VELA Podcasts

We are thrilled to announce the release of the latest episode of the Polestar podcast by VELA Wealth, featuring an engaging conversation with Amar Doman, the President and CEO of the Futura Corporation. In this episode, Amar takes us on a remarkable journey through his life as a leader in business, his experiences in philanthropy, and his passion for community involvement.

Hosted by Jason Boudreau, this podcast episode delves deep into Amar Doman’s extraordinary entrepreneurial journey, starting from his grandparents’ arrival in Canada to his current role as the CEO of the Futura Corporation and the ownership of BC Lions. Amar shares stories of his family’s perseverance and hard work in the lumber business, the challenges he faced, and the valuable lessons he learned along the way. He discusses his approach to turning around struggling businesses, his involvement in both public and private ventures, and his insights into building and sustaining successful enterprises.

 

 

About the Guest – Amar Doman

Amar is the founder and sole shareholder of The Futura Corporation. Along with his team he has led and completed numerous acquisitions. Amar’s tireless dedication to creating shareholder value and his vision for long-term thinking when investing or buying companies outright has built The Futura Corporation into one of the largest and fastest growing companies in Canada. To read more, please visit the Futura Corporation website.

About the Host – Jason Boudreau

Jason has built VELA Wealth into an established life and estate planning firm, guiding families as they make meaningful choices at the intersection of life and wealth. Jason’s areas of expertise include intergenerational wealth transfer and estate planning with a focus on advanced insurance-based solutions that incorporate philanthropy and legacy planning. Leveraging these specialties, Jason brings a fresh perspective and outside-the-box thinking to the strategic planning process. To read more, please visit the VELA team page.

 

The episode is also available on:

  

  

 

 

The Podcast Transcript

 

Jason Boudreau:

Welcome back, everybody to the Polestar podcast by Vela Wealth. Today, I’m thrilled to have Amar Dolman joining me for a candid conversation. Amar is the founder and CEO of the Futura Corporation, located here in Vancouver, and I’ve got to know Amar a little bit over the last couple of years through the football community. Amar, I am grateful for you being here today, thank you so much for taking the time.

 

Amar Doman:

Hey, thanks for having me here.

 

Jason Boudreau:

Looking forward to getting into it. So, when we were leading up to this dialogue, I was sharing with you about what I thought would be a neat way to get to know you as a leader in business, life, and philanthropy, is to understand your back story and really get to know where you came from. If we could start the conversation from your grandparent’s story and their arrival to Canada, I’d love to hear that point on out all the way up to today, the story of Amar Doman, if that works for you.

 

Amar Doman:

Sure, let’s reach way back, I like it. So, back in 1906, my grandparents on my father’s side boarded a boat in India. They thought they were headed to the UK, ended up in New West and eventually on Vancouver Island, where my grandfather found work as a logger in manual labor. They proceeded to have five children, including my dad, my two uncles, my two aunts on Vancouver Island in the late 20s, early 30s. My grandfather continued to work till he passed away at a young age. My dad was only nine. He [grandfather] had kidney failure and back then there wasn’t a lot of good medical treatment for that kind of stuff.

My grandfather’s name was Doman Sing. He came up short and my uncle Herb quit school in Grade 7 to look after the family and put food on the table. So, quite a humble beginning there but that’s how things got started as far as my grandparents coming over. Then my dad and my uncles had to work to provide and my other uncle, he went to Grade 9 and that was it. He went right to work. The mid, my dad, the youngest brother, graduated from College Heights in Duncan, BC.

 

Jason Boudreau:

So, your dad was the only one then out of your uncles to graduate high school, correct?

 

Amar Doman:

Correct.

 

Jason Boudreau:

I guess maybe your grandpa as well. So, the first graduate of the family period.

 

Amar Doman:

I would say that would be the case.

 

Jason Boudreau:

So, he graduates from high school. What year was that?

 

Amar Doman:

That would have been somewhere around 1953-1954.

 

Jason Boudreau:

So, he graduates high school and then what? Does he join the family business?

 

Amar Doman:

Basically, he started to drive a truck as they all were. They were driving without driver’s licenses back in the day. They were picking up scraps of wood and selling them for firewood just to get cash to buy groceries for grandma. That is how it all got going.

