British Columbia
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British Columbia, or simply B.C. or BC (French: Colombie-Britannique, C.-B.), is the westernmost of Canada's provinces, famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu (Splendour Without Diminishment). It was the sixth province to join Confederation (in 1871). As of 2005, the population estimate is 4,220,000 (British Columbians).
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Geography
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British Columbia is bordered by the Pacific Coast on its west, by the American state of Alaska on its Northwest, and to the north by the Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories, on the east by the province of Alberta, and on the south by the states of Washington, Idaho, and Montana. The current southern border of British Columbia was established by the 1846 Oregon Treaty, although its history is tied up with lands as far south as the Columbia River.
British Columbia's capital is Victoria, located at the southeastern tip of Vancouver Island. BC's most populous city is Vancouver, located in southwest corner of the BC mainland called the Lower Mainland. Other major cities include Surrey, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Richmond, Delta, and New Westminster in the Lower Mainland; Abbotsford and Langley in the Fraser Valley; Nanaimo on Vancouver Island; and Kelowna and Kamloops in the Interior. Prince George is the major city nearest the centre of the province; however, a small town called Vanderhoof, 100 km to the west, is much nearer to the geographic centre.
The Canadian Rockies and the Inside Passage's many inlets provide some of British Columbia's renowned and spectacular scenery, which forms the backdrop and context for a growing outdoor adventure and ecotourism industry. The Okanagan area is one of only three wine-growing regions in Canada and also produces excellent ciders, but exports little of either drink. The small rural towns of Penticton, Oliver, and Osoyoos have some of the warmest and longest summer climates in Canada.
Much of Vancouver Island is covered by temperate rain forest, one of a mere handful of such ecosystems in the world (notable others being on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington and in Chile and Tasmania). The province's mainland has snowy, cold winters, especially in the north. The coast and Vancouver Island are temperate in many places, where the climate is moderated by the Pacific Ocean. In the interior, summer temperatures can be quite warm, even notably hot and there are large semi-arid areas and a few localities classifiable as pocket deserts, including the towns of Osoyoos and Lillooet. There is more than one spot in British Columbia that has recorded peak summer temperatures of 43.3 °C (110 °F) and an ongoing rivalry exists between the Fraser Canyon towns of Lytton and Lillooet for the title of "Canada's Hot Spot".
| Municipality | 2001 | 1996 |
|---|---|---|
| Vancouver | 545,671 | 514,008 |
| Surrey | 347,825 | 304,477 |
| Burnaby | 193,954 | 179,209 |
| Richmond | 164,345 | 148,867 |
| Abbotsford | 115,463 | 104,403 |
| Coquitlam | 112,890 | 101,820 |
| Saanich | 103,654 | 101,388 |
| Delta | 96,950 | 95,411 |
| Kelowna | 96,288 | 89,422 |
| Langley Township | 86,896 | 80,179 |
History
Pre-Confederation
The discovery of stone tools on the Beatton River near Fort St. John date human habitation in British Columbia to at least 11,500 years ago. The First Nations population spread throughout the region, mostly on the coast, where aboriginals achieved the highest density of any place in Canada. At the time of European contact, nearly half the aboriginal people in present-day Canada lived in BC.
The explorations of James Cook and George Vancouver in the 1770s, and the concessions of Spain in the 1790s established British jurisdiction over the coastal area north and west of the Columbia River. In 1793, Sir Alexander Mackenzie was the first European to journey across North America overland to the Pacific Ocean, inscribing a stone marking his accomplishment alongside the Dean Channel near Bella Coola. His expedition, soon followed by those of others, established British sovereignty inland. Mackenzie and these other explorers — notably John Finlay, Simon Fraser, Samuel Black, and David Thompson — were primarily concerned with extending the fur trade, rather than political considerations. Their establishment of trading posts under the auspices of the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), however, effectively established a permanent British presence in the region. These early posts would grow into settlements, communities, and cities. Among the places in British Columbia that began as fur trading posts are Fort St. John (established 1794); Hudson's Hope (1805); Fort Nelson (1805); Fort St. James (1806); Prince George (1807); Kamloops (1812); Fort Langley (1827); Victoria (1843); Yale (1848); and Nanaimo (1853).
