British Columbia Ferry Services Inc., operating as BC Ferries (BCF), is a former provincial Crown corporation, now operating as an independently managed, publicly owned Canadian company. BC Ferries provides all major passenger and vehicle ferry services for coastal and island communities in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Set up in 1960 to provide a similar service to that provided by the Black Ball Line and the Canadian Pacific Railway, which were affected by job action at the time, BC Ferries has become the largest passenger ferry line in North America, operating a fleet of 41 vessels with a total passenger and crew capacity of over 27,000, serving 47 locations on the B.C. coast.
Port McNeill is a town in the North Island region of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada on Vancouver Island's northeast shore, on Queen Charlotte Strait. Originally a base camp for loggers, it became a settlement in 1936. It was named after Captain William Henry McNeill of the Hudson's Bay Company.
Sointula is an isolated village on Malcolm Island in British Columbia, Canada. Lying between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland, northeast of Port McNeill and not far from Alert Bay, the island is part of the historic and present territory of the ‘Namgis First Nation. At the 2011 census, the village had a population of 576, down 3.0% from the 2006 census.
BC Ferries operates two T-class ferries for use on small inter-island routes. They have raised bows, which make it easier for the ships to travel in the rough seas often found on British Columbia's central coast. The ferries carry 30 cars and 150 passengers. Both were built in 1969. They were originally owned and operated by the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation until 1985, when the Ministry's saltwater ferries and routes were transferred to BC Ferries, including the T class. The two T-class ferries are Tachek and Quadra Queen II.
Alert Bay Airport is a public airport located on Cormorant Island next to the village of Alert Bay, British Columbia, Canada. Cormorant Island lies between Malcolm Island and Port McNeill on northeastern Vancouver Island.
Malcolm Island is an island in the Canadian province of British Columbia, located north of Haddington Island in the Queen Charlotte Strait near Vancouver Island. It has ferry access from the Vancouver Island community of Port McNeill. The island is located within the Mount Waddington Regional District.
Alert Bay is a village on Cormorant Island, near the town of Port McNeill on northeast Vancouver Island, in the Regional District of Mount Waddington, British Columbia, Canada.
Nimpkish Lake Provincial Park is a provincial park on northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada on Vancouver Island. The park is 3,949 ha. in area and was established on 1995. It is 32 km south of Port McNeill and on the southwest side of Nimpkish Lake. Primary access is by boat launch, though radio-controlled logging roads lead to the edge of the park. Western Forest Products in Woss, British Columbia should be contacted for road advisories. The park is in the traditional territory of the Namgis First Nation.
Nuchatlitz Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, located no the northwest side of Nootka Island, facing Nuchatlitz Inlet, on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Established in 1996, the park contains approximately 2105 ha.
The Gwa'Sala-Nakwaxda'xw Nations are a union of two Kwakwaka'wakw peoples in a band government based on northern Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, whose main reserve community is near the town of Port Hardy in the Queen Charlotte Strait region of the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. The band government is a member of the Kwakiutl District Council and, for treaty negotiation purposes, the Winalagalis Treaty Group which includes three other members of the Kwakiutl District Council.
The 'Namgis First Nation is a First Nations band government on northern Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, and on adjoining islands in the southern Queen Charlotte Strait region.
Broughton Archipelago is a group of islands located at the eastern end of Queen Charlotte Strait in Mount Waddington Regional District, British Columbia. The archipelago is the traditional territory of the Musgamagw Dzawada'enuxw, Namgis, Ma'amtagila and Tlowitsis nations of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples.
The 'Namgis are an Indigenous nation, a part of the Kwakwaka'wakw, in central British Columbia, on northern Vancouver Island. Their main village is now Yalis, on Cormorant Island adjacent to Alert Bay. The Indian Act First Nations government of this nation is the Namgis First Nation. They were formerly known as the Nimpkish.
Broughton Strait is a strait off the north coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, separating that island from Malcolm and Cormorant Islands, on the farther side of which is the larger Queen Charlotte Strait, which also lies beyond the western end of Brouhgton Strait, and the mouth of Knight Inlet. Farther east from Broughton Strait is the beginning of Johnstone Strait, which leads via Discovery Passage to the Strait of Georgia.
The Tlowitsis Nation, formerly the Klowitsis Tribe, the Turnour Island Band and the Tlowitsis-Mumtagila First Nation, is the Indian Act band government of the Ławit'sis (Tlowitsis) tribe of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples, located in the Queen Charlotte Strait-Johnstone Strait area in the Discovery Islands between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland in Canada. Ławit'sis territory covers parts of northern Vancouver Island, Johnstone Strait, and adjoining inlets of the mainland. Kalugwis, on Turnour Island, was their principal community in times past, but the band's offices are in the city of Campbell River to the southeast. Hanatsa IR No. 6 on Port Neville is the most populated of the band's Indian reserves.
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.
The Nimpkish River is a river in northern Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. It is the longest river on the Island, rising on the west slope of Mount Alston, flowing northwest into Nimpkish Lake and then north into the Broughton Strait at a point 8 km east of Port McNeill, just southwest of the town of Alert Bay on Cormorant Island.
The Pearse Islands are a small group of islands in the Queen Charlotte Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada. They are just east of Cormorant Island, which is the location of the Village of Alert Bay. Cormorant Channel Marine Provincial Park is located in this group of islands.
Whulk or xwalkw, meaning "(logs) place crossewise", was a Kwakwaka'wakw village at the mouth of the Nimpkish River on northern Vancouver Island, which was a place of origin for some of the groups comprising today's 'Namgis group of Kwakwaka'wakw, who now reside mostly at Yalis on Cormorant Island.
The Island-class ferries are ferries owned and operated by BC Ferries. Six vessels were built between 2019 and 2021 by Damen Shipyards Group, a Dutch company, in Romania. The first two ships were launched in mid-March 2019, and commenced service in June 2020. Two of an additional four vessels commenced service in April 2022, and the remaining two are due to enter service in late 2022.