 

Jason Boudreau:

So, he graduates high school, he’s driving a truck, they’re picking up wood scraps, and eventually transitions into sort of the lumber business mills, things like that. Tell me how that evolves?

 

Amar Doman:

They started by buying the trucks and then starting a trucking business for some of the local sawmills in the area. Then, the three brothers kept building and eventually bought a sawmill, saved all the money that they could, and one thing led to another. They had trucking going and then the sawmill generating money and they just kept working hard, reinvesting and built up to quite an enterprise over the years. There’s a bunch of children who came afterward out of the five siblings, of course.  I was the youngest sibling out of the whole five born in Victoria. My dad had moved down to Victoria to run one of the divisions there. So, I grew up on the island in Victoria, then I moved to Vancouver, back in 89.

 

Jason Boudreau:

When the business was growing on the Island with your dad and your uncles, was it primarily on the Island or was it all over BC as well?

 

Amar Doman:

Primarily on the Island with a couple of sawmills on the mainland, but the Iisland was pretty significant for the family.

 

Jason Boudreau:

Yeah, I bet, and it was a real hub for forestry back then too.

 

Amar Doman:

Yes, it was.

 

Jason Boudreau:

I could see that. I don’t know a ton about the history of that, but I just sort of feel like it would be that way. So, they’re building the business and then tell me the story about how your parents met and when that happened.

 

Amar Doman:

My mum was born in India. My dad went back on a trip, and they were all saying “No, he’s not going to get married back there”. My mom was arranged to be married to someone and my dad caught her eye. Then they went to go meet the family, and her family met his family and said “Hey, you know, maybe we should do this”, which is a little bit out of bounds over there when someone’s kind of prescribed to some you don’t really do those things. Anyways he’s a guy that kind of likes to go after what he wanted, and he came back six months later. He was writing letters to her, and  and we’ve seen the letters where he said he is going to get married back there. So, he came home with my mom, who’d never been to Canada before. At 19 she went to English school. She actually had four bad miscarriages before my brother and I came, which was quite sad. All boys, crazy. My mom had six boys in a row. And my brother and I were the only guys that survived. The last two. I am glad they kept trying. All I’ve got to say.

 

Jason Boudreau:

No doubt. Hey. So, you have an older brother. What’s his name?

 

Amar Doman:

His name is Rob.

 

Jason Boudreau:

What’s the age gap between the two of you?

 

Amar Doman:

18 months.  He’s definitely smarter than me. He’s got all the Degrees and everything like that. I was Grade 12 and went right into business. The school didn’t want any more of me and I didn’t want any more school.

 

Jason Boudreau:

Why don’t we go on that thread? I remember asking you last year about how you got going and you said “Right out of high school”. So, obviously, you and Rob grow up on the Island together in Victoria with your parents. I would assume a normal Canadian kid growing up, although you probably were spending time in the mills and getting to know the business.

 

Amar Doman:

I think you could say that.  That started when we were very, very young. My dad would take me and my brother to the mills around lumber since we were just tiny guys of six or eight years old. I look back now and wonder how we didn’t get killed or run over. We’re just let loose. Today you wouldn’t let anyone wander around these places, but he didn’t know where we were. We’d be climbing on lumber piles that are 50 feet high and when I look now at it – I wouldn’t let my kids go near that stuff. It’s crazy.

 

Jason Boudreau:

Neither would WCB, right?

 

Amar Doman:

Totally! All that stuff was absorbing. It was just sort of taking us around and, of course, osmosis you pick it up and if you like it, which my brother and I both did. Then we got to eventually start to work on the machinery and start to pile studs or load trucks. We did all those jobs all the way through every summer, every Christmas, Saturdays, dad would take us down there and we just go do it. It wasn’t sort of “Hi,  you’re coming to work”. You just kind of hopped in the truck with Dad and off you went. And it was awesome. I missed those days and I certainly wouldn’t trade that sort of education for anything.

 

Jason Boudreau:

No doubt! Obviously, then that led to you deciding at the end of high school to just get out and do this on your own. So, let’s talk about from that point on what happened when you decided to really start with, what is now the business.