With the amalgamation of the two fur trading companies in 1821, the region now comprising British Columbia existed in three fur trading departments. The bulk of the central and northern interior was organised into the New Caledonia district, administered from Fort St. James. The interior region south of the Thompson River watershed and north of the Columbia was organised into the Columbia District, administered from Fort Vancouver (present-day Vancouver, Washington). The northeast corner of the province east of the Rockies was attached to the much larger Athabasca District, headquartered in Fort Chipewyan (in present day Alberta).
Until 1849, these districts were a wholly unorganised area of British North America under the defacto jurisdiction of HBC administrators. Unlike Rupert's Land to the north and east, however, the territory was not a concession to the Company. Rather, it was simply granted a monopoly to trade with the First Nations inhabitants. All that was changed with the westward extension of American exploration, and the concomitant overlapping claims of territorial sovereignty, especially in the southern Columbia basin (within present day Washington and Oregon). In 1846, the Oregon Treaty divided the territory along the 49th parallel to Georgia Strait, with the area south of this boundary, excluding Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands) transferred to sole American sovereignty. The Colony of Vancouver Island was created in 1849, with Victoria designated as the capital. New Caledonia continued to be an unorganized territory of British North America, "administered" by individual HBC trading post managers.
With the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush in 1858, an influx of Americans into New Caledonia prompted the colonial office to formally designate the mainland as the Colony of British Columbia, with New Westminster as its capital. A second gold rush — the Cariboo Gold Rush — followed in 1862, forcing the colonial administration into deeper debt as it struggled to meet the extensive infrastructure needs of far-flung boom communities like Barkerville and Lillooet, which literally sprang up overnight. The Vancouver Island colony was facing financial crises of its own, and pressure to merge the two eventually succeeded in 1866, with the name British Columbia being applied to the newly united colony.
Rapid growth and development
The Confederation League led by such figures as Amor De Cosmos, John Robson, and Robert Beaven had long led the chorus pressing for the colony to join Canada, which had been created out of four British colonies in 1867. Several factors motivated this agitation, including the fear of annexation to the United States, the overwhelming debt created by rapid population growth, the need for government-funded services to support this population, and the economic depression caused by the end of the gold rush. With the agreement by the Canadian government to extend the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) to British Columbia and to assume the colony's debt, B.C. became the sixth province to join Confederation on July 20, 1871. The borders of the province were not completely settled until 1903, however, when the province's territory shrank somewhat after the Alaska Boundary Dispute settled the vague boundary of the Alaska Panhandle.
Population in British Columbia continued to expand as the province's mining, forestry, agriculture, and fishing sectors were developed. Mining activity was particularly notable in the Boundary region around Trail, in the Kootenays (the southeast corner of the province), the Fraser Canyon, and elsewhere. Agriculture attracted settlers to the fertile Fraser Valley, and to the drier grasslands of the Thompson River area, the Cariboo, the Chilcotin, and the Okanagan. Forestry drew workers to the lush temperate rain forests of the coast, which was also the locus of a growing fishery.
The completion of the CPR in 1885-86 was a huge boost to the province's economy, facilitating the transportation of the region's considerable resources to the east. The booming logging town of Granville, near the mouth of the Burrard Inlet was selected as the terminus of the railway, prompting the incorporation of the community as Vancouver in 1886. The completion of the Port of Vancouver spurred rapid growth, and in less than fifty years the city would surpass Winnipeg as the largest in western Canada.
