List of regional districts of British Columbia

Last updated

Regional Districts of British Columbia
Location British Columbia
Number28
Populations734 (Stikine Region) – 2,691,343 (Metro Vancouver)
Areas1,701 km2 (657 sq mi) (Comox Valley) – 118,663 km2 (45,816 sq mi) (Stikine Region)
Government
Subdivisions

The Canadian province of British Columbia is divided into regional districts as a means to better enable municipalities and rural areas to work together at a regional level. These divisions also serve as the province's census divisions.

Contents

History

Regional districts came into being via an order of government in 1965 with the enactment of amendments to the Municipal Act. [1] Until the creation of regional districts, the only local form of government in British Columbia were incorporated municipalities, and services in areas outside municipal boundaries had to be sought from the province or through improvement districts. [2]

Governance

Similar to counties in other parts of Canada, regional districts serve only to provide municipal services as the local government in areas not incorporated into a municipality, and in certain regional affairs of shared concern between residents of unincorporated areas and those in the municipalities such as a stakeholder role in regional planning. In those predominantly rural areas, regional districts provide services such as land use planning, building inspection, solid-waste management, and some responsibility for community fire protection.

Most land nominally within a regional district is under the control of the provincial government, or in the case of national parks and offshore waters, the federal government. Indian reserves located within the boundaries of regional districts are likewise excluded from their jurisdiction and infrastructure, and there are varying levels of collaboration between First Nations governments and regional district boards.

Regional districts are governed by boards of directly and indirectly elected directors. Municipalities appoint directors to represent their populations (usually the mayors), while residents of unincorporated areas (which are grouped into electoral areas) elect directors directly. The votes of directors from municipalities generally count more than the votes of directors from electoral areas, and larger municipalities have more votes than smaller ones. For example, both North Saanich and Metchosin appoint one director to the Capital Regional District board of directors, but the vote of North Saanich's director counts three times as much as the vote of Metchosin's appointee. [3]

List

British Columbia regional districts as of January 29,2020 [4]
Regional districtOffice locationEstablished [5] Population (2019 est.) [6] [7] Area (km2)Density (per km2)
Alberni–Clayoquot Port Alberni April 21, 196633,3156,5884.7
Bulkley–Nechako Burns Lake February 1, 196639,61473,3610.52
Capital Victoria February 1, 1966418,5112,340163.8
Cariboo Williams Lake July 9, 196865,45680,6090.77
Central Coast Bella Coola July 16, 19683,58424,4920.14
Central Kootenay Nelson November 30, 196563,31122,0952.7
Central Okanagan Kelowna August 24, 1967217,2142,90567.1
Columbia–Shuswap Salmon Arm November 30, 196555,82328,9291.8
Comox Valley Courtenay February 1, 200872,6251,70139.1
Cowichan Valley Duncan September 26, 196790,4483,47524.1
East Kootenay Cranbrook November 30, 196564,69527,5432.2
Fraser Valley Chilliwack December 12, 1995331,53313,33522.2
Fraser–Fort George Prince George March 8, 1967103,39250,6761.9
Kitimat–Stikine Terrace September 14, 196739,150104,4610.36
Kootenay Boundary Trail February 22, 196633,4328,0823.9
Metro Vancouver Burnaby June 29, 1967 [8] 2,691,3432,883918.0
Mount Waddington Port McNeill June 13, 196611,66720,2440.55
Nanaimo Nanaimo August 24, 1967169,9602,03876.4
North Coast Prince Rupert August 17, 196719,30319,7810.92
North Okanagan Coldstream November 9, 196590,8657,50311.2
Northern Rockies Fort Nelson January 29, 20094,95685,1110.06
Okanagan–Similkameen Penticton March 4, 196689,07510,4148.0
Peace River Dawson Creek October 31, 196766,880117,3910.54
qathet Powell River December 19, 1967 [9] 21,1025,0754.0
Squamish–Lillooet Pemberton October 3, 196946,35716,3102.6
Stikine Region [lower-alpha 1] (N/A)(N/A)734118,6630.01
Strathcona Campbell River February 1, 200849,08518,2782.4
Sunshine Coast Sechelt January 4, 196731,8103,7777.9
Thompson–Nicola Kamloops November 24, 1967146,09644,4483.0
  1. The Stikine Region is not officially per se a regional district but is rather an unincorporated area; [10] it is administered directly by the provincial government.

Historical regional districts

The first regional district was established in 1965, and the then-final regional district was established in 1968.

