South Island Prosperity Partnership

09/30/2026

Today marks the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a day to honour Survivors, remember the children who never returned home, and recognize the ongoing impacts of the residential school system on Indigenous Peoples, families and communities.

Across Greater Victoria, there are many ways to come together, learn, reflect and honour the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. We encourage our community to show up, listen and learn, support Indigenous-led spaces and initiatives, and reflect on how each of us can contribute to reconciliation beyond a single day.

09/29/2026

Destination Greater Victoria has long been the region's storyteller, promoter and advocate. It has pitched Greater Victoria to journalists, courted conferences and major events, and helped build a brand recognized far beyond the Island.

Now it's taking on a longer view. The organization is working with partners across the region on hotel development, transportation, sustainability and the future of conference facilities, the kind of groundwork that shapes a place for decades.

For our Changemakers series, we sat down with CEO Paul Nursey to talk about marketing a destination while helping build it, and why he believes the two go hand in hand.

Destination Greater Victoria has long been the region’s storyteller, promoter and advocate. It has pitched Greater Victoria to journalists, courted conferences and major events, and helped build a brand recognized...

09/23/2026

Victoria's Inner Harbour will become live testing ground for ocean innovation today, when COAST's Ocean Tech Live: Demo Day returns to Ship Point.

From 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., more than a dozen companies will show their technology in action on the water, from autonomous vessels and underwater robotics to marine security systems.

Produced by COAST (Centre for Ocean Applied Sustainable Technologies), an initiative of the South Island Prosperity Partnership, this free public showcase is part of Victoria Tech Week.

09/14/2026

Where does wealth enter Greater Victoria, and how much of it stays? In the latest post from the Shorefast Institute, SIPP's Dallas Gislason explores those questions and traces the region's journey from participating in the 2021 Community Economies Pilot to Shorefast's national Shorenet network.

Gislason explains why community wealth building is becoming a core pillar of SIPP's next five-year strategy, how SIPP's collaborative model helped shape a national curriculum, and why he believes Canadian sovereignty starts with local organizing.

Shorenet Stories is a blog series from the Shorefast Institute for Place-Based Economies profiling the people and places of the Shorenet network. In this instalment, we speak with Dallas Gislason, Executive Director, Regional Economic Development at the South Island Prosperity Partnership (SIPP), an...

09/08/2026

Greater Victoria isn't waiting for the future to happen. We're winning awards for building it. The South Island Prosperity Partnership has just been recognized by the International Economic Development Council with Gold and Bronze awards for the second year in a row. These awards include:

- Gold — Recovery, Resiliency & Mitigation for Igniting Momentum, the Rising Economy Taskforce report released in October 2025, as tariff threats escalated and uncertainty settled over the region. Hundreds of hours of consultations, interviews, surveys and public conversations produced more than 100 concrete recommendations and the blueprint for Rising Economy 2030, our five-year economic plan.

- Bronze — Multi-Year Collaborative Economic Development for COAST (Centre for Ocean Applied Sustainable Technologies), SIPP’s initiative to develop and strengthen Pacific Canada’s role in the $30-billion ocean economy.

“These awards highlight the effectiveness of regional collaboration because both the work of the Rising Economy Taskforce and COAST depend on Greater Victoria working together across municipalities and sectors and bridging siloes to unlock economic opportunity,” says SIPP CEO Aaron Stone.

09/01/2026

The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade is hosting a free virtual event, "Surviving the Trade War: A Practical Guide to Tariffs and Business Supports," on September 2, with two back-to-back sessions on the evolving Canada–U.S. trade relationship and what recent developments mean for Canadian businesses.

The workshop draws on the same experts behind the Trade Accelerator Program, launched by the Toronto Region Board of Trade in 2015 and brought to Vancouver Island for the first time through a partnership between SIPP and the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce.

Learn how to respond to evolving tariff and counter-tariff measures in this practical session featuring customs experts, financial institutions, and government representatives.

08/21/2026

SIPP’s Director of Marketing & Communications, Kerry Slavens, presented The Possibility Charter to graduate students at Royal Roads University on August 21, using the campaign as a case study in social marketing strategy. Thank you to Associate Professor Burak Evren for inviting us to deliver the talk to his class!

The Possibility Charter, launched by SIPP in 2025, is a public declaration signed by people committing to create a Greater Victoria where residents, especially young people, can afford to live, work, start businesses and raise families.

“These students shared so many great ideas to help us engage more people in signing and championing the Charter,” Slavens says. “They give me hope about our future.”

Find out more about the Possibility Charter: ChoosePossibility.ca

08/20/2026

Optimism is one of the most important investments in the economy. Nowhere is that clearer than in the work of SIPP-member Vancity, a values-based financial institution that has spent 80 years asking what banking could do if profit weren't the only measure.

For nearly three decades, it has served South Island communities directly, moving capital toward housing affordability, economic Reconciliation and climate action and toward the people and businesses the banking sector historically overlooked.

But the challenge Vancity CEO Wellington Holbrook is most committed to tackling isn't a product. It's financial pessimism and the belief that no matter how hard you work, your financial future won't improve. In SIPP's latest edition of Changemakers, find out why he sees that mindset as the thing standing between our region and its next generation of entrepreneurs.

Read more: https://southislandprosperity.ca/19147-2/

08/11/2026

Check out SIPP’s profile in the latest issue of Douglas magazine! This write-up in the “Local Businesses with Lasting Impact” section showcases the people and principles of the region’s thriving business ecosystem. Find out how we’re working to build a vibrant and resilient economy for Greater Victoria.

“Regions that thrive in the future won’t be the biggest,” says SIPP CEO Aaron Stone in the article. “They’ll be the most co-ordinated, collaborative, agile and determined. While there are challenges ahead for Greater Victoria, those challenges are manageable when we lean in together. The best is still to come.”

08/06/2026

"I've always understood entrepreneurship to be a labour of love, an act of service that has a ripple effect throughout our economy and throughout our community," says Ashka Wirk, Founder of Wirk Consulting and Possibility Charter signee.

That's why she focused on one line in the Greater Victoria Possibility Charter: entrepreneurship and creativity are not optional. They are a path to shared prosperity. Behind the harbour views and heritage streets is a community of builders, dreamers and doers and the Charter is their invitation to believe again and make positive things happen together.

Sign the Possibility Charter: choosepossibility.ca