 

Amar Doman:

So, probably around Grade 11, I started to map out what I am going to do. My mother thought that I was just going to pile studs my whole life and I wasn’t going to get too far. I’d be happy doing that some days right now, but I had my sort of business plan mapped out where I wanted to start a small lumber remanufacturing company because I had done a lot of the jobs and I thought to add some value. I didn’t want anything from the family. I wanted to do it on my own. And I’ve always had that sort of independent streak in me that I just wanted to do it on my own. So, certainly, my dad wouldn’t lend me any money, he was too tough. So, my mom lent me about 30 grand coming out of the high school Grade 12 in 1988 and I had formed a small company with three guys in Victoria. We manufactured lumber and when the phone rang I’d run off the green chain and go answer the phone and take an order and come back. It was awesome. Owning a small business a day after high school, I could not have been a happier guy.

 

Jason Boudreau:

That’s awesome. So that’s 1988, how many partners did you have in that business?

Amar Doman:

Well, there were three employees, and I was the sole owner.

 

Jason Boudreau:

And I know you’re the sole owner today, so does it always remain that way? You’ve been the sole owner through all your businesses?

 

Amar Doman:

Yes, with the Futura Corporation. We’ve taken some stuff public and we have ownership and public stakes, but I’m the sole shareholder in Futura.

 

Jason Boudreau:

Got it. So, in 1988 you started building up the business, let’s talk a little bit about the evolution of it. What did the first 10 years look like, from the late 80s into the late 90s?

 

Amar Doman:

Back around 1988, about one year later, an opportunity came up in Vancouver. A company that needed to sell in forestry that my dad had heard about and he said that maybe I should have a look at. So I took a look at it. I ended up buying it and moved to the big city of Surrey, business overnight. I stayed on my brother’s couch, he was going to UBC over there. So, I was his roommate, literally overnight. He was having more fun than me partying at the pub and doing other stuff while I was trying to figure out how to detangle a broken business. But that was the time of my life when I moved to Vancouver from the Island. It’s a big deal, move over to the big town, the big show and all that, and for me, I thought that this is where it would stop. However, I’ve turned that business around and started to grow it. Bought another one out of bankruptcy about two years later in Surrey as well that was competing with us. So, we gave it a tough time and it was fun watching that happen, then owned that competitor. A lot of people thought they were going to count me out in the industry saying I am taking on too much, that I am too young. Anyway, we haven’t looked back. I think that the work ethic that we commented on earlier, learning that from dad, it’s just instilled in me to this day.

 

Jason Boudreau:

I hear you there. That’s something I talk to my kids about all the time. Always be the hardest worker in the room and that’ll get you far.

So, late 90s. Now you’re got this business going. I want to learn a little bit more about this turnaround approach that you’ve got with these businesses. What were you seeing when you were coming into these companies? Why did they end up in the situation they were in? And then how did you feel you were able to turn it around and take it to the next level?

 

Amar Doman:

I think one of the things I’ve learned is that when you look at something that’s broken, try to analyze why it was broken. Don’t make those same mistakes and look at it as a big opportunity to try and do something the other guys didn’t do and make it work. It also allows you to create value because if you could buy something that’s broken at a good value that you can fix – the upside potential is just gigantic. That’s something that we pride ourselves on – we try to buy plants that are running 20-30%, and we don’t care if they are bankrupt. We are going to come in with our sort of surgical way of doing things and hard work ethic, and figure out a way to make it work. We don’t think any other way. We just have to make it work.

 

Jason Boudreau:

Got it. So, late 90s and early 2000s, what’s happening with you then? I know you mentioned that you acquired some public assets or took some companies public. When did that start?

 

Amar Doman:

So, we bought a company called Canwell Distribution from Canfor and Weldood, two large sawmillers here in BC, and it was a national distribution business. So I bought that. That was a big bite for us. It took us across Canada, added about 400 million in sales and it was losing money. A lot of money. And for the first time in my life, I had a bit of a panic at 29. It was 1999, I was thinking that I took too much and I wasn’t sure how I could plug all the leaks in this thing like I thought I could. I went out to sit down with the banks in Toronto, understanding what the “C” word is, which is a covenant, and I didn’t really understand all that stuff: big banking agreement that looks like 5 phone books … But I just came and sat with these guys and I said, “Look, I need about another six months. But I can see how this is going to get fixed, but think I’m in violation”. My CFO’s giving me all these notes saying there’s the pole pile of trouble here that I was out of bounds on. I just said look “I’ll fix it. Just give me a little more time”.  Those guys became very close with me. I was Wachovia Bank, which turned into Wells Fargo, and we’re still at that bank today. If those guys didn’t help me there, I’m not sure what would have happened, but turned it around and then eventually took that company public in 2004.

