Port McNeill | |
---|---|
Town of Port McNeill [1] | |
Coordinates: 50°35′25″N127°05′05″W / 50.59028°N 127.08472°W | |
Country | Canada |
Province | British Columbia |
Region | Vancouver Island |
Regional district | Mount Waddington |
Founded | 1936 |
Incorporated | 1966 |
Government | |
• Governing body | Port McNeill Town Council |
• Mayor | James Furney |
Area | |
• Total | 13.77 km2 (5.32 sq mi) |
Elevation | 10 m (30 ft) |
Population (2021 [2] ) | |
• Total | 2,356 |
• Density | 170/km2 (440/sq mi) |
Time zone | UTC−8 (PST) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC−7 (PDT) |
Postal code | V0N 2R0 |
Area code(s) | 250, 778 |
Highways | 19 |
Waterways | Johnstone Strait, Queen Charlotte Strait |
Climate | Cfb |
Website | portmcneill |
Port McNeill is a town in the North Island region of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada [3] 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.
In the 2021 Census of Population by Statistics Canada, Port McNeill's population was 2,356, living in 1,019 of its 1,111 total private dwellings, 0.8% higher than its 2016 population of 2,337. With a land area of 13.77 km2 (5.32 sq mi), it had a population density of 171.1/km2 (443.1/sq mi) in 2021. [4]
According to the 2021 census, religious groups in Port McNeill included: [5]
Along with housing the headquarters of the Regional District of Mount Waddington, Port McNeill is a central hub for all of North Vancouver Island.[ citation needed ] It offers the only access to the villages of Alert Bay (Cormorant Island) and Sointula (Malcolm Island) via BC Ferries which run daily. Port McNeill Airport is five minutes to the south on highway 19.
The town is also a popular summer tourism destination. There is a large population of wildlife including black bear, cougar, elk and deer. The town has a museum and a history centred on the area's logging history.
Logging remains the primary employer in Port McNeill, accounting for 25.7% of the labour force [6] and contributing about 8% of the total BC timber harvest. [7] The main contractors are Western Forest Products and LeMare Lake Logging. Port McNeill is also the home of the world's largest burl. [8]
Orca Sand & Gravel LP, the largest sand and gravel quarry in the northern hemisphere, opened here in February 2007. Material is shipped via 70,000 tonne container ships to ports in California and Hawaii and via 7000 tonne barges to Vancouver. [9]
Kwagis Power, owned by Brookfield Renewable Power and the 'Namgis First Nation, built a 45-megawatt hydroelectric facility on the Kokish River near Port McNeill. The Steelhead Society of B.C. and the Western Canada Wilderness Committee opposed the project. The project was finished in early 2014. [10] [11]
Port McNeill is the hometown of Willie Mitchell, a former NHL defenceman, and the birthplace of former NHL defenceman Clayton Stoner. It is also the hometown of Thomas Symons, [12] Canada's rookie representation at the 2022 STIHL World Timbersports Championship, which began May 27 in Vienna, Austria. [13]
The first, second and fourth seasons of the History channel television show Alone were filmed in the forest outside Port McNeill. The third season filmed in Patagonia and featured local resident Megan Hanacek. [14]
British Columbia is the westernmost province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, forests, lakes, mountains, inland deserts and grassy plains. British Columbia borders the province of Alberta to the east; the territories of Yukon and Northwest Territories to the north; the U.S. states of Washington, Idaho and Montana to the south, and Alaska to the northwest. With an estimated population of over 5.6 million as of 2024, it is Canada's third-most populous province. The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, while the province's largest city is Vancouver. Vancouver and its suburbs together make up the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada, with the 2021 census recording 2.6 million people in Metro Vancouver. British Columbia is Canada's third-largest province in terms of total area, after Quebec and Ontario.
Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is 456 km (283 mi) in length, 100 km (62 mi) in width at its widest point, and 32,100 km2 (12,400 sq mi) in total area, while 31,285 km2 (12,079 sq mi) are of land. The island is the largest by area and the most populous along the west coasts of the Americas.
Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard Inlet with its Indian Arm to the north, Port Moody and Coquitlam to the east, New Westminster and Surrey across the Fraser River to the southeast, and Richmond on the Lulu Island to the southwest.
Port Alberni is a city located on Vancouver Island in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The city lies within the Alberni Valley at the head of the Alberni Inlet, Vancouver Island's longest inlet. Port Alberni currently has a total population of 18,259.
