Day: November 4, 2025

Recognize Remarkable: Nominate by February 15, 2026 

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Each year, BC Achievement celebrates the people who make British Columbia stronger, more creative, and more connected. We’re excited to launch the 2026 Recognize Remarkable campaign—a province-wide call for nominations across all five of our award programs. 

Whether they are artists shaping our evolving culture, entrepreneurs driving innovation, or leaders lifting others through service and mentorship, remarkable British Columbians are all around us. Now’s the time to help them shine. 

Why Nominate? 

A nomination is an act of recognition, the effect of which ripples widely across the province. 
By nominating someone for a BC Achievement award, you: 

  • Elevate excellence in your community and strengthen the connections that make BC vibrant. 
  • Inspire change by example, driving others to strive, create, and lead with purpose. 
  • Share success and amplify positive stories of impact. 

Every nomination tells a story of dedication, creativity, and leadership. When shared, those stories motivate others to do the same—creating a ripple effect of excellence. 

The Awards : The Recognize Remarkable campaign includes nominations for all five BC Achievement award programs: 

  • Indigenous Business Award 
  • Polygon Award in First Nations Art 
  • Sam Carter Award in Applied Art + Design 
  • Community Award 
  • BC Reconciliation Award 

Each program honours distinct forms of achievement, yet together they celebrate one shared spirit—the power of excellence to uplift us all. Easy. Meaningful. Impactful. 

The nomination process is designed to be simple and accessible. With clear online forms, straightforward instructions and staff support available, it’s easy to take part. 
You don’t need to be an expert—just someone who’s seen the impact of another’s work and wants to see it recognized. 

Join the Movement – Help us Recognize Remarkable. 
Visit bcachievement.com/nominate to start your nomination today. 
Deadline: February 15, 2026. Be part of it. 

BC Achievement: Elevate Excellence. Share Success. Inspire Change.

Russell Hackney: Carrying Forward a Legacy in Porcelain 

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Photo: Russell Hackney, 2025 Award of Distinction, Sam Carter Award in Applied Art + Design

For over four decades, Russell Hackney has shaped porcelain with precision, patience, and poetry. A third-generation ceramic artist based on Bowen Island, he continues a lineage rooted in the famed pottery traditions of Stoke-on-Trent, England, while infusing his work with the quiet reflection and natural beauty of British Columbia’s coast. His refined slip-cast and relief-modelled forms stand as both technical marvels and meditations on what it means to make by hand in an increasingly mechanized world. 

From Stoke-on-Trent to Bowen Island 

Russell’s artistic journey began in the heartland of fine ceramics. Growing up in the “Potteries,” where his father and grandfather worked before him, he absorbed the craft from an early age. At 16, he joined the family workshop, learning the fundamentals of slip-casting, mould-making, and the disciplined rhythm of production pottery. But even amid traditional forms, he sought a personal language—one that questioned convention. Early experiments using car parts and unexpected borders hinted at the contemporary sensibility that would later define his practice. 

After earning a degree in 3D Design and apprenticing under his father, Russell emigrated to Canada in 2002. Settling on Bowen Island, he established a studio that has become both a workspace and a teaching ground, where he continues to mentor emerging artists in the technical and aesthetic possibilities of clay. 

Defining Confidence and Mastery 

A defining moment in Russell’s early career came through a daunting commission: creating an elaborate porcelain clock to commemorate a factory’s 200th anniversary and a royal visit. The piece—symbolizing arts, science, and mathematics—demanded meticulous detail and absolute precision under intense deadlines. The process, he recalls, was both isolating and transcendent, revealing to him the meditative power of making and the serenity found in total creative focus. That project instilled the confidence that continues to guide his work today. 