 

Jason Boudreau:

Is Wachovia Bank from the U.S. Aren’t they out of Washington?

 

Amar Doman:

They were, yes. They folded into Wells Fargo, probably through the financial crisis.

 

Jason Boudreau:

1. So, the bankers have obviously played an important role. Even for future acquisitions, it seems they’ve become your partners in a way.

 

Amar Doman

For sure. It wasn’t a debt issue. For me, it’s always a cash flow issue.  We’re not going to take on too much debt and bet the farm and risk on things that we don’t understand and take big long shots. We just needed more time to get the thing operationally efficient. And we’re bleeding, bleeding, bleeding, but we were bleeding to get to a point where they’re going to be a healthy body. So, you have to bleed out for a while and get the thing right sized and fixed, and the customers, and all this different stuff. We were never at the risk of a bank foreclosing on us because we did something stupid.

 

Jason Boudreau:

So, 1999 you bought it and took it public in 2004. What does that five-year gap look like? What does it take to get a company ready to be put it on a public exchange?

 

Amar Doman:

It’s painful. Halfway through my dad was kind of laughing, while checking in he would say “You guys are nuts. Don’t do this public stuff and stay private”. A lot of people say why would you go public if you didn’t need to? Well, there are a few reasons. Number one, I wanted the team I was building to be able to have straight direct equity ownership, something that’s tangible for them. Also, a stock or report card – it’s nice to see as well as to raise equity. I could start to see that being public and where I want to grow the company would line up collectively very nicely and your profiles are different and there’s two different paths, they’re both great as long as you’re making money. But I think that the public was the right time for us and took some chips off the table back then, which was nice just to kind of monetize at a young age, and take some risk off after working 16 straight years out of high school. I thought that would be an important thing to do. So, we did a little bit of that and also kept some of the companies private, which still are today.

 

Jason Boudreau:

Got it. So now, we’re sort of in the early 2000s, mid-2000s and I know you’ve got Canwell and Doman is the other one, correct?

 

Amar Doman:

Yeah, Canwell morphed into Doman and Doman now is the parent one now in the Toronto Stock Exchange.

 

Jason Boudreau:

There’s one other company, correct?  Under the Futura?

 

Amar Doman:

Yes, we control Tree Island Steel which is public.

 

Jason Boudreau:

Got it. What got you into the steel business? How long has that been in the fold?

 

Amar Doman:

We’ve been distributing Tree Island nails and mesh for a long time. I was watching the company become undervalued on the Stock Exchange. So, we ended up buying a pretty big ownership stake in it when we thought the value was right. The Board of the company owned less than 1% of the company and I owned 20% of the company and they wouldn’t let me on the board, which frankly pissed me off. So, we called a proxy contest, the only one I’ve ever done, and we lost the proxy contest, but the next day they called and said “You won. But really you won, not us. Our guns are down. The board’s yours”. So anyway, we went through this process, which I didn’t want to go through, but we took control of the company and it’s been a great business for us. It’s got a huge plant in Richmond, 450 employees and a bunch of staff in California. It’s been a great business for us and we continue to drive good cash out of it and run the business.

 

Jason Boudreau:

Well, obviously nails and mesh are complementary to the main business, right? So, just thinking back to mid-2000s. When did family life start to evolve for you? When do you meet Nat? When does that all start?

 

Amar Doman:

It was in my early 30s. I met my future wife in Vancouver. I started thinking that I’m in my mid 30s, setting my ways, maybe not getting married kind of guy and I’m building the companies up and having some fun. Certainly, when you meet someone who changes your life it’s great. We ended up dating for about a year and then got married. Right after that, we had three beautiful children. So, then I felt fully wealthy. Because being wealthy in a bank account is one thing. But when you’ve got children and a decent marriage – that’s all you can ask for.