The early decades of the province were ones in which issues of land use — specifically, its settlement and development — were paramount. This included expropriation from First Nations people of their land, control over its resources, as well as the ability to trade in some resources (such as the fishery). Establishing a labour force to develop the province was problematic from the start, and British Columbia was the locus of immigration not only from Europe, but also from China and Japan. The influx of a non-caucasian population stimulated resentment from the dominant ethnic groups, resulting in agitation (much of it successful) to restrict both the ability of Asian people to immigrate to British Columbia, and their access to civil rights and equal wages once they had immigrated. This resentment culminated in mob attacks against Chinese and Japanese immingrants in Vancouver in 1887 and 1907. By 1923, almost all Chinese immigration had been blocked (see Anti-Chinese legislation in Canada).
Meanwhile, the province continued to grow. In 1914, the last spike of a second transcontinental rail line, the Grand Trunk Pacific, linking north-central British Columbia from the Yellowhead Pass through Prince George to Prince Rupert was driven at Fort Fraser. This opened up the north coast and the Bulkley Valley region to new economic opportunities. What had previously been an almost exclusively fur trade and subsistence economy soon became a locus for forestry, farming, and mining.
The 20s, 30s, and 40s
B.C. has long taken advantage of its Pacific coast to have close relations with East Asia. However, this has caused friction, with frequent feelings of animosity towards Asian immigrants. This was most manifest during the Second World War when many people of Japanese descent were interned in the interior of the province.
A second growth spurt: The 1950s and 60s
The post-World War II years saw Vancouver and Victoria also become cultural centres as poets, authors, artists, musicians, as well as dancers, actors, and haute cuisine chefs flocked to the beautiful scenery and warmer temperatures. Similarly, these cities have either attracted or given rise to their own noteworthy academics, commentators, and creative thinkers. Tourism also began to play an important role in the economy. The rise of Japan and other Pacific economies was a great boost to the B.C. economy.
Shifting fortunes: BC since the 1970s
Demographics
External link: British Columbia ethno-cultural profile at Statistics Canada
Politics
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BC has a 79-member elected Legislative Assembly, elected by the First Past the Post system. BC politics are also famous for governments having long stints in power.
Currently the province is governed by the revived British Columbia Liberal Party under Gordon Campbell. For a decade before the Campbell government took power, B.C. was governed by the social democratic New Democratic Party (NDP). Before that, the government was led by the conservative Social Credit Party from 1975 to 1991. However, due to the increasing unpopularity of leader Bill Vander Zalm and mounting scandals, the party was defeated at the polls and collapsed in 1991. From 1972 to 1975 an NDP government led by Dave Barrett held power but was defeated after a showdown with organized labour. Its predecessor was the original Social Credit government of W.A.C. Bennett.
Prior to 1903 there were no political parties in British Columbia, other than at the federal level. Sir Richard McBride was the first Premier to declare a party affiliation (Conservative Party of Canada) and institute conventional party/caucus politics.
Recall and Initiative
British Columbia is the only province in Canada with recall election and initiative legislation.
Only one recall petition was ever deemed to have had any success, compelling MLA Paul Reitsma to resign his seat hours before he would have been removed from office.
Electoral Reform
A Citizens' Assembly in 2004 recommended replacing the First Past the Post system with a Single Transferable Vote system to be implemented in 2009, and a referendum was held on May 17, 2005 to determine if this change should go ahead. The proposal received majority support (58% of the popular vote), but the government had required 60% to make the proposal binding on them. A second requirement was a simple majority in 60% of the current ridings and 77 of the 79 ridings achieved this, far more than the 48 minimum. The close result has provoked further interest in electoral reform. As a result of this, the Provincial Government has promised a second referendum on the issue to be held in November 2008.
Parks and Protected Areas
There are 14 designations of parks and protected areas in the province that reflects the different administration and creation of these areas in a modern context. There are 141 ecological Reserves, 35 provincial marine parks, 7 Provincial Heritage Sites, 6 National Historic Sites, 4 National Parks and 3 National Park Reserves. 12.5% (114,000 km²) of BC is currently considered 'protected' under one of the 14 different designations that includes over 800 distinct areas.
