Victoria

Victoria, western Canada's oldest city, is the capital of the province of British Columbia. Although it was the province's largest and wealthiest city in the nineteenth century, it has since been outpaced by nearby Vancouver. Victoria has cultivated a reputation as the most British-influenced of Canadian cities, while gradually growing more diverse in recognizing its First Nations culture.

Landscape

Victoria is located at the southeasternmost tip of Vancouver Island, its residents looking out over the Juan de Fuca strait. It is actually situated below the forty-ninth parallel, the conventional line of latitude that marks the border between Canada and the United States. The island, the largest coastal island of North America, fits in the northwestern cleft of Washington State.

Victoria's climate is remarkably temperate, and has even been described as Mediterranean. In winter, temperatures remain around freezing, and in the summer, temperatures rarely rise above 80 degrees Fahrenheit. It's often called "the land of no snow," and is a favorite vacation spot for Canadians. In the summer, conditions are drought-like, in sharp contrast to the very wet winter season.

The island as a whole is a mountainous rainforest, filled with cedar, Douglas fir, and hemlock. Victoria is protected from the harsh rainstorms of Vancouver Island's west coast by the spine of mountains that runs through the center of the island. In fact, the overwhelming majority of the citizens live in or around Victoria, the west side of the island accessible mainly by sea or air.

People

Victoria's relatively favorable climate and geography meant that the quality of life for the region's native settlers was better than in other regions. The west coast was settled mostly by the Gitksan and Haida tribes, who subsisted on fish, furs, and game. The good climate and plentiful supply of nearby game meant that the tribes could stay in one place, unlike the roaming tribes of the plains who followed the bison, or the woodland tribes of eastern Canada who specialized in portable birch bark canoes.

The plentiful cedar in the region was used for both houses and seventy-foot long ocean-worthy canoes, and later fueled the forestry industry. The native tradition of decorating, carving, and painting everything from their everyday tools to towering totem poles can be seen throughout the city, especially at Beacon Hill Park, just outside the city. Previously considered stereotypically British, Victoria has more recently refashioned itself as a mixture of British, Asian, and native Pacific rim cultures.

As of the 2016 census, the population of Victoria was 85,792. Chinese are the largest visible minority group, making up about 4.5 percent of the population. The Aboriginal population, comprising First Nations people and Métis, accounted for about 5.8 percent of the population. In contrast to other areas of Canada, less than 2 percent of the population of Victoria counted French as their mother tongue.

The Greater Victoria metropolitan area (population 367,000) spreads out to include neighboring municipalities like Oak Bay, Saanich, and Esquimalt. Oak Bay is known as the area's most British neighborhood, and is referred to by local citizens as "behind the tweed curtain." The British influence can be seen in the tradition of afternoon tea, a late afternoon snack of hot tea and cakes or sandwiches. Tourists often ride around in double-decker buses, and there are even a few remaining British-style red phone booths and gardens.

Victoria is also home to Canada's oldest and best-preserved Chinatown. The Chinatown grew out of the gold rush of 1858, and the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and a vibrant culture still remains. One entrance to Chinatown is marked by the Gate of Harmonious Interest, made of ceramic tiles and panels from Taiwan. Parts of Chinatown that used to be known for gambling and opium, such as the Fan Tan Alley, are now filled with shops.

Economy

The contemporary economy of Victoria is based on government, retirement, and tourism, centered on the city's pleasant climate and historic downtown. In 2016, the workforce participation rate was about 63.6 percent. In October 2021, Victoria had approximately 4.4 percent unemployment, according to Statistics Canada. Since it is the provincial capital, a sizable proportion of the population works for the government. Other large employers include the Vancouver Island Health Authority and the Department of National Defence, which has its western base in the nearby town of Esquimalt.

Victoria has a handful of universities, most notably the University of Victoria. In keeping with the area's compact, small-town character, the average commuting distance for employees is less than three miles. Walking and biking are common modes of transit.

Shipbuilding and repair is another important economic sector. Forestry has been a lucrative, if also environmentally controversial, area of business for decades. More recently, the city's economy has grown to include machine manufacturing as well as a research center devoted to agricultural, marine, and forestry study.

Most visitors either fly or take a ferry to get to Victoria. It takes about an hour and a half to get to Victoria from Vancouver by ferry. There is also ferry service to Washington State. The ferry from Seattle takes about two and a half hours. Victoria has Canada's only water-based airport, and also boasts the world's only inter-city Helijet service.

