History of the Campbell River

Economic Development Corporation Rivercorp

1947
The District of Campbell River was incorporated as a British Columbia municipality.

1969
The District of Campbell River created a department to maintain Economic Development functions within Town Hall.

1993
The Municipal Economic Development Commission, established by local bylaw, was designed to bring together independent business representatives from select and diversified sectors in the community to advise Council on policy related to the maintenance, enhancement, expansion and attraction of commerce, industry and investment.

Members of the Commission were appointees of Council for various terms and represented different economic activities. The Commission established a working group to investigate the feasibility of creating an independent Economic Development Corporation.

1997
The District of Campbell River Chief Administrative Officer took Council through a Core Services review that was focused on defining core or essential municipal services and non-essential municipal programs.

1998
Council's review identified the need for a revitalized economic development strategy. The work of the Economic Development Commission and the municipal department led to the identification of economic development strategies as a key deliverable in the 1999 Council program.

The Council program highlighted the need to merge Tourism Services into the economic development core service program. This led to the Economic Development Commission and department focusing on a new format for economic development, in addition to contributing steps towards the establishment of a Regional Tourism Management Organization for the North Central Island Region, called North Central Island Tourism (NCITO).

The Economic Development Commission and advisory group to the municipality, in association with the Campbell River & District Chamber of Commerce drew community organizations together to conduct the first Community Economic Development Forum for Campbell River.

The attendees of the forum organized themselves into the Campbell River Economic Development Organizations (CREDO), a coalition of more than 60 public and private sector organizations. The establishment of this independent economic development management company was a result of many years work by the business community, the Chamber of Commerce, the Municipal Economic Development Commission and the District of Campbell River.

The Economic Development Commission working with the Chamber of Commerce reviewed the operation and worked with council to come to the conclusion that a new way of working for Campbell River was needed.

2000
The work and recommendations by CREDO were completed in 2000 and resulted in Municipal Council's decision to close its internal Property & Economic Development Department within the District and pursue the private sector approach.

2001
The Mayor and members of council established a Municipal Task Force comprised of independent business people to bridge the transition from an internal department to a subsidiary Economic Development Corporation. They worked over a 3 month period starting January 1^st, 2001 to build a business plan and corporate structure for the company. After an approval by the Mayor and Council Members, April 1^st, 2001 was the start of the company called Rivercorp, registered as the "Campbell River Economic Development Corporation."

2005
Municipality was officially named the City of Campbell River on April 4^th, 2005

2007
After operating independent from the City of Campbell River, Rivercorp was focused on delivering services to retain and grow our Campbell River's local and regional advantages. Rivercorp's leadership navigated through a wide variety of public and private resources needed to support the focus, which was a key action for long term community sustainability.

An opportunity arose which allowed the role of Rivercorp and its value proposition to be reviewed and potentially expanded in a more purposeful manner for the City of Campbell River. There were a number of related or ancillary organizations that ran side by side with Rivercorp which had an impact on the economic viability of the service area.

The strategy by City Council was summarized as bringing Tourism Campbell River & Region (formerly NCITO), and the Campbell River Visitor Centre to work together under the Economic Development  umbrella known as Rivercorp. This vision was endorsed by council and approved by stakeholders.

Economic Development, Tourism Campbell River & Region and the Visitor Centre have been working together successfully ever since.