Initiative

“I came here for two years. I’ve now been here for 22 years.” It’s a common refrain in Fort St. John. Permanency is real.

Resourceful Fort St. John. Industrious, hard-working, and proud. A destination for good jobs and people who dream about a better future for themselves and family – and achieve it. Fort St. John has worked hard in the last decade to build a city people are proud of – a place where people…stay. Downtown enhancement, and additional recreation amenities and community events have led the city’s energetic pathway in recent times. Check any perception of near north Fort St. John at the door; Fort St. John is on the rise.

The Economic Development Strategy addressed three key challenges head-on: 1) leading energy and forestry industries in an era of stable – but not growing – employment; 2) multi-sector workforce attraction and retention in a strong economy amidst a BC and Canadian workforce supply crunch; 3) to accelerate community development initiatives that enhance attractiveness to workforce and entrepreneurs.

Six goals and 110 initiatives represent the heartbeat of the Strategy. Six BIG Moves define bold priorities that step into an elevated set of opportunities with greatest potential for transformative community progress: new Municipal & Regional District Tax (MRDT) that will accelerate tourism diversification while enabling broader conversation/perception shift to attract workforce and new residents; Taking Care of Business focused on nurturing an entrepreneur ecosystem; 3) Energetic Fort St. John that more fully leverages the existing energy industry while embracing Energy 2.0 industry evolution; 4) Making it Work – collaborative workforce attraction & retention program; 5) Land on Fort St. John’s Feet – a more aggressive City land development mechanism to step into strategic housing choice, downtown enhancement entrepreneur enablement and employment lands development directions; 6) Indigenous Partnerships – better enabling open dialogue to nurture economic and community development opportunities. Diversification streams: tourism, entrepreneurship, forestry, agriculture – are clearly articulated.

Breakthroughs include: 1) establishment of sector working groups in key Energy and Forestry sectors; 2) MRDT and its significant (1400 hotel rooms) role in connecting the dots to broader community progress and transformation; 3) the role of City land (190 acres) in achieving Economic Development Strategy; 4) careful articulation of economic diversification avenues that transition from resource community to diversified near north City of the future; 5) simplified vision statement and story to articulate the goal line and focus future strategic actions.

In working to understand, and incorporate linkages to other municipal Plans, the Strategy serves as the ONE plan that works to connect the dots between our economic and community development aspirations for an ambitious future.