William Quachegan left Moose Factory for Timmins to attend high school when he was 15. In shop class, he enjoyed woodworking and found he had a knack for it.
He met his wife Loretta in Timmins and later moved to her home First Nation of Mattagami. In Mattagami, he learned carpentry through an apprenticeship program and from Loretta’s uncle, Clayton McKay.
“I was good at it,” he found. “I just picked it up real fast on the reserve.”
Quachegan continued to build houses there and eventually became a construction supervisor.
When it came time for his son, William Jr., to go to high school, William Sr. found himself back in Timmins. He landed a job as the junior employee for a local contractor. Four years later, though, in 2011, he started his own business: WQ Carpentry.
Quachegan and his business have been so successful since then that Nishnawbe Aski Development Fund (NADF) presented him with its Building Communities business award for 2013. The Moose Cree First Nation member received the award Oct. 17 in Timmins at NADF’s annual awards gala.
Now with more than 20 years of carpentry experience, Quachegan knew it was time to start his own business “when people were calling my boss for some work and they were always asking for me. They’d say ‘Send William.’ ”
WQ Carpentry – Quachegan and three employees, including his son – handles residential and commercial work.
“I’m known in town now, in Timmins,” Quachegan says. “I do all the work for a lot of business owners. I worked at Boston Pizza when it was built, Tim Hortons, the Future Shop, and the new hospital building.”
As NADF pointed out in announcing Quachegan as its Building Communities award winner, “William’s thoughtfulness is not only shown in the quality of his work he provides for his clients, he also extends this to Aboriginal youth,” sponsoring several youth hockey players.
He has also made charitable donations for the fight against breast cancer and for a food bank in Timmins.
He’s building the community in many ways.
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