The Regional District of Nanaimo has agreed to co-host the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities annual general meeting and convention in 2025.
After successfully co-hosting in the conference with the City of Nanaimo in 2023, the AVICC has requested the RDN and the City of Nanaimo stage the event next year in April and to continue hosting it every two years after 2025.
The RDN board received the AVICC invitation at its regular meeting on March 26 and discussed the event.
“The AVICC has grown to such size now that there’s only two communities, literally, that can properly host, provide accommodation, one is Victoria and one is Nanaimo,” said City of Nanaimo director and Mayor Leonard Krog. “And the proposal is that in future we would swap back and forth. And if I can offer any comfort to the good citizens of the regional district, and just as I did to the citizens of Nanaimo, in terms of contemplating cost as a host city, essentially you will not have a substantial cost.”
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Krog explained that the RDN sends directors to the AVICC conference every alternate year and will attend the event this year in Victoria.
Krog made a successful motion that the RDN co-host the AVICC AGM with the City of Nanaimo in April in 2025. The RDN’s share of co-hosting the conference is estimated to be $21,345.
Parksville director Doug O’Brien also supported the staging of the event and to formally make it official the RDN host it every two years.
“I think it’s a great idea,” he said.