The Rural Islands Economic Partnership (RIEP) is a grassroots organization born out of the first Rural Islands Economic Forum, held in 2019. RIEP was officially incorporated as a registered BC Society on January 30, 2020.
Previously, there was no formal channel for rural island community voices to unite for information, communications, planning, and advocacy. Now RIEP has become a means for cultivating enduring rural island-wide economic partnerships, in collaboration with Indigenous communities, to ensure economic resilience and generate long-term prosperity without depleting natural or social resources.
OUR PURPOSE:
RIEP serves to empower British Columbia's rural islands and remote coastal communities by honouring reconciliation and by collaborating and convening to share information, resources and opportunities. We network, we advocate, we support, and we take action to achieve enduring socio-economic well-being together
OUR REACH:
- 18+ rural islands of BC: including: Bowen, Broughton Archipelago, Cormorant, Cortes, Denman, Gabriola, Galiano, Gambier, Hornby, Lasqueti, Malcolm, Mayne, Pender, Quadra, Salt Spring, Saturna, Texada, Thetis
- Rural and remote coastal communities – from Port Hardy to Tofino, Sayward to Sechelt, and Ladysmith to Sooke
- Indigenous communities with traditional and reserve lands located in these coastal areas
OUR LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK: N•A•S•A•A
- N — Network: Re-connecting and making new connections.
- A — Advocate: Raising awareness, influencing, educating, and promoting policies to meet the essential needs of BC's rural coastal communities.
- S — Support: Learn about innovative solutions and opportunities for advancing inclusive regenerative local economies.
- A — Activate: Utilizing our shared knowledge, resources, and perspectives for taking actionable steps towards good change.
- A — Achieve Enduring Well-being: Building our organizational strength and financial health to sustain our work.
OUR VALUES
- Sustainable Stewardship: Combining environmental responsibility with the organization's dedication respect of the planet's limits and fostering sustainability in all aspects. This value encapsulates engaging in regenerative community economic capacity building all underpinned by a commitment to safeguarding the environment for future generations.
- Community Empowerment: Reflecting the values of community focus, inclusivity, and the importance of relationships, this core value emphasizes the organization's drive to empower communities through advocacy, support, and enabling access to resources. It includes the behavior of cultivating enduring partnerships and advocating for beneficial change, ensuring that community needs and well-being are at the forefront.
- Reconciliation and Inclusivity: Merging the values of respect, inclusivity, and embracing reconciliation, this value highlights the commitment to acknowledging, respecting, and integrating Indigenous wisdom and practices. It focuses on creating accessible and inclusive programs that are embedded with the principles of reconciliation, fostering an environment where diverse voices are heard and valued.
- Integrity and Accountability: This value combines accountability, transparency, trustworthiness, and responsibility, emphasizing the organization's commitment to ethical practices, open communication, and fiscal responsibility. It underscores the importance of being answerable to the communities served, maintaining democratic governance, and ensuring that actions align with stated values and goals.
- Innovative Collaboration: Encompassing innovation, collaboration, and the drive to be inspiring and influential, this core value stresses the importance of working together across sectors and communities to foster creative solutions and wisdom-based decision-making. It highlights the organization's dedication to bold, visionary leadership and the cultivation of interconnected partnerships for achieving impactful, positive change.
Note: The Rural Islands Values Framework, established in 2022, incorporates the Doughnut Economics Model as a framework for communities to achieve a balance between the needs of people, while also protecting the Earth's life supporting systems.
OUR CONSTITUTION
For the rural islands and rural remote coastal communities of BC, cultivate enduring partnerships that ensure community economic resilience, and generates long-term prosperity without depleting natural or social capital.
This may include:
- Exploration and implementation of financial models to achieve this goal;
- Facilitation of communications and information sharing to build capacity and collaboration;
- Advocacy, promotion and support of community economic resilience on behalf of the rural islands and rural remote coastal communities of BC
2025-26 Board of Directors
Francine’s motto: “If not now, when, if not me, who?
Francine Carlin moved to British Columbia in 1999, and with a background in communications, organizational development and change management she established the Business Harmonizer Group, supporting family-owned businesses across Canada and the USA as a certified Family Business Advisor. Soon after moving to Salt Spring Island in 2008, Francine’s interest in business continuity led her to join the Salt Spring Community Economic Sustainability Commission (CESC), where she co-led the ground breaking Rural Business Accelerator program and co-founded the Southern Gulf Islands Tourism Partnership.
Throughout her tenure as CESC Chair, Francine championed a strategic approach to building community economic development. Expanding beyond Salt Spring, she led the successful call to include the Southern Gulf Island Region – the rural islands of Galiano, Mayne, Pender, Salt Spring and Saturna – into the scope of the Islands Coastal Economic Trust (ICET). In 2020, along with like-minded islanders, Francine co-founded the Rural Island Economic Partnership Society (RIEP) to further the economic resilience of BC’s rural islands by connecting as a community, sharing ideas, and working together to achieve local socio-economic goals sustainably.
