Emil Anderson Group celebrating 85 years of building Western Canada

Photo: Contributed

B.C.-based business leader Emil Anderson Group takes a moment to celebrate 85 years in business and to appreciate the construction milestones, community investments and the people-focused culture that continues to be the lifeblood of the family-owned and operated company.

The history of Emil Anderson Construction dates back to 1938, when Emil Anderson himself founded a small highway and road construction company based out of Fort William, Ont. At the time, his operation was small but successful. His family-operated company quickly earned a reputation for being hard-working, delivering quality projects and for fair treatment of the workers who spent months building stretches of highway.

In 1942, Emil Anderson Construction joined the USA Army Corp of Engineers and other Western Canadian contractors to construct the entire Alaska Highway in one season as a part of the Second World War effort. The accomplishment was seen as an insurmountable feat. In the years that followed, the company permanently moved to B.C. and built the western half of the Hope-Princeton Highway and numerous other highways and roadways that connect communities throughout the province, including large portions of the Coquihalla Highway.

As the company’s portfolio of civil construction projects grew, so did its vision for the future. With every generation of leadership, the Emil Anderson Group saw opportunities to diversify into related industries, creating a vertically integrated enterprise with expertise in civil construction and paving, land development, residential and commercial construction, road maintenance, and most recently landscaping and traffic control.

“The Emil Anderson Group growth and diversification has always been well-timed and strategic,” president and CEO Robert Hasell says. “Our business structure allows us to work collaboratively between divisions to successfully deliver projects, neighbourhoods and buildings of significant scale.”

In B.C. and beyond, Emil Anderson Group and its employees have always been committed to giving back within the communities in which they operate and live. EAG has supported hundreds of community groups and projects since inception. In 2020, the company implemented an employee-led Community Giveback Program, which dedicates more than $100,000 annually to programs supporting children and youth, community enhancement, youth skill development and training, and disease prevention and research.

As part of the ongoing community support and to commemorate its 85th year in business, Emil Anderson Group was honoured to donate 71 acres of ecologically sensitive land to the Nature Trust of British Columbia. The land parcel, near Parksville, B.C., now named the Englishman River—Kw’a’luxw—Emil Anderson Legacy Forest, will be protected and preserved in its natural state for generations to come.

“Robert and I are incredibly proud to operate a fourth-generation family business and continue the legacy of our great-grandfather and founder, Emil Anderson,” chairman Michael Jacobs says.

Emil Anderson Group consists of nine operating companies, including Emil Anderson Construction, Emil Anderson Maintenance (Fraser Valley, Robson, Skeena), Emil Anderson Equipment, Emil Anderson Properties, Dilworth Homes, Gerry Enns Contracting and Ballina Contracting.

Photo: Contributed

The opening of the Hope-Princeton Highway in 1949.

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