British Columbia contains seven of Canada's national parks:
- Glacier National Park
- Gulf Islands National Park Reserve
- Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site
- Kootenay National Park
- Mount Revelstoke National Park
- Pacific Rim National Park Reserve
- Yoho National Park
- Great Bear Rainforest
BC also contains a large network of provincial parks, run by BC Parks of the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection.
In addition to these areas, over 4.7 million hectares of arable land are protected by the Agricultural Land Reserve.
Recreation
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Given its varied mountainous terrain and its coasts, lakes, rivers, and forests, British Columbia has long been enjoyed for pursuits like hiking and camping, rock climbing and mountaineering, hunting and fishing.
Much of the province is wild or semi-wild, so that populations of very many mammalian species that have become rare in much of the United States still flourish in B.C. Watching animals of various sorts, including a very wide range of birds, has also long been popular. Bears (grizzly, black), and the Kermode bear or spirit bear--only found in British Columbia, live here, as do deer, elk, moose, caribou, big-horn sheep, mountain goats, beavers, muskrat, coyotes, wolves, mustelids (such as wolverines and fishers) mountain lions, eagles, ospreys, herons, Canada geese, swans, loons, hawks, owls, ravens, and many sorts of ducks. Smaller birds (robins, jays, grosbeaks, chickadees, etc.) also abound.
Healthy populations of many sorts of fish are found in the waters (including salmonids such as several species of salmon, trout, char, etc.). Besides salmon and trout, sport-fishers in B.C. also catch halibut, steelhead, bass, and sturgeon.
Water sports, both motorized and non-motorized, are enjoyed in many places. Sea kayaking opportunities abound on the B.C. coast with its fjords. Whitewater rafting and kayaking are popular on many inland rivers. Sailing and sailboarding are widely enjoyed.
In winter, cross-country and telemark skiing are much enjoyed, and in recent decades high-quality downhill skiing has been developed in the Coast Mountain range and the Rockies, as well as in the southern areas of the Shuswap Highlands and the Columbia Mountains. Snowboarding has mushroomed in popularity since the early 1990s. The 2010 Winter Olympics downhill events will be held in Whistler-Blackcomb area of the province, while the indoor events will be in the Vancouver area.
In Vancouver and Victoria (as well as some other cities), opportunities for joggers and bicyclists have been developed. Cross-country bike touring has been popular since the ten-speed bike became available many years ago. Since the advent of more robust mountain bikes, trails in more rugged and wild places have been developed for them. Some of the province's retired rail beds have been converted and maintained for hiking, biking, and cross-country skiing.
Horseback riding is enjoyed by many British Columbians. Opportunities for trail riding, often into especially scenic areas, have been established for tourists in numerous areas of the province.
Of course, British Columbians have not failed to enjoy all the traditional sports, like golf, tennis, soccer, hockey, rugby, softball, basketball, curling, figure skating, and so on. B.C. has produced many outstanding athletes, especially in aquatic and winter sports. Also, today programs of training and toning systems like aerobics and hatha yoga are widespread. Most communities of several thousand people or more have developed facilities for these (as, in some cases, have communities of even a few hundred).
Consistent with both increased tourism and increased participation in diverse recreations by British Columbians themselves has been the proliferation of lodges, chalets, bed and breakfasts, motels, hotels, fishing camps, and park-camping facilities in recent decades.
In certain areas, there are businesses, non-profit societies, or municipal governments dedicated to promoting ecotourism in their region.
Recreational Cannabis
In recent years, there has also been a rise of a 'marijuana culture' in many parts of BC, to the extent that a locally significant political party has been formed around this particular issue, with production and sale of the drug now estimated by the provincial Organized Crime Agency to be among the province's largest industries[1]. In Vancouver, there are several open-to-the-public almost-"Amsterdam"-style coffee houses where people can meet and openly smoke (but not purchase) marijuana. Though police may tend to turn a blind eye to pot use in some urban areas, the drug remains illegal throughout the province, and controlling its spread remains an ongoing and much-debated legal issue in the province. The rise of indoor marijuana "grow ops" in suburban communities and their possible ties to organized crime continue to be a concern, although most production occurs through the counterculture via highly decentralized "Mom-and-Pop"-type operations. The quality, assortment and price of this marijuana sometimes makes British Columbia a destination for those taking an interest in cannabis.
