November 2014 BCBusiness 77 bCbUSINeSS.CA
t r a v e l
that the Ucluelet first envisioned 50
years ago, master-planned in 2008
and finally instigated in 2010, with
self-governance that came with signing
the Maa-nulth Treaty that ended their
jurisdiction under the Indian Act.
The land—the traditional summer
settlements of the whaling Yuu-tluth-
aht people of which Touchie is a
descendant—stretches from Ucluelet
in the south up 15 kilometres of the
coastline to Wya Beach, on the south-
ern border of Pacific Rim National
Park Reserve.
It was here, at Wya Beach, that the
build-out started, says Touchie, with
a $2.5-million, 32-spot campsite with
rates starting at under $30. "We didn't
want the resort to only be for rich
people." Fifteen yurts were built a
year later, serving up forever views of
the Pacific from an area surrounded
by 1,200-year-old forests.
Around the same time as the
campsite and yurts opened, Touchie
added some of his own secret sauce to
the build-out, by way of the Wya Point
Surf Shop, currently run by his eldest
daughter. "I'm a late-blooming surfer.
I didn't start until my 30s," says the
44-year-old father of four, looking like
he's still in his 20s. "But we thought
that to matter in Tofino, we needed a
presence in the scene."
His most ambitious plan to date,
though, may be the opening of nine
luxury lodges, over the past year, that
are as impressive as any accommoda-
tion in Tofino.
The lodges are built on a
10,000-year-old whaling village, as
evidenced by millennia of discarded
shells called middens. "It was vital for
the luxury lodges to be gently placed
within a sacred, ancient coastline,"
says Touchie. "The elders didn't
want any excavation of any kind. Not
even trees removed. So we drilled in
columns that were not invasive. We
probed down and placed columns
where we didn't find anything."
But what really makes Tyson proud
is the ownership by his people. "Our
maintenance and housekeeping peo-
ple, they broke their backs working
in the local fish plants for years," he
says. "Now, with no formal customer
service training, they are raved about
on TripAdvisor reviews."
And soon, says Touchie, the lodges
will be joined by a spa, 650-seat con-
vention centre and luxury resort that
will rival the iconic Wickaninnish Inn.
"We're seeking investment partners
for the final push," says Touchie,
"but there's plenty to keep us busy
until the right opportunity to partner
comes along."
•
The organization
turned inward
for ideas when
designing the
luxury lodges.
"The elders
wanted to ensure
classic longhouse
integrity—the
long, interlocking
cedar beams and
high ceilings. But
our youth wanted
something more
modern, more
clean and sophis-
ticated," says
Touchie. The brief
was presented to
Vancouver archi-
tect Scott Kemp,
who designed
all the buildings
to LEED Plati-
num standards,
incorporating
local materials
and resources,
including locally
harvested wood.
Each lodge has
its own house
post (think inte-
rior totem pole)
designed by local
carver Clifford
George. •
l u x u r y m e e t s t r a d i t i o n
Wya Point luxury lodge.
