In Canada, an Indian reserve is defined by the Indian Act as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in His Majesty, that has been set apart by His Majesty for the use and benefit of a band." Reserves are areas set aside for First Nations, one of the major groupings of Indigenous peoples in Canada, after a contract with the Canadian state, and are not to be confused with indigenous peoples' claims to ancestral lands under Aboriginal title.
Pender Island is one of the Southern Gulf Islands located in the Gulf of Georgia, British Columbia, Canada. Pender Island is approximately 34 km2 (13 sq mi) in area and is home to about 2,250 permanent residents, as well as a large seasonal population. Like most of the rest of the Southern Gulf Islands, Pender Island enjoys a sub-Mediterranean climate and features open farmland, rolling forested hills, several lakes and small mountains, as well as many coves and beaches.
Vargas Island Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, comprising the west side of the island of the same name, which is located west of Meares Island and northwest of the resort community of Tofino in the Clayoquot Sound region of the West Coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The park was created as part of the Clayoquot Land-Use Decision on July 13, 1995 and contains 5,805 hectares, 1,543 hectares of it being upland and 4,262 hectares being foreshore. Also located on Vargas Island, on its north side, is Epper Passage Provincial Park.
Strathcona Provincial Park is the oldest provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, and the largest on Vancouver Island. Founded in 1911, the park was named for Donald Alexander Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal, a wealthy philanthropist and railway pioneer. It lies within the Strathcona Regional District. The Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve, established in 2000, includes three watersheds in the western area of the park.
Discovery Island is located off the eastern side of Vancouver Island and is viewable from Ten Mile Point, near Cadboro Bay, and Oak Bay. Discovery Island Marine Provincial Park occupies the southern portion of Discovery Island, 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Oak Bay. The northern portion of the island is part of Discovery Island Indian Reserve 3, under the control of the Songhees First Nation.
Cadboro Bay is a bay near the southern tip of Vancouver Island and its adjacent neighbourhood in the municipalities of Saanich and Oak Bay in Greater Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
Discovery Passage is a strait that forms part of the Inside Passage between Vancouver Island and the Discovery Islands of British Columbia. The strait is considered the most important natural passage for vessels' entering or leaving the Salish Sea from the north.
Malahat First Nation is a Coast Salish First Nations community of W̱SÁNEĆ representing approximately 350 members with two reserve lands located on the western shore of Saanich Inlet, Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. The Malahat First Nation is one of many nations within the Coastal Salish group that live on their traditional lands. The Coastal Salish are Indigenous to the Northwest mainland, coast, and islands. The Malahat First Nation is a member nation of the Naut'sa mawt Tribal Council and was the ninth First Nation in Canada to be certified by the First Nations Financial Management Board. The ancestral languages of Malahat Nation are Hul̓q̓umín̓um̓ and SENĆOŦEN. The Hul̓q̓umín̓um̓ or Halkomelem language is spoken in Washington State and British Columbia and is within the Coastal Salish language family. Currently it is being revitalized, as it is mainly spoken by elders in the community. The Chief of Malahat Nation is George Harry. George served on the council for four years before being elected as Chief on June 10, 2019.
The Lekwungen or Lekungen nation are an Indigenous North American Coast Salish people who reside on southeastern Vancouver Island, British Columbia in the Greater Victoria area. Their government is the Songhees First Nation, a member of the Te'mexw Treaty Association and the Naut'sa Mawt Tribal Council. Their traditional language is Lekwungen, a dialect of the North Straits Salish language.
The Craigflower Manor and Craigflower Schoolhouse are National Historic Sites of Canada located in View Royal, British Columbia and Saanich near Victoria. The centerpiece of each historic site is a 19th-century building — a manor and schoolhouse commissioned by the Hudson's Bay Company to provide education and lodging for their employees. Built as part of the agricultural community Craigflower Farm, the buildings served as a focal point for the community into the modern era; they remain open to the public today as museums devoted to the colonial history of Victoria.
Robson Bight is a small Vancouver Island bay at the west end of Johnstone Strait across from West Cracroft Island in British Columbia, Canada that includes a protected killer whale habitat famous for its whale-rubbing beaches. The bight is adjacent to Lower Tsitika River Provincial Park. The nearest access point is Telegraph Cove on the east coast of Northern Vancouver Island.
The Douglas Treaties, also known as the Vancouver Island Treaties or the Fort Victoria Treaties, were a series of treaties signed between certain indigenous groups on Vancouver Island and the Colony of Vancouver Island.
Shearwater is a community in coastal British Columbia. It is located three miles from Old Bella Bella on Denny Island. It is in the territory of the Heiltsuk Nation.
Mount Tzouhalem is a mountain on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, 4 kilometres east-northeast of Duncan in the municipality of North Cowichan. It is situated between Quamichan Lake, Maple Bay and Cowichan Bay.
Hanson Island is an island in the Queen Charlotte Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, located west of Harbledown Island and south of the Plumper Islands. The westernmost part of Johnstone Strait is to the south of the island, Blackfish Sound to the north, beyond which is Swanson Island. The island is named for James Hanson who served aboard HMS Chatham in 1792 and was later transferred that year to command Vancouver's supply ship HMS Daedalus.
East Cracroft Island is an island in the Johnstone Strait region of the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. It is the smaller of the two Cracroft Islands, and at low tide is really one island with its larger neighbour, West Cracroft Island. On the south side of the shallows that form an isthmus between them at low tide is Port Harvey, a short, wide inlet or bay. On its east shore is Keecekiltum Indian Reserve No. 2, which is under the governance of the Tlowitsis Nation of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples. at 50°33′00″N126°16′00″W.
Port Harvey is a port on the south side of the Cracroft Islands in the Johnstone Strait region of the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada, forming a small bay or inlet south of the shallows that link West Cracroft and East Cracroft Islands. On its east shore is Keecekiltum Indian Reserve No. 2, 11.7 ha., which is under the governance of the Tlowitsis Nation of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples. at 50°33′00″N126°16′00″W. It was named by Captain Richards for Captain Harvey of HMS Havannah.
Call Inlet is an inlet on the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada, located south of the lower reaches of Knight Inlet to the east of East Cracroft Island. Pawala Indian Reserve No. 5 is at the head of the inlet. Chatham Channel connects the outlet of the inlet to Knight Inlet and separates East Cracroft Island from the mainland peninsula on the north side of the inlet. Havannah Channel leads southwest out of the inlet, south and east around East Cracroft and past Hull Island, to Johnstone Strait.
Takaya was a lone wolf who lived on a small group of islands in British Columbia, Canada for eight years. His life was documented by conservation photographer Cheryl Alexander in the 2019 documentary film Takaya: Lone Wolf, and in the book of the same name, which was released in September 2020.
The 1862 Pacific Northwest smallpox epidemic was a smallpox outbreak that started in Victoria on Vancouver Island and spread among the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast and into the indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau, killing a large portion of natives from the Puget Sound region to Southeast Alaska. Two-thirds of British Columbia natives died—around 20,000 people. The death rate was highest in southeast Alaska and Haida Gwaii—over 70% among the Haida and 60% among the Tlingit. Almost all native nations along the coast, and many in the interior, were devastated, with a death rate of over 50% for the entire coast from Puget Sound to Sitka, Alaska, part of Russian America at the time. In some areas the native population fell by as much as 90%. The disease was controlled among colonists in 1862 but it continued to spread among natives through 1863.
