At the Sept. 23 meeting of the District of Barriere council, the Lower North Thompson Tourism Society representative, Lorne Richardson, spoke regarding the North Thompson Valley Tourism Plan 2013-14. This plan is one that was put together with the Community Tourism Foundation (CTF) and is the result of tourism planning discussions that were facilitated by Destination BC through the CTF program from October 2012 to March 2013. That process involved stakeholders from the entire North Thompson Valley from Sun Peaks to McBride, and build on past CTF community-based work and the Province’s McBride to Barriere Corridor Regional Economic Investment pilot.
This plan identifies five experience-based themes that are now shaping priorities and actions moving forward and are core to positioning the Thompson Okanagan as a region of iconic and authentic quality experiences. The five themes: identifying the iconic, enriching local flavours, revealing the story, expanding personal horizons, and building authenticity. Ultimately, the emphasis is put on projects and initiatives that impact on the entire North Thompson Valley and have the potential to strengthen the Valley as a corridor destination. The actions outlined in the plan are expected to be initiated in the coming 18 to 24 months, and the plan itself includes a 10 year tourism regional strategy. For a copy of the plan, go to the district’s website and download it, or speak to the district office about getting a hard copy.
In other business, council approved a motion to spend $1000 for the annual Halloween Fireworks display to be conducted by the Barriere Volunteer Fire Department on Oct. 31 at the Community Park ball diamonds.
A fair amount of time was spent by Council members going over a draft of the District of Barriere Council Policy Manual, specifically No. 23, regarding the use of vehicles for District business. Most changes to the draft were minor, such as the change or removal of a word. Most of the time revolved around one item, 14c, “transfers of animals must meet the requirements of an approved animal restraint as per WorkSafe BC legislation”. As of right now, the District does not deal with animals, regardless of whether they are cats, dogs, bears or other domestic or wildlife. The argument by the Mayor was that consequently, the policy should simply state that no animals be permitted in district vehicles at all. After a lengthy discussion regarding whether or not district employees should be permitted to have pets with them in their vehicles, the mayor proposed a motion to ban all animals from district vehicles - this was defeated as no other councillor would second the motion.
The next District of Barriere Council meeting will be on Oct. 7, at 7 p.m.