Economic development is about building a strong, resilient local economy where businesses can thrive and the community can grow sustainably. Through collaboration, advocacy, and strategic initiatives, we work to support existing businesses, attract new investment, strengthen the workforce, and improve the overall quality of life in our region. By fostering innovation, supporting entrepreneurship, and addressing key challenges such as housing, labour shortages, and infrastructure, we help create the conditions for long-term economic success for Fernie. Hover over the boxes below to find out more!
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
A STRATEGIC PROCESS TO IMPROVE ECONOMIC WELL-BEING AND QUALITY OF LIFE
What is Economic Development?
Economic development is about helping the local economy grow in a healthy and sustainable way. This can mean supporting small businesses, helping new businesses open, creating jobs, and making sure people can live and work in the community. It considers all aspects of the local economy for residents, tourists and businesses.
Why is Economic Development Important?
A strong local economy helps businesses succeed, creates good jobs, and supports services like shops, childcare, and recreation. It builds resilience and long-term economic diversity, which helps communities like Fernie adapt to change and plan for the future.
What Economic Development can look Like:
Economic development can take a wide range of avenues. It may look like anything from: helping entrepreneurs get started to supporting workforce housing, or attracting new employers. Revitalizing downtown areas, improving the relationships with our Indigenous communities, improving access to training, and advocating for policies that support local businesses and workers.
Economic Development at the Fernie Chamber
At the Fernie Chamber, Economic Development is at the core of everything that we do. It is an integrated priority and a strategic priority on its own.
We are currently working to develop and champion a financially sustainable model for a Fernie-centric economic development function.
Our goals are to:
- Educate on the meaning and value of having an economic development function.
- Participate in the Elk Valley Economic Initiative to support economic development regionally and partner on collaborative initiatives.
- Collaborate with the Regional District of East Kootenay to enact the Economic Development Service Bylaw, establishing a dedicated economic development function for the East Kootenay subregion.
- Advocate for the City of Fernie to provide core funding for a Fernie economic development function.
- Expand the Chamber’s economic development function by increasing capacity and capability to better deliver economic development initiatives to the community.
WHAT WE'RE WORKING ON:
By securing recurring annual funding, a Chamber-led Economic Development role can be established. This role will support the delivery of focused, community-driven economic development services in Fernie and help to make our town a better place to live and work.
Data collected from the 2025Business Walk reflects the current state, challenges and needs of businesses and business owners in Fernie. This information is used to reinforce the position of the business community when advocating for policy changes, development and future planning.
Housing challenges were identified as second-highest issue impacting employee retention in the 2025 Business Walk. The Fernie Chamber has developed an investor-ready business plan to help attract investors to build workforce-specific housing, reducing the strain for employers.
The Fernie Chamber is working diligently to establish a formal and collaborative body to unify and amplify the voice of Fernie’s downtown business community. Many downtown businesses face shared challenges – unpredictable foot traffic, shifting travel patterns, political and economic uncertainty, and the ongoing pressures of operating in a seasonal mountain town. While these issues are complex, a unified forum for discussion, coordination, and advocacy is a critical first step in addressing them.
The ‘WorkInFernie’ workforce attraction website is an online job and housing board created and administered by the Fernie Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with Tourism Fernie. This initiative was developed by the Fernie Chamber of Commerce with seed funding provided by the Government of British Columbia in 2019.
WorkInFernie.com can be used to find a job or housing, or to post an available job or housing. The website is monitored for new listings daily, and all posts are vetted for authenticity.
The Fernie Chamber is a voting member of the Elk Valley Economic Initiative (EVEI). The purpose of the Elk Valley Economic Initiative (EVEI) is to collaboratively pursue regional economic development projects and initiatives in the Elk Valley to expand opportunities for existing businesses, attract new ones, and diversify existing businesses. The EVEI works to champion, support and articulate opportunities for projects and initiatives, while creating a network and increasing communication among individuals or organizations involved in the region’s economic development.
The British Columbia Economic Development Association (BCEDA) is the premier professional association for economic development practitioners in the Province of British Columbia. With a membership exceeding 500 individuals from communities throughout the province, BCEDA offers a comprehensive range of services aimed at fostering the growth and expansion of businesses, attracting new investments, and driving strategic infrastructure investment, land use planning, and community enhancement.
The EVEI is an economic development partnership between eight voting members representing the whole Elk Valley. The purpose of the EVEI is to collaboratively develop regional economic development projects and initiatives in the Elk Valley towards the improvement of the region’s economy.
The Joint Economic Development Initiative (JEDI) refers to the Ministry of Jobs and Economic Growth in British Columbia, which is responsible for managing government services that support the province’s
economy. Regional Economic Operations staff work directly with local governments, Indigenous communities, businesses and economic development agencies to build economic development capacity, support business retention and expansion, and facilitate development of key sectors in rural BC.
The BC Government has great resources to learn more about Economic Development, what it is, who is responsible, and planning within your community.