Famous British Columbians
- Bryan Adams, musician
- Pamela Anderson, actress
- Gil Bellows, actor
- Earle Birney, poet
- Michael Bublé, singer
- Raymond Burr, actor
- Kim Campbell, former Prime Minister
- Yvonne de Carlo, actress
- Kim Cattrall, actress
- Hayden Christensen, actor
- James Doohan, actor
- Peter Dyakowski, athlete
- Edward Dmytryk, film director
- Atom Egoyan, screenwriter/director
- Arthur Erickson, architect
- Judith Forst, opera singer (contralto)
- David Foster, musician
- Dan George, native leader and actor
- Matthew Good, musician
- Michael J. Fox, actor and Parkinson's activist
- Terry Fox, athlete
- Don Francks, actor
- Nelly Furtado, singer/songwriter
- Nancy Greene-Raine, Olympic medalist (skiing)
- Rick Hansen, former Paralympian and disability activist
- Doug Hepburn, Empire Games medalist and founder of the sport of powerlifting
- Ben Heppner, opera singer (tenor)
- Joshua Jackson, actor
- Paul Kariya, hockey player
- Joe Keithley, punk singer/songwriter
- Gene Kiniski, professional wrestler
- Diana Krall, musician
- Kristin Kreuk, actress
- Evelyn Lau, author
- Silken Laumann, Olympic medalist (rower)
- Malcolm Lowry, novelist
- Sarah McLachlan, musician
- Leon Mandrake, magician ("Mandrake the Magician")
- Greg Moore, race car driver
- Carrie-Anne Moss, actress
- Steve Nash, NBA MVP
- Cam Neely, hockey player
- Scott Niedermayer, hockey player
- Rob Niedermayer, Scott's brother
- Jim Pattison, businessperson and Fortune 500 member
- Tony Pep, boxer/boxing coach-promoter
- Al Purdy, poet
- Jason Priestley, actor
- Ryan Reynolds, actor
- Joe Sakic, hockey player
- Jack Shadbolt, painter/sculptor
- Michael Shanks, actor
- Dorothy Stratten, actress/model
- David Suzuki, environmental advocate
- Margaret Trudeau, ex-wife of Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau
- Larry Walker, baseball player
- Steve Yzerman, hockey player
Maps
Image:Bc new.jpg Image:Bcmap.PNG
Cities
Half of all British Columbians live in the Greater Vancouver Regional District, which includes Vancouver, New Westminster, Surrey, West Vancouver, North Vancouver, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Maple Ridge, Langley, Delta, Pitt Meadows, White Rock, Richmond, Port Moody, Anmore, Belcarra, Lions Bay and Bowen Island.
Other cities:
- Nanaimo
- Prince George
- Quesnel
- Victoria - provincial capital
- Williams Lake
See also
- Historical Predecessors to the Province of British Columbia:
- List of British Columbia-related topics
- List of British Columbians
- List of communities in British Columbia
- List of British Columbia Regional Districts
- List of British Columbia provincial highways
- List of British Columbia Universities
- Same-sex marriage in British Columbia
- British Columbia government agencies and crown corporations
- Geography of British Columbia
- Canada
External links
- Travel.bc.ca British Columbia Travel & Tourism Information
- Vancouver Info Centre Information about Vancouver, BC's largest city
- Pictures of British Columbia
- Provincial Archives (includes online photo database)
- BC Govt online map archive (free)
- BC Ferries
- The Royal BC Museum
- Photos from BC and Vancouver
- Travel British Columbia - GoBC British Columbia Travel Information for Arts and Cultural Travel
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| Provinces: British Columbia | Alberta | Saskatchewan | Manitoba | Ontario | Quebec | New Brunswick Nova Scotia | Prince Edward Island | Newfoundland and Labrador | |
| Territories: Yukon | Northwest Territories | Nunavut | |
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