takes place each spring, then Quest for the Best runs in July during the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship and the Chamber Business Awards happen annually each fall.
While the hunt for a successor has begun, Johnson will be staying on until after the awards to help train her replacement, likely through the end of the year.
In Ontario, chambers of commerce serve as the organized voice of the local business community, advocating to municipal and provincial governments on issues like taxation, regulation and economic development. They also work to strengthen the local economy by connecting entrepreneurs, fostering partnerships and helping attract investment.
The local chamber also serves as an arm of the provincial and national chambers, helping to disseminate information from those higher levels. They can offer businesses HR solutions and insurance as well through the larger bodies.
“Because we belong to the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, everybody who has a membership with us also has a membership with the Chamber of Commerce, so we report back and forth to each other,” Johnson said.
“They send us lots of information, their affiliates are our affiliates, for reduced fees on things like debit machines or insurance, health insurance. We have affiliations with an HR company that can help businesses get through some of the basic information that they need. We also disperse information that we get locally, whether it be on the airport or on any new big major developments that are coming to town with hydro or any businesses that come about.”
“The Ontario Chamber does advocacy for all small and medium businesses in Ontario, so they do a lot of roundtables, they do a lot of meetings. They meet with members of parliament to have roundtables and discussions.”
Johnson is also involved with several other community boards, which helps her to keep an ear to the ground for the chamber.
“You learn a lot. You meet really great people, and it gives information on what you’re trying to help your people with,” Johnson said. “Right now, one of our biggest [issues] is immigration, and trying to open up Northwestern Ontario to receive more postings for immigration to come our way, so that we have enough people to work in our businesses.”
Over the years, Johnson has done a lot, but she says one of the highlights of her work with the chamber was bringing back the Kids Quest for the Best talent showcase at the Canadian Bass Championship this year.
“It was absolutely amazing. I was just so pleased. It was actually having Rhonda Howells come on as our intern and being able to have somebody have the same visions and the same ideas for the chamber to grow and to reach more people and to help more local businesses, so that has been an absolutely amazing hire, and we’re so glad that we did it,” Johnson said.
She added that partnering with the downtown Business Improvement Association has been a highlight as well.
“We’ve really become partners in a lot of the downtown area; not all BIA members are chamber members. Not all chamber members are BIA members. So, it’s really a blend of both of them. But if we can help businesses in any area of town, I believe we make our businesses throughout the Rainy River District stronger by using those businesses, and when we bring tourism into town it just does so much better for us,” she said.
“The Windows Alive project was absolutely amazing. We’re so pleased with that, and the Christmas tree lighting. We’re so glad that that’s been brought back to Fort Frances. I think that was a spectacular one. Other than that, up until this year, when we were able to expand with another person on board, it’s really been running the expo and running the Quest for the Best, and then the business awards.”
While running events can be interesting, the day-to-day background of paperwork and finances is always there as well.
“Running the events has always been my favourite thing to do,” she said. “Then in between, you get lots and lots of paperwork and meetings, with so many people in town. I mean, it’s just been amazing to be able to meet these businesses and see how much of their heart and work that they put into their business. It’s truly amazing.”
For anyone interested in applying for the position, Johnson says a familiarity with bookkeeping is a must.
“I think they have to have a financial understanding, paying bills, receivables, payables—they need to have an accounting history or be able to or want to learn that,” Johnson said. “We work off the Sage (accounting) system, so I learned that when I came here. “It’s a wonderful system; you just have to be dedicated to learning it, and it works really great.
Being a people person is also pretty important, she added.
“You have to like people, and you have to want to get out, and you have to like planning events and putting on something different,” she said. “Then there’s promoting the chamber and all the benefits that come with it through the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and through them the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. So we do benefit a lot from them by all of those changes they’re able to bring about by meeting and being our advocate at the government level for what businesses need in Ontario.”
Whoever does apply for the job will be interviewed by members of the board of directors, who Johnson said have been great to work with.
“The board itself is a wonderful board,” she said. “They’re extremely knowledgeable, they’re businesspeople, and so if you ever have a problem or a question, somebody on the board knows how to answer it, or who to get hold of, or where to go. So that way, I can’t say enough about the board. They’ve always been very, very helpful and supportive. Our members are great as well to be able to have their belief in the Chamber of Commerce, which I fully do; it’s really good to see and to grant us that belief in the chamber that we will carry things on and make things better for Fort Frances and the businesses.”
Johnson says she believes the successful candidate will have a wonderful experience.
“The one thing I want to say is that if you do apply and get this job, it is really a wonderful job to have,” she said. “It is, I’d have to say, very rewarding in so many ways, in being able to put on a successful event, being able to give information to members when they need it, being able to offer them low-cost insurance or business machines for their office and other things. It’s a wonderful job, and believe me, it will keep you busy on your toes.”