 

Jason Boudreau:

Yes, that’s true. That’s very true.

We talk a lot about legacy in our business and obviously, a lot of the work that we do is helping families plan for that legacy. And really, it’s all about what’s the next generation coming into and the number one thing that comes up is the value set and these conversations about it. It’s one thing to transfer financial capital, but how do you transfer that family capital, the history, the stories, the knowledge, the values, all that kind of stuff, and that’s something that we’ve talked a little bit about the other week as well. I can see from hearing your story how that evolved for you being at the sawmills and climbing around on the lumber and all that. I’m curious from your side, when you look at your kids how do you envision their involvement in things?

 

Amar Doman:

That’s the 1-million-dollar question: do they want to be involved and carry on? I think the level children were born into is not their fault. I think it is up to the parents to assist in the navigation of where they’re starting from. It’s a lot different than not where I started, but how I had to get started.

I just wanted to know if the children do want to be involved in business, I’ll show them the path which starts with a very, very much hard-working foundation. That means starting to work somewhere else, which one of my children is already working at a young age. And he’s doing well and he seeks to work, which is great.

If they want to be an artist or whatever vocation they choose, they better choose something because I don’t want my children figuring out what they’re going to do in life during their four years in university. That won’t happen in our family. It’s “Choose what you want to do or you’re going to work”. Once you figure out if you do want to go to university for something specific, of course, we’re going to help you with that tuition as well as you’re going to pay a part of it. I don’t expect their path to be anything like mine. It can’t be, but if they want to carry on some of these businesses that we continue to build up, I’d be more than happy to teach them.

 

Jason Boudreau:

The other day we were talking about inviting them in to learn about the business firsthand, whether it’s taking them on a business trip or inviting them to a meeting or something like that. I know that’s something I really look forward to. It is really great to hear that they are already getting their hands dirty and earning some coins.

Tell me about the background of the Futura name. When did the Futura start as a company and where did the name come from?

 

Amar Doman:

I got to give my dad some credit. He had a small development company in Victoria way back in the day,  called Futura Developments for the Future and he built some apartment buildings. He always had a lot of stuff going on and he had this company name which he used for a long time and went into some building materials as well. I always used to draw when I was in school, not paying attention to the blackboard, I’d be drawing “Futura” all over my everything and just I used to always draw Futura Corporation since Grade 8 and I’d be drawing and drawing it. So, I formed that company in 1999 when we had purchased Canwell and restructured everything under one. I still remain the sole shareholder of that business, but it was kind of a nod to my father. He really liked me using that name, and I just love the name and still do. It’s my private corporation, so you won’t see it on anything public. It’s just got a very good sentimental history to me and my brother as well for sure.

 

Jason Boudreau:

When you told your dad that you were setting up the Futura of Corporation, what was his reaction to that?

 

Amar Doman:

He was very happy about it and he always just liked it. I think it felt like he’s still there because he taught me absolutely everything. I owe everything to Dad and I wish he was still around, and his anniversary of passing was just Saturday four years ago.

 

Jason Boudreau:

Thank you for sharing.

I’m curious about if we look to today and really look ahead, what’s in store for you and for Futura? When you look at the landscape of today, everybody talks about how fast the world is changing and commodities are moving like crazy. Obviously, you have the influence of expanded media out there impacting share prices and things like that. How do you navigate that? What do you see for the business today? If we look forward to the next 10 years, what does Futura’s future look like?

 

Amar Doman:

A couple of things. I’ve been through a lot of different cycles now and I’ve got some gray hair. So you can look back and see what to watch for a little bit, but the drive and focus and energy have not changed as far as building. So, there’s been no slowing down and catching our breath. It is more like keep looking for opportunities, keep running the main business as well as learn and stay close to our customers, do everything we’ve done to get here and then continue to build on. So, we don’t look out as far as 10 years. We look out sometimes 2 to 3 years, but we want to continue to build through acquisition.

As a group now with the Futura we crossed roughly $3.5 billion in sales, and we have 4,000 employees. So, it’s big, but for us, if we buy a company now that’s got 30 employees, that’s fine. If it’s got 300, that’s fine. But it’s got to strategically fit into our master plan that I share with our Board of Directors that we have. The word “retirement” doesn’t really fit in for a guy like me. I like to work, and you’ll see me working for a long time. So, we’ll continue to build and see how far we can take this.

