If Rowing Canada were to permanently move to Shawnigan Lake, it wouldn’t mean restricted access for other lake users.
That was the fear for the Shawnigan Residents Association.
A trio of organizations, the Victoria Rowing Society, Canadian Sport Institute and Shawnigan Lake School are working on a joint bid to convince Rowing Canada to move their National Training Centre to Shawnigan Lake.
Rowing Canada is the national governing body for the sport of rowing in Canada and they’ve been using Shawnigan Lake for training for 5 decades.
Rudy Massimo, Director of External Affairs for Shawnigan Lake School said restrictions on the lake are not even on the table in their bid, “To be absolutely crystal clear, Shawnigan Lake School is not asking for any waterway restrictions or any kind of restrictions on the uses of the lake. We value our relationship with the residents, we respect our residents, we’ve worked with them on a number of politicized issues in the past and would do nothing to disrupt that relationship and Rowing Canada feels the same way.”
They are not the only group vying to get Rowing Canada to the Cowichan Valley, the Municipality of North Cowichan is also responding to a request for proposals.
