Project Investment:

• Island Coastal Economic Trust: $17,000
• Total Budget: $34,000

Project Highlight:

The 'Linking Quatsino to its Ocean Highway' Project will establish two permanent public marine access sites in the remote, boat-access-only community of Quatsino on Quatsino Sound. These sites will provide critical transportation infrastructure that supports community access, logistics, service delivery, and the local tourism economy.

Quatsino is a historic coastal community with approximately 20 year-round residential properties, 50 seasonal homes, four fishing lodges, and a growing number of home-based businesses. For decades, community barge and boat access has relied on privately owned properties. With the recent sale of the current access site, the community faced the risk of losing reliable marine access essential for daily life and economic activity.

The project will create publicly accessible, environmentally assessed, engineered, and approved marine access points, including:

• A public barge ramp for loading and unloading vehicles, freight, and heavy equipment
• A public boat launch ramp connecting users to existing public wharf facilities for launching and haul-outs

The new public access points will improve the movement of goods and services, support tourism operators and local businesses, and help maintain essential community operations such as waste haul-out, construction supply delivery, and emergency access.

The Trust is investing in this project through the Capital and Innovation funding program, focusing on the Trust’s priority to develop Transportation and Logistics projects.

Wellbeing Impact

The Trust invests in projects using a Wellbeing Impact Framework that looks beyond traditional economic metrics. This approach evaluates how each investment strengthens economic prosperity, cultural vitality, climate resilience, and social empowerment. By focusing on outcomes that matter to people and place, the Trust works to spur new investments that create meaningful, lasting benefits across Vancouver Island and the coast.

By securing permanent public infrastructure, this project will reduce uncertainty for residents and businesses while strengthening the community’s ability to grow and adapt over time.

Economic Prosperity 

This project strengthens the local economy by:

• Realizing $34,000 of new investment in remotely-located Quatsino from diverse sources including the regional district, local residents association, community donations, and Island Coastal Trust
• Enabling the development of three new businesses
• Strengthening six partnerships that support marine access, tourism, service delivery, and community connectivity
• Improving access for tourism and marine-based economic activity

Social Empowerment

The project supports social empowerment through:

• Creation of five temporary jobs
• Creation of eight seasonal jobs connected to tourism, marine transportation, and service-based economic activity
• Contribution of approximately 100 volunteer hours by community members supporting project coordination and implementation

Climate Resiliency

The project contributes to climate resiliency by:

• Establishing environmentally assessed marine infrastructure
• Utilizing a low-impact design that does not require additional supporting infrastructure or services