When the Canada Line rapid transit project, (between Richmond’s Vancouver International Airport and downtown Vancouver) began, a decision was made to keep neighbouring residents, businesses and other stakeholders informed about the project’s progress.

To do so, Pace Group was brought in to officially launch the Canada Line’s public information office with a weekend open house. We also handled media relations for Canada Line news conferences to announce a new joint marketing campaign with merchants along the project’s route, as well as the unveiling of the first renderings of the trains to be used and the official announcement that the RAV project would be dubbed the “Canada Line.”

In the pre-construction phase, Pace Group’s expertise in community outreach was called upon to gather contact information from residents and businesses near the Canada Line route. A door-to-door canvassing campaign three blocks on either side of the Canada Line corridor was organized and carried out by Pace Group, so that progress reports and information updates could be sent directly to local residents and businesses.

Later in the project, we planned and organized public tours of the construction zone, which included lunch bucket gift kits for children and toy versions of heavy machinery being used to construct the Canada line.
During the holiday season, we also closed a portion of Cambie Street for a family-themed “Christmas on Cambie” celebration that engaged the public and provided merchants with free exhibit space at the event.

Throughout the construction period, the goal was to demonstrate the project’s commitment to the community and neighbourhoods along the route, provide opportunities for public input, reduce any criticisms, and create opportunities to provide the public with information on the understanding that the more information is provided, the broader the public support will be.