 

Jason Boudreau:

That’s very neat. We were talking the other day and you were mentioning about that even though you’ve got 4,000 employees, you stay really close to the ground floor. How do you do that and why do you feel that’s important?

 

Amar Doman:

That’s a great question, Jason. I just think it always resonates with me that I feel like I’m one of the guys out there. All the time. So, I can go talk to anybody on the floor, whether it’s a forklift driver, whether it’s a Ship or Receive or whatever it is to the top executive. I just like people and I like working, I like working people. I relate to them. That’s why I don’t really stand for a lot of people that have picket signs out there. I am just grateful to have a job. I don’t think you should fight your company. I think that good companies take care of good employees and things work out. I really believe that there should be respect on both sides and I respect every single person that works in our companies, no matter what position they have. I fully respect them and appreciate them being part of our team.

 

Jason Boudreau:

Respect, for sure. That’s a big one. I’m very much the same way. I find it hard to not stay connected to the people because that’s the pulse of the business. It’s like a giant brain trust in a way. You ask questions and you’ll hear things that you never even thought of.

 

Amar Doman:

Right. Absolutely right.

 

Jason Boudreau:

I would like to touch base on the philanthropy side. And I know you’ve been actively giving back to the community and I know it’s not a philanthropic project, but it’s certainly a community-based project as you now own the BC Lions. Tell me a little bit about how that got going for you? It’s obviously a passion project for you, and you and I met through the football community. Then we’ll tie that into the more giving and giving back side. Let’s call it “The new side of the Lions”, how did that end up in the Amar Doman’s world?

 

Amar Doman:

This’s something that was on my mind for a lot of years, and we used to hear it wouldn’t come up for sale as David Braley owned it for 25 years and these assets are very hard to come by. For me, being a part of the CFL and part of the National History of the CFL it’s like a dream come through. To really help kids use sports here in BC, and to re-engage the football community here, invest in it, and obviously selfishly we want to grow the fan base. But really, it’s something that I tried to buy for seven years back and forth with David, going to Hamilton to his little office back there in Ontario, and thought I’d have a deal and then came back and he couldn’t let it go. He’s so passionate about football.

Then, of course, when we got the deal done back in 2021 it was surreal… Signing the paperwork back East and then knowing this is going to be announced… There’re those few moments in life when your children are or born or you’re married – these things are just etched in your mind. You can define them so well, like they’re yesterday. When I went out to Surrey to practice, they had all the players put on their uniforms with their names on them that day, and they blew the whistle and they’re all coming in there. There I was, standing there and that was one of those minutes I’ll never forget. They’d stopped the whole practice. And here they come and here comes the new introduction of new speech and that was one of the proudest moments in my life.

 

Jason Boudreau:

Oh, that’s so great. Well, I know, the BC Lions themselves, the team, the football community, everybody’s benefited so much over the last couple of years since you took over the helm there. I certainly see myself still being involved in the football community. Obviously, as you know, football was a big part of my life for many years and I’m hoping my boys get into it and they love the flag league that they’re in here on the North Shore and hopefully soon we’ll get into tackling all that. I feel like they got to at least put the pads on at some point, cause their dad did.

 

Amar Doman:

Yes, our boys play together, which is great too, and it’s awesome.

 

Jason Boudreau:

It’s so much fun. It’s really fun. I feel like for a young boy going through adolescence and coming to man, there’s probably not a better sport out there that they could play in terms of skills and all that. Obviously, I’m biased, but I’d like to say that it helped me turn out in a successful way.

I know one of the approaches for you with the BC Lions, and I think these ties into really kind of the giving back piece and philanthropy, is that BC Lions aren’t the Vancouver Lions, they’re the BC Lions, right? This is the province’s team, right?

 

Amar Doman:

100%.

 

Jason Boudreau:

And I thought that was so great and obviously it’s in the name. But given that they play here and practice locally, sometimes it feels a little bit like Vancouver Lions. I know you’ve done a lot of outreach to the province, and I remember last year you guys were helping to fly-in, ferry-in or bus-in fans. Tell me more about that sort of outreach to the BC community and get them reconnected with the team.

