Michael Paradis born in 1966 is a seventh generation beekeeper and owner/President of Paradis Honey Ltd. He is the eldest son of Jean-Luc and Laura Paradis, is married to Lise Girard Paradis which they share two children, Tyler Paradis and Kaila Paradis. Together they own and operate 5,000 beehives.

Michael brings many years of beekeeping experience as well as generational experience from past family members. His expertise is in the everyday management of the bees and the business. On his “down time” while the bees are hibernating during the winter months, Michael has a commercial rendering facility for rendering beeswax as a “value added” product.

Michael has dedicated not only his professional career to the well being of honey bees, but has dedicated his entire life to ensuring the long term health and sustainability of the beekeeping industry for years to come. He has served on the board of the Alberta Beekeepers Commission for several years, and was involved in the conception of the bee diagnostic centre for bee diseases in Canada. Michael is still presently on the board of the National Bee Diagnostics Centre in Beaverlodge, Alberta and has been since 2012.

Ash Apiaries Ltd. is a family-operated honey producer and processor in Gilbert Plains, Manitoba, about four hours northwest of Winnipeg.

The business was founded in 1972 by Floyd and Peggy Ash, and is now operated by Peggy, Floyd and their three sons: Brent, Grant and Bryan.

Starting with 200 bee colonies in 1972, the apiary has steadily grown to more than 10,000 colonies today, which thrive and produce high quality honey from the crops grown on the fertile rolling hills of Western Manitoba's Heart of the Parkland.

In 1989, Ash Apiaries Ltd. expanded and started producing Sunshine Valley natural creamed honey. Creamed honey is 100% pure Canadian honey in a unique format. Our liquid honey is "seeded" with ultra-fine grind granulated canola honey to produce a creamed honey that is pearly-white in colour, spreads like firm butter, and is mild tasting.

Ash Apiaries Ltd. continues to process its own brand of Sunshine Valley creamed, liquid, raw honey, and also makes flavoured creamed honey using only 100% pure Canadian honey.

Peter Awram grew up on his family’s bee farm in Alberta and later BC. After graduating high school, he did his bachelor’s degree in biology at UBC. He continued at UBC and received a PhD in microbiology and immunology. He then served as a research associate in molecular biology, vaccine development and virology before returning to his family’s bee farm, where he took over as CEO in 2005. In 2018, he started a second company, Authentic Food Solutions, which is a fully ISO 17025 accredited laboratory that is dedicated to countering honey fraud and helping beekeepers in Canada and around the world. Alongside his two businesses, Peter is an active member of a number of beekeeping organizations across Canada.

Rocklake Apiaries was founded in 1969 by Tom’s brother Bill. The business was built on healthy bees from California and a great relationship with Californian beekeeper Buzz Greene.

Rocklake Apriaries quickly grew into a thriving family business employing many locals over the years.

Today Tom owns and operates Rocklake Aparies Ltd. With partners Doug Elliott and son Brayden Lockhart.

Tom has seen beekeepers face many struggles over the years, but none greater than when the border was closed to U.S. packages

I was born into a family commercial beekeeping operation.

After high school I worked in California for two spring seasons shipping package bees to Canada, then returning to Canada for the summers to work for Charlie Gane making honey crops.

I attended University of Saskatchewan, graduating with a Diploma of Agriculture. After college I worked in Edson, Alberta as a property tax assessor for a year.

I then returned to work at my family bee farm (Hamilton Bee Ranch) for about 10 years.

I was hired to move to Nova Scotia and start a bee operation for John Bragg. I have been in Nova Scotia for 31 years now and I manage 10,000 Honey Bee Hives for pollination of wild blueberries and Growth.

I am committed to building the Canadian Beekeeping Federation to be an alterative National voice for like minded Commercial Beekeepers.