A traditional Canadian publisher, BAICO began operations in 1997 in Gatineau, Quebec. With the company growing over the years they took up a new location in Canada’s beautiful picturesque capital, Ottawa. The founder and President, Raymond Coderre brings over 50 years of invaluable experience in the printing and book publishing industry. Baico’s signature is it’s accessibility to its author’s. Always being available to address any questions and or concerns. Also Baico does not take their author’s copyrights. In 2007, Stephanie Bertrand joined Baico as a part-time administrative assistant. Now, 14 years later, Stephanie is Baico’s acting Vice-President. In March 2020, Stephanie launched a new umbrella of Baico called “Women who inspire”. This division of Baico is dedicated to women, to have them showcase their talents and inspire others to tell their stories. A few weeks after the launch of “Women who inspire”, COVID-19 hit and we were dealing with an unexpected lockdown. The lockdown having put a halt on the world and our business, Baico persevered by pivoting with the changing times, finding new safe ways of doing business while keeping our personal professional touch.
In the past year Baico has published some amazing books by some incredibly talented authors. The #IHAVENOWORDS project was released in October 2020, as part of the Black Lives Matter movement. This project was born out of Debbie Miller’s (photographer, police officer and author) to be a part of a call to action. Debbie began having deep conversations, particularly with black men in the community, black police officers and mothers of Black sons. This collection of emotionally charged conversations allowed her to understand their feelings and capture images of acute pain, suffering and profound sadness and frustration that has beset the community. In this tapestry of photographs and community quotes she tells their stories. #IHAVENOWORDS is a call for us to all build a more equal and inclusive society.
Around the same time, Baico and the Ottawa Police Blues FC teamed up to launch the “GROW A WRITER CONTEST!”. We want to make a positive imprint on the youth in our community and the purpose of the “GROW A WRITER CONTEST” is to encourage children to stay creative and educated while staying safe during this pandemic, while having a unique outlet to express themselves. Grow A Writer 2020 was a phenomenal success!!! 20+ stories from children 8-14 years of age were picked to be part of a published novel. Copies of “GROW A WRITER 2020” will be available in March, all proceeds will go back to the community in the form of an educational scholarship. Baico and the Ottawa Police Blues FC have decided to make the contest a yearly event. Stay tuned for more information for “GROW A WRITER 2021”.
Although, COVID-19 has made the past year one of uncertainly with several obstacles, it has also made Baico evolve. With Raymond still working out of our offices at 280 Albert Street with strict COVID-19 measures in place and Stephanie working from home taking zoom meetings, we are still here for our existing authors and any new authors who might want to publish the work they finally had the time to write during the lockdown and for just for any inquiry about the publishing process.
Our outlook for 2021 is an exciting one with many new opportunities, books and evolving ways of doing business.