“For 200 years the Tsawwassen First Nation was a welfare state, but no longer.”

Those were the words of Chris Hartman, head of the nation’s economic development
corporation, who spoke to the South Delta Probus Club late last year.

Hartman spoke of an expected 5,600 permanent retail and warehouse jobs on Tsawwassen’s treaty settlement lands. The nation’s joint ventures and long-term land leases in retail, industrial and housing could bring in up to $14 million in tax revenues and 6,000 new residents.

Revenues from the recently opened Tsawwassen Mills and the Tsawwassen Commons, housing developments and the Deltaport Logistics Centre all contribute to the nation’s infrastructure improvements.

Work has begun on the logistics hub that will be able to house over four million square feet of state-of-the-art intermodal, goods-handling, light manufacturing, warehousing and distribution services.

He also talked about the future of Splashdown waterpark that closed at the end of last summer. A prediction he made at the Probus meeting came true in early January when a hotel complex was announced for the site. It will include a new waterslide.

He also explained how Tsawwassen members, who are all shareholders, receive dividend cheques, but will lose their tax-exempt status in a few years and start paying income tax. However, some shareholders have considered investing in some of the best dividend stocks uk to supplement this loss of income. They’re already used to dividends and how they work so it could be a great investment venture for them. Hartman added that through career training, preferential hiring and self-employment assistance, members are being given the tools to succeed in the long term.