Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island is separated from mainland British Columbia by the Strait of Georgia and the Queen Charlotte Strait, and from Washington State by the Juan De Fuca Strait.

Vancouver Island is located off Canada's Pacific coast and is part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. At 32,134 square kilometers (12,407 square miles), it is the largest island on the western side of the Americas. As of 2002, Vancouver Island had an estimated population of 750,000. Slightly less than half of these (326,000) live in Victoria, British Columbia. Other major cities on Vancouver Island include Nanaimo, Port Alberni, Parksville, Courtenay, and Campbell River.

History

Native Settlement and Culture

The island has been inhabited by humans for some eight thousand years. By the late 1700s, the primary tribes on the island were the Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka) on the west coast, the Salish on the south and east coasts, and the Kwakiutl in the centre of the island and the north. The Salish are the largest of these three native tribes.

Before the arrival and exploration of Europeans, the native peoples of Vancouver Island enjoyed plentiful supplies of food: deer, bear, elk and mountain goat, seals, and bountiful quantities of fish and shellfish to be found on the coasts. Edible fruits including several varieties of berries, bulbs and other plants supplemented the native peoples diets. One of the most central components of the diet was pacific salmon which were eaten fresh or preserved smoked and dried. Since food sources were usually in abundance, the native peoples of this region had the time to develop their culture through the beautiful arts, crafts, storytelling, music, and religious and social traditions for which they have become famous today as Northwest Coast First Nations tribes. Carvings of tower-like totem poles and ceremonial masks depict different symbols from the legends of a particular tribe or family group. The symbols used in these carvings are usually the depictions of well known creatures such as the salmon, beaver, bear, wolf, raven, orca whale or frog.

The early native peoples who lived on this island had an intimate relationship with the land and sea around them. The abundance of western redcedar and yellow-cedar trees were an especially important resource for the aboriginal tribes of Vancouver Island and throughout the Pacific Northwest. The trunks of the cedar were used for building homes, canoes and totems. The bark of the cedar could be softend to be used for clothing and blankets and woven and twisted to make durable baskets, rope, mats, and other materials for use in their homes. Rain repellant robes, hats and capes were made from the soft and fine fibres of the yellow-cedar. With the diversity of plant life on Vancouver Island many medicinal uses for plants could also be found. Native traditional medicine was linked to spiritual beliefs and plant medicines were regarded with reverence and appreciation; often their collection and use involved special prayers, ceremonies, and rituals. From the surrounding ocean, beyond the edible use of seaweeds and shellfish, the shells of abalone and dentalium were gathered for other uses. Dentalium, a straight toothlike snail shell, was gathered by Aboriginal peoples of Vancouver Island and used as a valued trading item with other tribes, sometimes through the Hudson's Bay Company acting as middleman. First Nations tribes of the Pacific Northwest prized the dentalia shells for decoration of ceremonial clothing, embellishments of carved artwork, and for personal adornment. On the mainland as far east as the First Nations of the great plains, dentalium was a precious commodity as an emblem of wealth and nobility.

First Nations peoples on Vancouver Island had much the same experience of other native American peoples throughout Canada and the United States from the beginning of contact several centuries ago. Initially white Europeans traded with the First Nations, however, as explorers began to realize the vast untapped resources of the New World, the lure of wealth and power pitted European nations interests against each other and often these powers went to war with the First Nations themselves. Spain and Britain were the main countries interested and competing for land on Vancouver Island. Europeans were not concerned about the fate of the native peoples as they encroached more and more on the island. Missionaries arrived bringing Christianity and western European culture. The native peoples ways and traditions were viewed by whites as primitive at best and over time First Nations peoples were encouraged and even forced to abandon their religious traditions and to assimiliate to the white culture. The manner in which this was done has been a blight on the history of the native peoples and european white peoples since the two cultures and races have met. The government of Canada and the province of British Columbia have been negotiating new treaties with First Nations Peoples in order begin a process of reconcilation for the past losses of language, culture and abuses of the native people, notably through the separation of families through the Indian Residential Schools. Native children were required by the Canadian government to leave their homes and families to be Christianized and educated in the ways of the white culture. On November 20, 2005 a "settlement package" was agreed upon by the First Nations and the Canadian national government to begin a process toward healing in the First Nations communities as a result of policies and practices by the white government to dismantle First Nations family culture and self governence. On Vancouver Island the Cowichan tribe is one example of a first nation that is going ahead with other negotiations and new treaty work on the provincial level with the government of British Columbia to address issues such as traditional lands claims (archeological and burial sites), uses of water and timber resources and traditional livelihood programs (shellfish aquaculture projects).