Delta is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, as part of Greater Vancouver. Located on the Fraser Lowland south of Fraser River's south arm, it is bordered by the city of Richmond on the Lulu Island to the north, New Westminster to the northeast, Surrey to the east, the Boundary Bay and the American pene-exclave Point Roberts to the south, and the Strait of Georgia to the west.
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.
Sooke is a district municipality on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, Canada, 38 kilometres (24 mi) by road from Victoria, the capital of British Columbia. Sooke, the westernmost of Greater Victoria's Western Communities, is to the north and west of the Sooke Basin. It is a regional centre for residents in neighbouring communities, including Otter Point, Shirley and Jordan River.
Powell River is a city on the northern Sunshine Coast of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Most of its population lives near the eastern shores of Malaspina Strait, which is part of the larger Georgia Strait between Vancouver Island and the Mainland. With two intervening long, steep-sided fjords inhibiting the construction of a contiguous road connection with Vancouver to the south, geographical surroundings explain Powell River's remoteness as a community, despite relative proximity to Vancouver and other populous areas of the BC Coast. The city is the location of the head office of the qathet Regional District.
Duncan is a city on southern Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. It is the smallest city by area in Canada. It was incorporated in 1912.
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.
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.
The Regional District of Mount Waddington (RDMW) is a regional district in British Columbia. It takes in the lower Central Coast region centred on the Queen Charlotte Strait coast of northern Vancouver Island and the adjoining parts of mainland British Columbia. It has a total land area of 20,288.4 km2 and a 2016 census population of 11,035 persons, most of which is in towns on Vancouver Island and adjoining islands. The administrative centre is in the town of Port McNeill. Other municipalities include the district municipality of Port Hardy, the village of Port Alice, and the village of Alert Bay.
Holberg is a former ferry terminal about 35 kilometres (22 mi) from the northwest tip of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. This unincorporated community is at the head of Holberg Inlet, which forms the western arm of Quatsino Sound.
Port Clements is an incorporated village situated at the east end of Masset Inlet in Haida Gwaii off the coast of the Province of British Columbia in Canada. Known as Gamadiis in HlG̱aagilda X̱aayda kil, it is one of seven village sites that flourished in the rich waters at the mouth of Yakoun River, where an estuary shelters nine Pacific salmonid species and many kinds of birds. Founded by Eli Tingley in 1907, it was once known under the name Queenstown, but renamed to Port Clements in 1914 after Herb S. Clements, the local MP at the time, when the name "Queenstown" duplicated and therefore became unusable for the post office.
Port Alice is a village of approximately 739 located on Neroutsos Inlet, southwest of Port McNeill, on Vancouver Island, originally built by Whalen Pulp and Paper Mills of Vancouver. The community is known for its natural environment, pulp mill, and salt water fishing.
Woss, also commonly known as Woss Lake after the nearby lake of the same name, is a small village in the Nimpkish Valley, located 75 km (47 mi) southeast of Port McNeill and 128 km (80 mi) north of Campbell River on Highway 19, in northeastern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The estimated population of Woss and the Nimpkish Valley is 200. The town of Woss lies about 3 km north of Woss Lake, a long, narrow lake stretching about 10 km in a primarily north-south direction with a maximum width of about one km, the southern portion of which is part of Woss Lake Provincial Park.
Claire Felicity Trevena is a Canadian politician, who represented the North Island electoral district Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 2005 to 2020. During the 41st Parliament (2017-2020) she was appointed to the Executive Council to be the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure. She is a member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party and was first elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly in the 2005 election and re-elected in the 2009, 2013 and 2017 elections. In the 38th Parliament of British Columbia, she sat on the Special Committee on Sustainable Aquaculture and the Select Standing Committee on Public Accounts, as well as serving as the opposition critic on the Employment and Income Assistance ministry, followed by the critic on child care, early childhood development, and women's issues. In the 39th Parliament she acted as a deputy speaker before returning to her role as critic on the children and family development portfolio. In the 40th Parliament, she was the critic on transportation and BC Ferries and, in that role, produced a report comparing the BC Ferries system with the Washington State Ferries system and introduced the Provincial Shipbuilding Act in both 2014 and 2015 seeking to have future ferries constructed in Canada.
Beaver Cove is a small coastal community on Northern Vancouver Island, located on the cove of the same name. It is located at the mouth of the Kokish River, 18 km (11 mi) southeast of Port McNeill and 3 km (2 mi) up the inlet from Telegraph Cove.