“It has been worth the wait.”
Those words from Osoyoos Indian Band Chief Clarence Louie summed up the feelings of most in attendance Monday morning when British Columbia Premier Christy Clark confirmed the OIB’s site at the Senkulmen Enterprise Park seven kilometres north of Oliver had been selected as the site for a new correctional facility for the South Okanagan.
When it was first announced the provincial government was looking at the possibility of opening a new jail somewhere in the South Okanagan more than five years ago, many communities initially shied away with a severe case of Not in My Back Yard syndrome.
However, most changed their mind over the past couple of years when it was revealed just how safe the provincial correctional facilities are and just how much economic impact they can have on a region.
Any facility, be it a jail or not, that can create 1,000 direct and indirect jobs during a three or four-year construction phase and another 250 full-time, permanent, big paying jobs once in operation, is something that just can’t be ignored.
It took a visionary organization like the OIB, led by the highly-respected Louie, to lead the charge and ensure it was in the running. At the end of a detailed an comprehensive review, Clark and local MLA John Slater made it very clear the OIB site was the best choice.
As Osoyoos Mayor Stu Wells stated so eloquently after Monday’s announcement, the economic impact of this announcement is going to be felt in Osoyoos and across the South Okanagan for generations to come.
Wells wasn’t exaggerating when he called the new correctional facilities one of the single-most important economic development projects in the history of the region.
“This is the biggest thing the South Okanagan has seen in such a long time,” said Wells. “It’s just going to provide a real shot in the arm economically and a real boost of energy to the entire area.”
Threats of the closure of Osoyoos Secondary School and the medical centre in Oliver has been running rampant for the past several years, but the construction and eventual opening of this correctional facility is going to go a long way to easing the tension and ensuring more young families move to the Osoyoos-Oliver area for years to come.
The OIB has enjoyed enormous success for many years now, but having a project this size and with this scope that will benefit so many people over such an extended period of time is historic.
A lot of people worked very hard to ensure the OIB site would be selected for the new correctional facility and all of them should be beaming with pride over a job well done.
This was indeed a historic announcement and historic day for the Osoyoos and Oliver areas and the benefits of this correctional facility are going to last for decades.