Landmarks

Being the seat of the provincial government, Victoria has a few key landmarks in its modest, well-tended skyline. The first of these is the Fairmont Empress Hotel, a château-style hotel built in 1904 by architect Frances Rottenbury. The Edwardian building anchors downtown Victoria and overlooks the city's Inner Harbour, as do the Parliamentary Buildings, also built by Rottenbury.

The Parliamentary Buildings replaced a series of smaller buildings that had served as the provincial government's headquarters in the nineteenth century. The buildings are now outlined at night by some 3,300 lights, which are reflected by the harbor.

Another major site in the city is the Royal British Columbia Museum. The museum is renowned throughout Canada for its First Nations exhibit, which chronicles the various native tribes that first inhabited the region. It features a Kwakwaka'wakw longhouse, as well as native masks. Thunderbird Park, located next to it in the heart of the city, contains numerous painted totem poles.

The Emily Carr House Museum is housed in the former residence of the famous Canadian artist and writer, known for her paintings of the wilds of the British Columbia mainland.

Victoria also boasts the West Coast's oldest lighthouse, which has been incorporated into the Fort Rodd Hill & Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic Site, just beyond the downtown area. The fort was an artillery fortress used for forty-one years, between 1895 and 1956, and features secret bunkers as well as artillery.

History

Before the British arrived in what is now Victoria, the area was occupied by tribes such as the Kwakiutl and Nootka for approximately 12,000 years. The natives had called the spot "camosack," meaning "rush of water."

The city began as an outpost for the Hudson's Bay Company in 1843. Because of the British monarchy's concern over the US-Canadian boundary line being drawn at the forty-ninth parallel, the queen gave Vancouver Island to the company for their use. By June of that year, Fort Albert was renamed Fort Victoria, in honor of Queen Victoria, and the Hudson's Bay Company began colonization of the area.

Victoria, which became a city in 1852, was then the only ocean port and supply location with access to the Cariboo gold fields. The area was soon flooded by eager prospectors from the United States and elsewhere, on their way to the Fraser and Thompson Rivers on the British Columbia mainland. A city of tents sprouted up around the modest city, and a land boom followed.

In 1866, Vancouver Island joined British Columbia to form a single territory, due in part to British fears of an American takeover of the mainland and its gold. In 1871, British Columbia became the sixth province in the Dominion of Canada, with Victoria retaining its status as the capital.

For most of the nineteenth century, Victoria was British Columbia's largest and most advanced city in terms of trade and commerce. But with the construction of the transcontinental railway, Vancouver began to grow into the west coast's largest city, because the terminus of the railway was on the mainland.

With its smaller, quieter way of life, Victoria was no worse for Vancouver's growth during the twentieth century. It has become a historic but small, modern but varied Canadian city, and a unique mixture of the dominant cultures that have shaped it over the past two centuries.

Trivia

• Victoria's Visgard Lighthouse is the oldest, still functioning lighthouse on Canada's west coast. It stands near Fort Rodd Hill, a coastal artillery fort built in 1895.
• A variety of wildlife can be seen off of the city's eastern coastal waters, including orcas (or "killer whales"), humpback whales, seals, sea lions, and porpoises.
• The Craigdarroch Castle was built for the coal baron Robert Dunsmuir, though he died in 1889 before its completion. It is now museum, dedicated to preserving life as it was in the nineteenth century.
• Beacon Hill Park has the world's largest totem pole.

Bibliography

City of Victoria, www.victoria.ca/. Accessed 9 Nov. 2021.

"Fort Rodd Hill and Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic Sites." Parks Canada, 2 Nov. 2021, www.pc.gc.ca/en/lhn-nhs/bc/fortroddhill. Accessed 9 Nov. 2021.

HelloBC.com, Destination BC, 2021, www.hellobc.com. Accessed 9 Nov. 2021.

"Labour Market Snapshots: October 2021." Work BC, British Columbia, Oct. 2021, www.workbc.ca/labour-market-industry/b-c-s-economy/labour-market-snapshots.aspx. Accessed 9 Nov. 2021.

Robinson, J. Lewis. "British Columbia." The Canadian Encyclopedia, 26 May 2020, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/british-columbia/. Accessed 9 Nov. 2021.