There’s strength in numbers.
That was the message at the Ladysmith Chamber of Commerce annual general meeting Jan. 17, as Greater Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce chair Wally Wells spoke about collaboration among Vancouver Island Chambers, and Duncan-Cowichan Chamber of Commerce president Ranjit Dhami spoke about the Five Chamber Accord in the Cowichan Valley.
The five Cowichan Valley Chambers — the Ladysmith Chamber of Commerce, the Duncan-Cowichan Chamber of Commerce, the Chemainus and District Chamber of Commerce, the Cowichan Lake District Chamber of Commerce and the South Cowichan Chamber of Commerce — are looking to build a regional Visitor Centre at the BC Forest Discovery Centre (FDC) in Duncan.
While the centre would be in Duncan, it would showcase all five regions.
The hope is to build a regional Visitor Centre at the Forest Discovery Centre at Drinkwater Road and the Trans-Canada Highway.
“We chose the Forest Discovery Centre to build the project because, first of all, the Forest Discovery Centre is a centre of activity in the Cowichan Valley and it has been for a long time,” said Dhami. “What it does is it speaks volumes of the collaboration we’re doing, not only with the Chambers, but also with the FDC, in a sense that we realize that at the Chamber at our Visitor Centre, we see X amount of people, and the FDC sees double X amount of people, so we become a much more viable business with the two of us working together.
“We know the majority of customers who come and visit the Cowichan Valley, they make a concentrated effort to go to the Forest Discovery Centre. If we can capture those clients coming in and get them to stay a little longer, spend a little more and see the entire Valley, that is the concept the five Chambers are trying to get at.”
The Visitor Centre itself would have a few offices and 1,500 square feet of open space to display each region, explained Dhami.
The idea is that each region would be responsible for staffing one and a half full-time equivalents at the Visitor Centre.
Peter Matthews, president of the Chemainus and District Chamber, was enthusiastic about the initiative.
“For us in Chemainus and us as a region, this is a pretty exciting thing to be involved in, to be able to showcase our individual communities without losing our autonomy,’ he said.
Ladysmith Chamber president Rob Waters agreed it has been “a pleasure” to work with the other Chamber presidents.
Working together was also the theme of guest speaker Wally Wells, chair of the Greater Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce, as he spoke about how Chambers on Vancouver Island can work together to strengthen their voice.
Wells has found that governments put a lot of weight on who you represent.
“I learned rather quickly that the first thing governments, particularly senior governments provincial and federal, ask you is who do you represent because they want to know what authority you have, how you talk to them, and how they should listen to you,” he said. “Well, that came about in looking at how we are approaching things on the Island. Wouldn’t it be better if we could collectively, when it’s appropriate, represent the business community on the Island?
“What we thought was important was to formalize some agreement among our Chambers that would allow us to formally say to governments and others, to port authorities, whatever is necessary, ‘this is who we represent — we represent the majority, if not all, of the business community on Vancouver Island.’”
Last month, the Nanaimo Chamber passed a resolution that says Chambers agree to agree with each other when it is convenient to do so.
“It does not mean, certainly in our opinion, that every issue that comes up has to be agreed to by every Chamber,” said Wells.
The Ladysmith Chamber of Commerce passed the resolution at its last board meeting.
“Our Chamber agrees there’s certainly strength behind collaboration with Chambers,” said Waters.
