Gibsons has its public market and Marine Education Centre, Pender Harbour will soon have its Ocean Discovery Station (PODS), and now Sechelt is poised to become the transit point for a world-class wilderness camp, education and research facility, and health and wellness retreat.
Telus plans to invest up to $40 million on the Cawley Point project, with a goal of educating more than 5,000 youth and students by 2030. The camp will utilize renewable energy, rain reservoirs and groundwater from aquifer on the 124-acre site. It will implement a sustainable food production system and support marine conservation and research.
The plan envisions a major role for the shíshálh Nation as partners in planning and operations, adding an authentic cultural component to camp activities.
Telus is also investing more than $10 million to redevelop the former Choquer & Sons property and marina in East Porpoise Bay, which will provide water access to the Cawley Point site.
The economic benefits for Sechelt and the Sunshine Coast as a whole will be significant. The company, which currently employs 50 people in the region, anticipates that number will rise to 250 people by 2025. Indirect employment will double from 250 to 500 people within the same period.
Telus is also forging ahead with its proposed mixed-use rental complex on Sechelt’s Inlet Avenue. If approved, it will create 60 critically needed residential and live-work units on the building’s five upper floors.
The Vancouver-based telecom giant calls its approach “social capitalism.”
They can call it whatever they want. All we can say is bring it on.