The following regional districts were dissolved in December 1995 and amalgamated largely into the newly formed Fraser Valley Regional District:

The western half of Dewdney–Alouette, consisting of Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows, was incorporated into the Greater Vancouver Regional District (now Metro Vancouver). Mission and the unincorporated areas east to the Chehalis River were incorporated into the Fraser Valley Regional District.

This amalgamation took place due to the western part of Dewdney–Alouette having become essentially a suburb of Vancouver and the thought it would be better served by being within Metro Vancouver. The Central Fraser Valley RD would be nearly completely dominated by the newly amalgamated City of Abbotsford, bringing the regional district's role into question; similarly, the remnant of Dewdney-Alouette would be dominated by Mission. Given the rapid growth being experienced in the Fraser Valley at the time, which was expected to continue for the foreseeable future, the creation of the Fraser Valley Regional District was seen as the best option.[ citation needed ]

The Comox–Strathcona Regional District was abolished in February 2008 and replaced by two successor regional districts: Comox Valley and Strathcona. [12]

The Peace River–Liard Regional District was created October 31, 1967, when the regional district system was first being established. On October 31, 1987, it was split into the Peace River Regional District and the Fort Nelson–Liard Regional District, which since has become the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality. [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lower Mainland</span> Region in British Columbia, Canada

The Lower Mainland is a geographic and cultural region of the mainland coast of British Columbia that generally comprises the regional districts of Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. Home to approximately 3.05 million people as of the 2021 Canadian census, the Lower Mainland contains sixteen of the province's 30 most populous municipalities and approximately 60% of the province's total population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mission, British Columbia</span> City in British Columbia, Canada

Mission is a city in the Lower Mainland of the province of British Columbia, Canada. It was originally incorporated as a district municipality in 1892, growing to include additional villages and rural areas over the years, adding the original Town of Mission City, long an independent core of the region, in 1969. It is bordered by the city of Abbotsford to the south and the city of Maple Ridge to the west. To the east are the unincorporated areas of Hatzic and Dewdney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital Regional District</span> Regional district in British Columbia, Canada

The Capital Regional District (CRD) is a local government administrative district encompassing the southern tip of Vancouver Island and the southern Gulf Islands in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The CRD is one of several regional districts in British Columbia and had an official population of 415,451 as of the Canada 2021 Census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Index of British Columbia–related articles</span>

The following is an alphabetical list of articles related to the Canadian province of British Columbia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regional district</span> Administrative subdivision in British Columbia

In the province of British Columbia in Canada, a regional district is an administrative subdivision of the province that consists of a geographic region with specific boundaries and governmental authority. As of January 2020, there were 28 regional districts in the province.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fraser Valley Regional District</span> Regional district in British Columbia, Canada

The Fraser Valley Regional District (FVRD) is a regional district in British Columbia, Canada. Its headquarters are in the city of Chilliwack. The FVRD covers an area of 13,361.74 km² (5,159 sq mi). It was created in 1995 by an amalgamation of the Fraser-Cheam Regional District and Central Fraser Valley Regional District and the portion of the Dewdney-Alouette Regional District from and including the District of Mission eastwards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of British Columbia</span> Overview of the geography of British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost province of Canada, bordered by the Pacific Ocean. With an area of 944,735 km2 (364,764 sq mi) it is Canada's third-largest province. The province is almost four times the size of the United Kingdom and larger than every United States state except Alaska. It is bounded on the northwest by the U.S. state of Alaska, directly north by Yukon and the Northwest Territories, on the east by Alberta, and on the south by the U.S. states of Washington, Idaho, and Montana. Formerly part of the British Empire, the southern border of British Columbia was established by the 1846 Oregon Treaty. The province is dominated by mountain ranges, among them the Canadian Rockies but dominantly the Coast Mountains, Cassiar Mountains, and the Columbia Mountains. Most of the population is concentrated on the Pacific coast, notably in the area of Vancouver, located on the southwestern tip of the mainland, which is known as the Lower Mainland. It is the most mountainous province of Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chilliwack (electoral district)</span> Provincial electoral district in British Columbia, Canada

Chilliwack has been a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia since 1916. Incorporating slightly different boundaries, it was the successor riding to the Chilliwhack riding the name of which was based on the older spelling of the name.

An electoral redistribution was undertaken in 2008 in British Columbia in a process that began in late 2005 and was completed with the passage of the Electoral Districts Act, 2008 on April 10, 2008. The redistribution modified most electoral boundaries in the province and increased the number of MLAs from 79 to 85. The electoral boundaries created by the redistribution were first used in the 2009 provincial election.