 

Amar Doman

So, we’re doubling down on that and what I mean by that is we’ve adjusted and worked with the TSN to sort out times across Canada for airing the games and then also CFL to get a bunch of four o’clock games here. The reasons for those are: number one, we can have people from Vancouver Island come over on a ferry, get back and not have to spend an arm and a leg in a hotel. Number two, we can have younger fans come in and be able to bring their two or three-year-olds in the afternoon, watch a game from four and be done at seven. Let’s face it, it’s Canadian summer, guys want to hit their barbecues on a Saturday night.

And the CFL has to always struggle with that. So, we’re trying to pull it forward a bit in the afternoon, enjoy it and then people can go to their house parties, do whatever they want with dinner. Also, do you want to get on a sky train at 10:30 or 11:00 at night? I’m sure I wouldn’t want to these days. So, families can get home safely out to the valley. You can even come from the island. We’ve got buses set up as well. So, we’re really trying to engage the whole greater part of BC wherever we can. I think some of those earlier start times will assist with that, Jason. And we’re always open to ideas to try to do better.

 

Jason Boudreau:

I know this season’s obviously starting soon and you’re getting excited about that. How’s it looking in terms of the growth that you’ve seen with the fan base and all that over the last couple of years with you in charge?

 

Amar Doman:

Super solid. Look, we’re coming off some tough numbers, we all know that. But we believe we’re going to double our season ticket holder base this year already. We’re very, very excited about it. And just to get almost under 40,000 and for that last playoff game in Calgary last year. It’s amazing. Once that thing gets going and people like being around people and of course at football the noise matters – we will get a good consistent fan base into BC Place for our home games, there’s only nine home games.

I think we’ve got a pretty good opportunity, we’re helping subsidize some of the concessions and big street parties coming up again here. It’s going to be the place to be.

 

Jason Boudreau:

Right on! Given that grassroots community level, I’m curious about your view on philanthropy and how you approach that because obviously you get approached a lot on giving to different organizations. What do you think about philanthropy in your world?

 

Amar Doman:

I think the term “Giving back” is used a lot, maybe too much. I just think it’s just about giving. I think that I really felt this way for a long time. We’ve helped out different organizations, whether it’s heart, stroke, cancer or other causes. The one thing that we differ on is as far as myself and part of the community, I don’t think hospitals should have their hands out into private corporations. These are big public assets and they should be run by our tax dollars- we’re taxed enough. But certainly when it comes to scientific research, going over and above helping children find different ways to find solutions for various diseases, someone that needs financial medical care – we do a lot of private donations. We do them anonymously as well. We like to write these cheques. We like to help. We like to help the Orphans fund. There is whole bunch of different things we’ve been doing for years and to me it’s just an automatic thing to do. When you’ve done ok and you can share – Share. I think it always comes back in some way shape or form and I believe that by just seeing some child happy or someone that’s had a life-saving operation – that’s great. What are we doing all this for anyway?

 

Jason Boudreau:

Yes, that’s very true, I couldn’t say it better myself. Amar, just to close out our conversation, I would love to understand from your point of view the given piece. What would you say if you were having a conversation with your kids or some young group of kids about giving and trying to really instill in them at a young age what it means to give?

 

Amar Doman:

I think number one is always remember that not everyone has what you have and don’t assume they do. Always help others and try not to choose the bad path. If someone’s doing a bad thing, don’t copy them. Try to stand down and it’s hard with peer pressure, but really try to just be your own person and try to help others. If there’s a new kid in class, be the person that goes up to that new kid in class. Don’t be the person gossiping about the new kid in class. Reach out, put your hand out, welcome them. That’s the type of citizens I want our kids to be – to help others and just be that good person. And don’t be the person giggling in the background and making fun of others. That person gets nowhere.

 

Jason Boudreau:

That’s a true story. Well, let’s wrap it at that. We spent a good half an hour together this morning. Amar, really appreciate you taking the time. Always pleased to speak with you and really enjoying getting to know you at a deeper level today. Thanks again.

 

Amar Doman:

Thanks, Jason! I really appreciate you doing this. We’ll see you!

 

Jason Boudreau:

See you tonight.