About Me

Ken Gillies lives in Whitby, Ontario with his wife Carla and twin daughters Abigail and Charlotte.  Ken has been climbing structures with ropes since 1993 when he started working at a summer camp as high ropes instructor.  He facilitated high ropes courses for four years then moved on to high angle rescue.  He always loved trees and when he started climbing them for a living he was hooked.

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Ken graduated from Humber College and later went on to be an instructor in the Arboriculture Programs for 11 years, from 2006 to 2017.  He taught the Arboriculture Practices 1 and 2 which focuses on the climbing aspects of tree work.  He is also an instructor for Ontario Parks Association and is now a lead instructor in the majority of the Arboriculture Canada Training and Education modules.  Ken attained his MTCU Certificate of Apprenticeship (Arborist) in 2008.

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Ken is the owner of a small tree service in the Greater Toronto Area; Gillies Tree Care, so he is putting to practice what he teaches every day.

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He has been involved for many years with the ISA Ontario Tree Climbing Championship, as a competitor, head judge and as chair of the entire competition.  Ken has previously been the president for the International Society of Arboriculture's Ontario Chapter, has served on the Board of Directors for many years and has sat on the ISA Ontario Council of Representatives internationally.

Business & Previous Experience

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MTCU Certificate of Apprenticeship (Arborist) (2008 - Present)

 

Instructs in the following Arboriculture Canada courses: (2011 - present)

• Chainsaw Safety & Cutting Techniques

• Tree Pruning

• Emergency Readiness & Hign Angle Rescue

• Aerial Lift Operations and Emergency Evacuation & Extrication

• Production Tree Removal & Rigging

• Arborist Technical Rigging

• Chipper Safety & Operations

• Crane Assisted Technical Rigging

• Ground Operations & Aerial Support

• Hazard & Danger Tree Cutting & Falling

• Modern Tree Climbing Systems

• Technical Tree Falling & Cutting

• Comprehensive Tree Risk Management Qualification
  
  Qualifications & Membership
   

• ISA Member ( Present)

• Working at Heights Training Certificate (Sept. 2, 2022 - Sept. 2, 2025)

• Standard First Aid & CPR (Dec. 13, 2021 - Dec. 13, 2024)

• Supervisor Health and Safety Awareness Certificate of Completion (Nov, 2022 )