HVDC Vancouver Island is a de-energized high-voltage direct current interconnection owned by BC Hydro that runs between Arnott Substation (ARN) in Delta, British Columbia at 49°5′31″N123°2′31″W on the Canadian mainland, and the Vancouver Island Terminal (VIT) in Duncan, British Columbia on Vancouver Island at 48°49′39″N123°42′55″W. It went into operation in 1968 and was extended in 1977. HVDC Vancouver Island consists of three overhead line sections with a total length of 42 kilometres and two submarine cable sections with a length of 33 kilometres. Pole 1 ceased operation in 2014, and Pole 2 ceased operation in 2016. The infrastructure remains in place and portions may be re-used in the future.
Galiano Island is one of the Southern Gulf Islands located between Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. Located on the west side of the Strait of Georgia, the island is bordered by Mayne Island to the southeast, Salt Spring Island to the west and Valdes Island to the northwest. Galiano is part of the Capital Regional District Electoral Area G, and has a permanent population of 1,396 inhabitants as of 2021.
Penelakut Island is located in the southern Gulf Islands between Vancouver Island and the mainland Pacific coast of British Columbia, Canada. The island has a population of about 300 members of the Penelakut Band. The island has an area of 8.66 square kilometres (3.34 sq mi). There is frequent car and passenger ferry service to Penelakut from Chemainus on Vancouver Island. On its west side sits Telegraph Harbour.
Mayne Island is a 21-square-kilometre (8.1 sq mi) island in the southern Gulf Islands chain of British Columbia. It is midway between the Lower Mainland of BC and Vancouver Island, and has a population of over 1300. Mount Parke in the south-central heart of the island is its highest peak at 255 metres.
Duke Point is a geographical location in the extreme southeastern part of the city of Nanaimo in British Columbia. It is located on a thin peninsula to the east of the Nanaimo River estuary, just across the Northumberland Channel from Gabriola Island.
Thetis Island is an island and unincorporated community off the coast of British Columbia, Canada, lying between Vancouver Island, which is to the west across Stuart Channel, and the west from the north tip of Galiano Island, from which it is separated by Trincomali Channel. With its immediate southern neighbour Penelakut Island, it is one of the Gulf Islands. Thetis island is 2,560 acres (10.36 km2) in size. It is approximately two miles wide and three miles long north to south. Two north to south land ridges define the east and west sides of the island. Burchell Hill is 503 feet above sea level, and forms the high point on the west side of Thetis island, and Moore Hill is 511 feet above sea level, and forms the high point ridge on the east side of the island.
Bodega Ridge Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada. It is on Galiano Island, which lies between Vancouver and Vancouver Island, and comprises 233 hectares. The park's high cliffs are home to bald eagles, peregrine falcons, and turkey vultures.
Catala Island Marine Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canaded on the west coast of Vancouver Island at the mouth of Esperanza Inlet, between Kyuquot Sound (N) and Nootka Sound (S). The park is 955 ha. in size and was established in July 1995.
Montague Harbour Marine Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, located on Galiano Island, one of the Gulf Islands off BC's South Coast in Canada. It is accessible by BC Ferries from Swartz Bay on Vancouver Island or Tsawwassen on the Mainland. The Island's ferry terminal is at Sturdies Bay, about 6 km (3.7 mi) from Montague.
Sandwell Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada. It is a small oceanfront site on Lock Bay, on the northeast shore of Gabriola Island. Hiking, swimming and beach-walking are popular activities here, though it is only accessible at low tide and park facilities are limited. There are also petroglyphs carved into the sandstone boulders on Lock Bay's foreshore.
Saturna Island is a mountainous island, about 31 square kilometres (12 sq mi) in size, in the Southern Gulf Islands chain of British Columbia, Canada. It is situated approximately midway between the Lower Mainland of B.C. and Vancouver Island, and is the most easterly of the Gulf Islands. It is surrounded on three sides by the Canada–United States border. To the north is Point Roberts, Washington, and to the east and south are the San Juan Islands. There is a First Nations reserve on the island for the Tsayout and Tseycum Nations. The island has a permanent population of around 350; however, this number increases during the summer season.
De Courcy Island is one of the Gulf Islands of the coast of southwestern British Columbia, Canada, located between the Pylades and Stuart Channels approximately 16 km (9.9 mi) southeast of Nanaimo and approximately 38 km (24 mi) west of Vancouver.
The Penelakut are a large Hul'qumi'num-speaking First Nation. They live primarily on Penelakut Island near the south end of Vancouver Island, and Galiano Island. Their land stretches to Tent Island which is private and currently uninhabited.
Valdes Island is one of the Gulf Islands located in the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia, Canada. It is across Porlier Pass from Galiano Island, which lies to the southeast. It has an area of 23 square kilometres, and is 1.6 kilometres wide by 16 kilometres in length. The island is popular with kayakers, boaters and has historically been the site of several human settlements.
Active Pass is a strait separating Galiano Island in the north and Mayne Island in the south in the southern Gulf Islands, British Columbia, Canada. It connects the Trincomali Channel in the west and the Strait of Georgia in the east. The pass stretches 5.5 km from northeast to southwest with two roughly right-angle bends, one at each end.
Trincomali Channel is a channel between Galiano Island and Saltspring Island in the Gulf Islands of British Columbia, Canada.
The Lyackson First Nation is a First Nations band government located at Chemainus, British Columbia, Canada, on Vancouver Island.
The Hwlitsum or Lamalchi or Lamalcha are an Indigenous people whose traditional territories were in the Gulf Islands of British Columbia, Canada. Their traditional villages were on Canoe Pass, which is known in their language as Hwlitsum, and on Kuper Island Saltspring Island and Galiano Island.
The Hwlitsum First Nation is an organization representing the group historically known as the Lamalchi or Lamalcha but properly called Hwlitsum. The Hwlitsum are the descendants of the Lamalchi people and changed their name to Hwlitsum when they moved to Hwlitsum in 1892. Hul'qumi'num custom names groups based on the location of their winter village. Changing location of their winter village changed the name of the people. The Hwlitsum are a Hulquminum-speaking people whose home region is in the Southern Gulf Islands. The Hwlitsum were never granted reserves or band status and are currently seeking recognition as a band government from the governments of British Columbia and Canada.
Stuart Channel is a strait in the Gulf Islands region of the Gulf of Georgia, separating Vancouver Island on the west from Thetis, DeCourcy and Penelakut (Kuper) Islands on the east. Ladysmith Harbour and the town of Chemainus face onto it from Vancouver Island. It is crossed by a BC Ferries route serving Thetis and Penelakut Islands.