Dewdney, originally named Johnson's Landing from 1884–1892, is an unincorporated community in the Central Fraser Valley of British Columbia, Canada, about 15 km east of the city of Mission. It was incorporated as a district municipality on April 17, 1892, including adjoining areas of Hatzic and Hatzic Island but the anticipated real estate boom on that island didn't pan out and economic damage from the Great Fraser Flood of 1894 led to the municipality's disincorporation on March 12, 1906. Another municipality eastwards, Nicomen, was incorporated in the same year but similarly later disincorporated. Though in the same school district as Mission, it and other adjoining rural areas did not join that municipality when offered. It is now represented as part of Electoral Area 'G' in the regional district government, which currently is the Fraser Valley Regional District.

The Dewdney-Alouette Regional District was a regional district in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada, comprising the district municipalities of Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and Mission and unincorporated areas east to the Harrison River and north to the southern end of Lillooet Lake. The regional district was partitioned when the Greater Vancouver Regional District was expanded in 1995 to take in Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge; the regional district's eastern half was combined with the former Central Fraser Valley Regional District and the Regional District of Fraser-Cheam to form the Fraser Valley Regional District.

Matsqui is a former district municipality in British Columbia, Canada. It was incorporated in 1892 and merged with the district municipality of Abbotsford in 1995 to create the new City of Abbotsford. Matsqui used to be the western part of what is now Abbotsford. It had commercial growth in the Clearbrook area which then spilled over to Abbotsford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don McRae (politician)</span> Canadian politician

Don McRae is a Former Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada, and a member of the BC Liberal Party. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly from the riding of Comox Valley in the 2009 provincial election. After serving nearly 2 years on the backbenches he was appointed Minister of Agriculture on March 14, 2011, in Premier Christy Clark's first cabinet. On September 5, 2012, he was appointed as the Minister of Education. In addition to his ministerial roles, he sat on the Environment and Land Use Committee and the Cabinet Committee on Open Government and Engagement. He introduced one piece of legislation, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Amendment Act, 2011.

The Central Fraser Valley Regional District was a regional district in the province of British Columbia, Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region, south of the Fraser River and west of Chilliwack. It comprised the Township and City of Langley, the Village of Abbotsford, and the Districts of Matsqui and Sumas, plus adjoining unincorporated areas.

An electoral redistribution in British Columbia was undertaken by the BC Electoral Boundaries Commission beginning in 2014 and was formalized by the passage of Bill 42, the 2015 Electoral Districts Act, during the 40th British Columbia Parliament. The act came into effect on November 17, 2015. The redistribution added two seats to the previous total, increasing the number of MLAs in the province from 85 to 87. The electoral boundaries came into effect for the 2017 election. The next redistribution is required to occur following the 2020 British Columbia general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 British Columbia municipal elections</span>

The 2022 British Columbia municipal elections were held on 15 October 2022. Municipal elections took place in all municipalities and regional district electoral areas in the Canadian province of British Columbia to elect mayors, school board trustees, rural directors and city councillors. Elections BC administered campaign financing, disclosure and advertisement of candidates; however, voting, ballots and candidate nominations were administered by each jurisdiction's local electoral officer.

An electoral redistribution in British Columbia is underway by the BC Electoral Boundaries Commission. On October 21, 2021, the Government of British Columbia appointed Justice Nitya Iyer, Linda Tynan and Chief Electoral Officer Anton Boegman to serve as the 2021 commissioners. Justice Iyer was appointed the chair.

References

  1. "Regional Districts in B.C." Regional Districts in B.C. Province of British Columbia. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  2. Bish, Robert L.; Clemens, Eric G. (2008). Local Government in British Columbia (PDF). Richmond: Union of British Columbia Municipalities. p. 45.
  3. British Columbia Ministry of Community Services, "Primer on Regional Districts in British Columbia," 2006. Archived 2007-07-03 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Municipal and sub-provincial areas population, 2011 to 2019". Government of British Columbia. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  5. "BC Geographical Names".
  6. Population Estimates - Province of British Columbia
  7. "2016 British Columbia Census Total Population Results". Archived from the original on 2019-07-24. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
  8. As Greater Vancouver Regional District
  9. As Powell River Regional District
  10. BC STATS: Statistical Glossary Archived 2009-06-26 at the Wayback Machine . Accessed online June 13, 2009.
  11. ALR Statistics Appendix 3 Archived 2006-10-07 at the Wayback Machine
  12. Regional District and Municipal Boundary Changes, 1996 to Present Archived 2011-06-11 at the Wayback Machine . Accessed online June 13, 2009.
  13. BC Names/GeoBC "Peace River-Liard Regional District"