Nelson is a city located in the Selkirk Mountains on the West Arm of Kootenay Lake in the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Known as "The Queen City", and acknowledged for its impressive collection of restored heritage buildings from its glory days in a regional silver rush, Nelson is one of the three cities forming the commercial and population core of the West Kootenay region, the others being Castlegar and Trail. The city is the seat of the Regional District of Central Kootenay. It is represented in the provincial legislature by the riding of Nelson-Creston, and in the Parliament of Canada by the riding of Kootenay—Columbia.
The Kootenays or Kootenay is a region of southeastern British Columbia. It takes its name from the Kootenay River, which in turn was named for the Kutenai First Nations people.
Highway 3A is the designation of two segments of highway in the southern part of British Columbia.
Kootenay—Columbia is a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1997.
Kootenay Lake is a lake located in British Columbia, Canada. It is part of the Kootenay River. The lake has been raised by the Corra Linn Dam and has a dike system at the southern end, which, along with industry in the 1950s–70s, has changed the ecosystem in and around the water. The Kootenay Lake ferry is a year-round toll-free ferry that crosses between Kootenay Bay and Balfour. The lake is a popular summer tourist destination.
Creston is a town in the Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia, Canada.
The Regional District of Central Kootenay (RDCK) is a regional district in the province of British Columbia, Canada. As of the 2016 census, the population was 59,517. The area is 22,130.72 square kilometres. The administrative centre is located in the city of Nelson. Other municipalities include the City of Castlegar, the Town of Creston, the Village of Salmo, the Village of Nakusp, the Village of Kaslo, the Village of New Denver, the Village of Silverton, the Village of Ymir and the Village of Slocan.
British Columbia Southern Interior was a federal electoral district in the province of British Columbia, Canada, that had been represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1997 to 2015.
Yale–Cariboo was a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1896 to 1917.
Nelson-Creston is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada. It made its first appearance on the hustings in the general election of 1933 following a redistribution of the earlier Nelson riding.
Kaslo-Slocan was the name of a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia centred on the town of Kaslo on Kootenay Lake as well as the mining towns of the "Silvery Slocan". The riding first appeared in the 1924 election as the result of a merger of the former ridings of Kaslo and Slocan, and lasted until the 1963 election.
Kaslo is a village on the west shore of Kootenay Lake in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. A member municipality of the Central Kootenay Regional District, the name derives from the adjacent Kaslo River. At 2016, the population was 968, and the village is regarded as the "Little Switzerland of Canada."
Selkirk College is a public community college founded in 1966, with its main campus in Castlegar BC. The college has student housing at its Castlegar and Nelson campuses. Students frequently struggle to find accommodation. The college has seen shrinking enrolment for the past seven years, dropping from 1,987 FTE students in 2015/16 to 1,239 in 2022/23. International students currently account for 11% of total student headcount, a decrease of 3% over the past five years, the lowest rate for a public BC college. Indigenous students comprise 8% of total student numbers.
Balfour is an unincorporated community in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. The ferry terminal and former steamboat landing is on the north shore at the entrance to the West Arm of Kootenay Lake. The locality, on BC Highway 3A, is about 33 kilometres (21 mi) northeast of Nelson.
Winlaw is an unincorporated community adjacent to Winlaw Creek on the east side of the Slocan River in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. The locality is on BC Highway 6 about 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of Slocan, and 49 kilometres (30 mi) north of Castlegar.
West Kootenay Transit System is the public transit system in Trail, Castlegar, Nelson, British Columbia and surrounding area. The transit services are operated from Trail, Castlegar, Nelson and serve Rossland, Warfield, Genelle, Montrose, Fruitvale, Salmo, Kaslo, Creston, Nakusp. Funding is provided under a partnership between the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary, Regional District of Central Kootenay and BC Transit. handyDART provides door-to-door transportation for people whose disability prevents them from using conventional bus service.
The Moyie is a paddle steamer sternwheeler that worked on Kootenay Lake in British Columbia, Canada from 1898 until 1957.
Michelle Mungall is a Canadian politician, who represented the Nelson-Creston electoral district Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 2009 to 2020. She is a member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party and was first elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly in the 2009 election and re-elected in the 2013 and 2017 elections. During the 41st Parliament (2017-2020) she served in the Executive Council as the Minister for Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, and for several months in 2020 as the Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Competitiveness. In the ministerial role she led the government through adopting the Zero- Emission Vehicles Act to require that by the year 2040 all new light-duty vehicle sales in BC must be zero-emission vehicles. She also led the government through amending several energy, mines and petroleum resource-related acts, including implementing recommendations from a comprehensive review of BC Hydro.
Crawford Bay is a community of approximately 350 people, situated in the Purcell mountain range on the eastern shore of Kootenay Lake in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. This location on Highyway 3A is 76 kilometres (47 mi) by road north of Creston and 48 kilometres (29.8 mi) by road and ferry northeast across Kootenay Lake from Nelson.