Maria’s motto: “Success is being happy with who you are, and helping to create opportunity and success for others.”
Maria likes to joke about how she peaked early in life by winning a baby beauty contest, but her sustained commitment to creating positive impact throughout her adult life—personally and professionally—suggests otherwise.
Maria holds a joint BA in psychology and business, a diploma in accounting, a certificate in municipal governance, and numerous coaching certifications, including as a professional certified coach with the International Coaching Federation. Maria considers herself fortunate to have had opportunities in her career to strengthen her expertise in administration, project and event coordination, personal and organizational development, culture change and human resources management.
Her passion for people and community began her next career trajectory of coaching people and teams on their personal and professional leadership journeys. Her consultancy ChangeWorks Coaching and Consulting provides people, teams and organizations the skills to create deep, values-aligned, sustained change.
A Gabriola resident since 2016, Maria currently works as the Interim Executive Director for the Gabriola Island Chamber of Commerce, and also sits on the Board as VP. Being involved with RIEP fills a particular interest for Maria — regional representation for BC’s rural islands. “Island collaboration makes anything and everything possible” she has said. Maria's participation in REIP was sparked in part by seeing other RIEP Board members bring their own strengths and contributions to the table to create positive change.
Marc’s motto: “When the big picture becomes overwhelming, look down and just do the next thing.”
A committed community builder who has worn many hats in his life—including teacher, realtor, and community organizer—Marc co-founded Foot Forward Forest Farm, a 40-acre regenerative farm on Quadra Island, in 2017 with his wife Jennifer. Along with their twin daughters, Marc and Jennifer have developed a reputation for producing a variety of quality products from their pasture-raised animals.
Marc brings over 30 years of board experience to RIEP, including current board roles with the Quadra Foundation and the Quadra Island Recreation Society; Marc is also a Volunteer Firefighter for the Quadra Island Fire Department.
Marc believes so many of the challenges we face are ubiquitous to all the islands in the Salish Sea, and that only by working together will we be able to find solutions. As a Marc is proud of his newly-forged involvement with RIEP: "The need for an interconnected community in the trying times ahead inspires my volunteer energy!"
Pat’s motto: “Do no harm.”
Pat joined the RIEP Board following his retirement from the Mount Waddington Regional District, where he served as Manager of Economic Development for nearly 10 years.
In a career that spans a decade with the Ministry of Economic Development, as well as experience as an economic and business development consultant, and a developer of motor inns and restaurants in northern BC, Pat understands many of the problems rural communities face, often arising from small scale, lack of resources and cost barriers associated with their remote locations.
Pat believes collaboration makes it possible for separate communities to share problems and develop common solutions for the betterment of all. "Partnerships represent a constituency large to capture the attention of senior political and administrative representatives who can champion solutions." We look forward to working with Pat to cultivate coastal community partnerships!
Gail’s Motto: I make positive things happen!
A dedicated community economic development practitioner, Gail has called Sooke, British Columbia home for the past four years, currently serving as the District of Sooke's Community Economic Development Manager.
Gail brings 38 years of public and private sector community economic development experience across BC and Alberta to RIEP. She holds a Business Administration and Personnel Management certificates from the University of Calgary's Management Program, along with an Economic Development Certification from the University of Waterloo and a Community Economic Development Professional Certification from BCEDA.
Gail’s career is grounded in a natural ability to connect people, projects, and programs to create innovative, sustainable solutions that deliver greater benefits for all. Drawn to RIEP’s pragmatic, no-nonsense commitment to ensuring no community is left behind, she believes that collaboration across rural, island, and coastal regions is the key to unlocking meaningful change—improving quality of life while deepening respect for local peoples, cultures, and our shared environment.
Vitaliy's Motto: Maximize every moment with purpose, passion, and meaningful work.
Vitaliy brings over 20 years of experience in community economic development, business support, food security, and education to his work with rural-coastal communities. Now living in Sooke, BC, he holds a BA in Economics along with graduate degrees in public administration, business, law, and education from universities in the US and Ukraine.
Currently, Vitaliy works as the Economic Development Program Lead for MÁLEXEŁ (Malahat Nation) in Mill Bay, helping Nation members build lasting growth and positioning Malahat as a regional leader in economic innovation. This role builds on nine years with the international nonprofit Global Communities, where he led $17 million in recovery and development programs across 103 municipalities in Ukraine and Poland.
Drawn to RIEP by its meaningful impact and deep commitment to rural-coastal regions, Vitaliy is excited to help shape RIEP’s renewed strategic plan. He brings this same energy to his home community as Treasurer and Board member for the Sooke Region Food CHI Society, a volunteer with clean-energy marine transit initiatives, and a business development consultant for Vosino Co-op Cafe.
At his core, Vitaliy believes in creating strong local economies where businesses grow, workers build skills, and new ventures put down lasting roots.
