I am often asked how I came up with the name Black Spruce Financial.

I wanted a name that was uniquely Canadian, but something that people would not automatically associate with another company or industry.

One evening, as I was driving home and listening to CBC Radio, there was a discussion about the Canadian flag and whether the sugar maple leaf was truly representative of all of Canada.  The maple leaf was spotted by settlers when they came to Canada, landing in the east where maple trees were in abundance through to mid Canada.

Although found in many parts of Canada, the arborist argued that it was not the most “Canadian” of trees.  He basically said that it did not represent Canada fully, especially western and northern Canada, since it grows sparsely there.

When asked which tree the arborist believed would truly represent Canada, he replied that it would be the Black Spruce. It grows in abundance from coast to coast, and from the Canadian-US border up to the Arctic tree line.  Furthermore, it grows in various environments including in swamps, on mountains, in hot or cold weather, in varied and difficult terrains.  This makes it very resilient and adaptive, much like we envision Canada and Canadians to be. He argued that this is a uniquely Canadian tree.

The story struck a chord, and I realized that it was the name I had been searching for.  I adopted the name for my business and incorporated it shortly thereafter.  The following is my interpretation of The Story of The Black Spruce:

Independent and highly adaptive, the black spruce flourishes in a wide range of challenging environments across Canada.  Wherever it appears in a group of trees, the black spruce, with its tufted top, stands out tall from the others.

For our company, the tree stands as a symbol of our commitment to understanding the needs and goals of the independent business owner better than anyone else.