Wherever one travels throughout Vancouver Island the First Nations unique heritage and legacies are evident. Native museums, crafts and arts, and cultural events are all available to the public throughout the island. Powwows are events that aboriginal people gather for celebrations of song, dance and drumming and dance competition. Powwows are often public events to which non-tribal people may attend. Another important social event that takes place in Aboriginal communities is the Potlatch. Potlatch is a ceremony which unites families in marriage, where children may be named, reconciliations take place, tribal values are taught, and wealth and gifts are to be shared.

European Exploration

Europeans began to encroach on the island in 1774, when rumours of Russian fur traders caused the Spanish to send a ship, the Santiago, north under the command of Juan José Pérez Hernández. In 1775 a second Spanish expedition, under Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, was sent. Neither actually landed.

Vancouver Island came to the attention of the wider world after the third voyage of Captain James Cook, who landed at Nootka Sound of the Island's western shore in 1778 and claimed it for the United Kingdom. The island's rich fur trading potential led the British East India Company to set up a single-building trading post in the native village of Yuquot on Nootka Island, a small island in the Sound.

The island was further explored by Spain in 1789 by Esteban José Martínez, who built Fort San Miguel on one of Vancouver Island's small offshore islets in the Sound near Yuquot. This was to be the only Spanish settlement in what would later be Canada. The Spanish began seizing British ships and the two nations came close to war, but the issues were resolved peacefully in favour of the British with the Nootka Convention in 1792. Coordinating the handover was Captain George Vancouver, who had sailed as a midshipman with Cook and from whom the island gained its name.

British Settlement

The first British settlement on the island was a Hudson's Bay Company post, Fort Camosun, founded in 1843, and later renamed Fort Victoria. Shortly thereafter, in 1846, the Oregon Treaty was signed by the British and Americans to settle the question of the Oregon Territory borders. It awarded all of Vancouver Island to the British, despite a portion of the island lying south of the 49th parallel. Fort Victoria became an important base during the Fraser Gold Rush. In 1849 the crown Colony of Vancouver Island was created with the burgeoning town of Victoria as it's capital and later retained that status as the provincial capital of British Columbia when the mainland Colony of British Columbia and the Colony of Vancouver Island were amalgamated in 1866. A British naval base was established at Esquimalt, British Columbia in 1865, and eventually taken over by the Canadian military.

Economy

Cities of Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island's economy outside Victoria is largely dominated by the forestry industry, with tourism and fishing also playing a large role. Many of the logging operations are for paper pulp, in "2nd growth" tree farms that are harvested approximately every 30 years. In recent years the government of British Columbia has engaged in an advertising program to draw more tourists to beach resorts such as Tofino.

Logging operations involving old-growth forests such as those found on Clayoquot Sound are controversial and have gained international attention through the efforts of activists and environmental organizations.

Between Vancouver Island and the Canadian mainland there are several AC and DC high-voltage power cables.

Transportation

Marine Transportation

Marine transportation is very important to Vancouver Island because it is separated by water from the mainland of British Columbia and Washington State. There are no bridges connecting the island to the mainland. The only vehicle access to Vancouver Island is via ferries; there are six vehicle ferry routes:

BC Ferries

• Tswassen BC (38 km south of Vancouver) - Swartz Bay B.C.E. (32 km north of Victoria)

• Tswassen BC - Duke Point BC (13 km south of Nanaimo)

• Horseshoe Bay B.C.E. (20 km northwest of Vancouver) - Departure Bay B.C.E. (3 km north of Nanaimo)

• Powell River BC - Comox BC

Washington State Ferry

• Anacortes WA - Sidney B.C.E.

Black Ball Transport

• Port Angeles WA - Victoria BC

In addition, there are four passenger-only ferry services from the mainland to Vancouver Island:

• Downtown Vancouver BC - Nanaimo BC

• Seattle WA - Victoria BC

• Port Angeles WA - Victoria BC (operates May through September)

• Bellingham WA - Victoria BC (operates one trip per day May through October)

Rail Transportation

The last remaining rail service on Vancouver Island is ViaRail's Malahat, a tourist passenger train service operating on the E&N Railway between Victoria and Courtenay. The E&N operated rail freight services on Vancouver Island, carrying forest products, coal, chemical and general freight from 1886 until 2001, when freight services ended.

External links

• Photos of Vancouver Island community of Sooke

Credits

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