Victoria Rising

This Victoria Rising profile highlights Dr. Sienna Bourdon, who knows what it’s like to be an Islander. She grew up on Vancouver Island and attended medical school in Victoria at the Island Medical Program before leaving for Ontario to do her residency in family medicine. Today, Dr. Bourdon is the Medical Director and family physician at Shoreline Medical Society in Brentwood Bay, a seaside community in Greater Victoria. “As a family physician, I could work probably anywhere in the world," says Dr. Bourdon. "I've never seriously thought about working anywhere other than Greater Victoria. It feels like home here. It feels like community. It just provides that opportunity to be able to be a human being — and not a human doing.” Find out more about why Dr. Bourdon chooses to live and thrive in Greater Victoria in her full profile: https://lnkd.in/grwBXv9V #victoriarising #greatervictoria #healthcare

In one of our recent Riser videos for Victoria Rising we feature Carla Sorrell and Will Sorrell, two creative industry leaders who left behind London, U.K.’s vibrant design scene and a hectic pace to design a new life in Victoria, where Carla had grown up. “It was scary because we were leaving our identity,” says Carla. But Victoria was the perfect home to pursue their careers and creative ideas. Today, Carla is the managing editor of Gray, an international design magazine, and Will is Canada’s national director of the Interior Design Show (IDS). They have also launched Design Victoria, an annual four-day festival with special exhibitions, open houses and events created by local designers and design businesses. “[Victoria] had changed a lot since I left 15 years before,” says Carla. “There [are now] a lot more reasons for young people to stay here and all kinds of interesting careers. There's a ton of artists, there's a ton of designers. The dynamic of what's happening here has changed a lot.” “The city is undergoing massive transformation at the moment,” says Will. And design, says Carla, is going to play a really big part in shaping it.

"When it comes to liveability in Canada, BC’s capital city continues to impress. City of Victoria BC has been named the third most liveable city in Canada for 2024, according to The Globe and Mail‘s annual Canada’s Most Liveable Cities rankings." - Daily Hive https://lnkd.in/g9PqJmWH

The COAST (Centre for Ocean Applied Sustainable Technologies) Ocean Innovation Hub, a South Island Prosperity Partnership initiative in the City of Victoria BC's Innovation District, is home to a dynamic cluster of ocean-related companies contributing to Pacific Canada’s blue economy.

Did you know Victoria Rising provides community profiles breaking down business assets and opportunities for each municipality? Whether highlighting bustling tech hubs like City of Victoria BC or the maritime charm of the Town of Sidney, these communities are vibrant examples of how diverse industries shape the region’s growth. https://lnkd.in/g5vzgm9C

Condé Nast Traveler has spent the last 37 years asking readers where they found the friendliest locals in their travels. According to the most recent survey findings, the City of Victoria BC is the world's friendliest city. https://lnkd.in/ds6ZygHX

Victoria's innovation district looking extra colourful on a rainy Friday! Photo by Kerry Slavens By South Island Prosperity Partnership #victoriarising City of Victoria BC

"Two renowned restaurants in the Greater Victoria area, one well-established and the other relatively new, have been named in OpenTable’s ‘Top 100 Restaurants in Canada for 2024’. The two lucky Greater Victoria restaurants that made this year’s list are Ugly Duckling, located in downtown Victoria, and The Butchart Gardens Dining Room in Brentwood Bay." https://lnkd.in/g8J9yxJe

"According to BC Check-Up: Work, an annual report by the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (CPABC) on labour market trends across the province, there were 243,200 Greater Victoria residents working in September 2024, up 6.2 per cent from one year earlier." https://lnkd.in/gCVv2gDc

Magnetic to entrepreneurs and artists alike, Victoria is Canada’s Creative Capital where ideas come to life. Dreamers become doers in a city small enough to get things done; big enough to get things done globally. Businesses like Ecologyst, located in the Powerhouse building, showcase this energy as one of Victoria’s premiere maker businesses. We do it our way, the sustainable way.