Diane Gregar

H I S TO R Y & D I V E R S I T Y British Columbia (BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, with a population of more than four million people; it is nestled perfectly between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. The first British settlement, established in 1843, was Fort Victoria, which later became Victoria, the capital of BC. Richard Clement Moody, who founded the Colony of British Columbia, was handpicked by the Colonial Office in London to transform British Columbia into the “second England on the shores of the Pacific.” Moody selected Vancouver Island and founded the original capital of BC, New Westminster, and designed the first coat of arms. For his efforts, Port Moody was named after him.

In 1866, Vancouver Island became a part of the colony, and Victoria was named the colony’s capital. By 1871, British Columbia had become the sixth province of Canada. Its Latin motto is Splendor sine occasu (“Splendour without Diminishment”). To this day, Victoria remains the capital and is the 15th largest metropolitan region in Canada; Vancouver is the third-largest metropolitan area and the largest in Western Canada.

BC’s economy is as diverse as its topography, with service industries accounting for the largest portion of the province’s GDP. It is the endpoint of the transcontinental railways, and the site of major Pacific ports that enable international trade. Though less than 5% of its land is arable, the province is agriculturally rich (particularly in the Fraser and Okanagan Valleys). Vancouver also serves as the headquarters of many western-based natural resource companies. It also benefits from a strong housing market and a per capita income well above the national average. The weather can be milder near the coast and in certain sheltered southern valleys; the climate encourages outdoor recreation and tourism, though BC’s economic mainstay has long been resource extraction, principally logging, farming, and mining. While the coast of British Columbia and certain valleys in the south-central part of the province have mild weather, the majority of its land mass experiences a cold-winter-temperate climate similar to that of the rest of Canada. The Northern Interior region has a subarctic climate with very cold winters. The climate of Vancouver is by far the mildest winter climate of the major Canadian cities, with colder nighttime winter temperatures averaging above the freezing point.

A majority (over 50%) of the population claim their ethnic origin as being from one of the main British nations (England, Scotland, or Wales). However, of the provinces, BC has the highest proportion of minorities, representing over 20% of its population. Asians by far are the largest visible minority demographic, with many of the Lower Mainland’s large cities having sizeable Chinese, Southeast Asian, Japanese, Filipino, and Korean communities. Also present in large numbers are many European ethnicities of the first and second generation, notably Germans, Scandinavians, Yugoslavs, and Italians. Third-generation Europeans are generally of mixed lineage, and traditionally intermarried with other European groups more than in any other Canadian province.