Art in a Technological Age 

Today, the Bowen Island studio is where Russell contemplates the shifting intersections of nature, humanity, and technology. He often speaks of walking through what he calls the “Thought Corridor,” a wooded path that fuels his creative thinking. Recently, those walks have been charged by reflections on artificial intelligence and its potential to distance us from imagination. His response has been to reassert the human touch—literally and symbolically—through pieces that celebrate the sacredness of ordinary life. Some of his latest explorations include attaching halos to common figures or adding subtle colour to elevate the everyday into the divine. 

Mentorship and Meaning 

As both maker and mentor, Russell Hackney embodies the living continuity of craftsmanship. His influence extends beyond his own studio, supporting artists throughout BC who work in slip-casting and mould-making. Reflecting on his path, he admits wishing he had pursued more personal, expressive works earlier—but he takes profound satisfaction in the evolution of his practice. His advice to emerging artists is simple yet powerful: create the work that truly excites you, pursue beauty with intent, and find fulfilment in the making itself. 

Through his artistry and teaching, Russell continues to shape not only porcelain, but also the creative spirit of BC’s design community—one thoughtful impression at a time. 

BC Achievement: Elevate Excellence. Share Success. Inspire Change.

Harold Calla: Building a Framework for Economic Reconciliation 

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Photo: Harold Calla, 2025 IBA Award of Distinction

Harold Calla, member of the Squamish Nation, has spent a lifetime transforming how Indigenous governments across Canada build prosperity. As Executive Chair of the First Nations Financial Management Board, he has helped more than 370 First Nations strengthen their financial systems and access capital markets—laying the foundation for a new era of Indigenous economic self-determination. 

A Vision Rooted in Service 

After years in international business, Harold stepped into leadership roles that on Squamish Council where he helped advance economic opportunities and strengthen governance frameworks. His work extended nation-wide, influencing some of the most significant Indigenous-led legislative reforms in Canadian history. 

A driving force behind the First Nations Fiscal Management Act, the First Nations Land Management Act, and the First Nations Oil and Gas and Moneys Management Act, Harold helped craft pathways for communities to move beyond the restrictions of the Indian Act. These tools empower Nations to manage their own lands and resources, borrow at competitive rates, and reinvest directly in their people. He also helped found the First Nations Major Projects Coalition, ensuring that Indigenous communities have an active voice and equitable role in major resource projects. 

A Legacy of Leadership 

Colleagues describe Harold as a listener, bridge-builder, and visionary. “He would listen, he always listened,” one longtime collaborator reflected. “He never came across as domineering or paternalistic—he came even to them, and what he heard he brought to the federal government and built the legislation that built the organization.” 

That approach has led to tangible outcomes: through the work of the First Nations Finance Authority, more than $3.3 billion in financing has been issued to support community projects—from roads and schools to green-energy developments. These investments have not only created infrastructure but have also restored economic agency to Nations that were, as Harold often reminds audiences, “legislated out of the economy.” 

Global Impact and Recognition 

Harold’s leadership has earned respect well beyond Canada’s borders. He has led delegations to Australia, spoken twice at the United Nations, and served on the boards of Trans Mountain Corporation, BC Ferries, and previously Fortis BC and CMHC. In 2024, he was inducted into the Accounting Hall of Fame, recognizing his groundbreaking contributions to financial governance and Indigenous economic empowerment. 

A Lasting Message 

Those who have worked alongside Harold say his impact cannot be measured solely by the policies he’s shaped, but by the confidence and capacity he has instilled in others. “I would follow Harold into any room,” one colleague shared. “His vision for economic reconciliation is so powerful.” 

For Harold, the work remains deeply personal: “We needed systemic change,” he has said, “so that communities could realize their economic potential and take care of themselves.” 

The Award of Distinction for Lifetime Achievement acknowledges an individual whose leadership has redefined what economic reconciliation looks like in practice. Through vision, persistence, and quiet determination, Harold Calla has helped ensure that Indigenous communities across Canada can participate fully—and proudly—in the nation’s economy once again. 

BC Achievement: Elevate Excellence. Share Success. Inspire Change.