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Qualicum Beach is a town located in the Regional District of
Nanaimo, British Columbia. As of the 2001 census, the town had a total
population of 6,920.
Located on the Strait of Georgia on the eastern coast of Vancouver
Island in the shadow of Mount Arrowsmith, the community has been a
popular tourist destination for residents of Victoria and Vancouver as
well as a retirement community. It is served by the Island Highway (the
main North-South highway on the Island) and by a daily train. The
community is dotted with rental cottages along the coastline. It has
the oldest average population in Canada.
Qualicum Beach, an attractive seaside town on the east coast of
Vancouver Island, began as a lumbering, summer resort and retirement
area.
The name "Qualicum" comes from a Coast Salish term that means "where the dog salmon run."
In May 1856 Hudson's Bay Company explorer Adam Grant Horne (b 1831,
Edinburgh, Scotland; d August 10, 1901 Nanaimo, BC), with a group of
aboriginal guides, found a land route across Vancouver Island from the
Qualicum River to the Alberni Inlet. He also discovered the Haida
massacre of local Salish natives. Horne Lake is named after him.
In 1864, the botanist and explorer, Dr. Robert Brown lead a group which
explored the area. A road was brought to Parksville in 1886 and
extended to Qualicum in 1894. The E and N Railway reached Parksville in
1910 and Qualicum in 1914. H.E. Beasley, a railway official, sponsored
the creation of The Merchants Trust and Trading Company which organized
the original layout of the town and built the golf links and a hotel in
1913.
A private boys' residential school, the Qualicum College was
established in 1935 by Robert Ivan Knight. The school grew through the
1960s but attendance diminished and it closed in 1970. The structure
exists today as a hotel and its playing fields have been turned into a
housing subdivision.
Doukhobor settlers moved to the adjoining Hilliers farming district in the 1930s.
Qualicum Beach was officially incorporated as a village on May 5, 1942
and was changed to town status on January 7, 1983. The area is growing
quickly with new suburbs and major new highway. Currently, it is a
favourite retirement and golfing community.
Municipal government of the Town of Qualicum Beach is structured like
the American council-manager form of government. It is headed by a
mayor (who also represents Qualicum Beach on the governing board of the
Regional District of Nanaimo) and a four-member council. These
positions are subject to at-large elections every three years as
provided by British Columbia law. The current mayor, Teunis
Westbroek, was first elected in 1999, re-elected by acclamation in 2002
and again re-elected in a contested election in 2005. School board
trustees, for representation on School District 69 Qualicum, are
also elected by residents of the town, the City of Parksville and the
surrounding area. The town funds a volunteer fire department, which
services the town and nearby rural communities. The town has a local
ambulance station. Hospital services are provided by Nanaimo Regional
General Hospital in Nanaimo.
Qualicum Beach is part of the Alberni-Qualicum provincial electoral
district, represented by Scott Fraser of the New Democratic Party in
the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. He was first elected in
the 2005 provincial election. Federally, Qualicum Beach, located in the
Nanaimo—Alberni riding, is represented in the Canadian House of Commons
by Conservative Party Member of Parliament James Lunney, who was first
elected in 2000 and has been re-elected in 2004 and 2006.
Qualicum Beach is considered a retirement town with the median age
being slightly over 58, but the number of families in the area is
increasing. The town does have a great swimming pool, excellent
baseball diamonds, a bike track and also boasts a skateboard park that
is located by the pool and ball diamonds. It is served by Kwalikum
Secondary School, a middle school and an elementary school.
Highway 19A, known as the Oceanside route or the Old Island Highway,
runs the length of the town along the shore line of the Strait of
Georgia. The modern 4 lane Inland Island Highway, (Highway 19), passes
nearby. The Qualicum Beach exit is also its junction with Highway 4,
which runs through Cathedral Grove to Port Alberni and on to Tofino,
Ucluelet, Bamfield and the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve on the
west coast of the Island. KD Air offers daily service to Vancouver and
other locations from the Qualicum Beach Airport. The E&N Railway
offers daily passenger service, departing Victoria each morning,
stopping in Qualicum Beach en route to Courtenay and returning to
Victoria in the afternoon. The town has no marina or harbour but does
offer a launching area for trailered boats. French Creek Harbour, is 5
kilometres (3 mi) south on Highway 19A.
According to the 2001 Canadian census, Qualicum Beach had 6,920 residents living in 3,509 households. Qualicum Beach residents' median age of 58.1 years, the highest in all of Canada with 38.0% of residents are over 65 years old, which is much more than the 13.6% province-wide average. Protestantism (51%) and Catholicism (14%) are the dominant religions. About 2.6% of residents reported themselves as being visible minorities (significantly lower than the 21% provincial average). The population density is 556.0 people per square kilometre (1,440/sq mi). Provincial government estimates put the population at 8,807 in 2005.
According to Statistics Canada, the town has a total area of 12.45 square kilometers (4.80 sq mi) as of 2001.
Qualicum Beach is located on the Nanaimo lowlands, a narrow plain which
lies between the Georgia Basin to the east and the Vancouver Island
Ranges to the west. Landforms were significantly affected by the most
recent advance of glacial ice which occurred about 18,000 to 19,000
years ago.
The area has cool wet winters with 80 to 85% of the precipitation
falling between October and April. The average annual precipitation is
1,314 millimetres (51.73 in). Mean daily temperature range from 1°C to
3°C (34°F–37°F) in January with cloud and rain from north Pacific air
masses dominating the winter weather. High pressure ridges over the
mainland can block easterly air flows bringing snow and freezing
tempearatures during winter but do not persist as moist westerly winds
bring above freezing temperatures. North Pacific high pressure cells
influence summer weather which is warm, dry and cloudless. July and
August have mean precipitation of 17 millimetres (0.67 in) and mean
maximum temperatures of 25°C (77°F). Although winter precipitation
results in surplus moisture at the start of the growing season, summer,
particularly July and August, are drought prone. With the longest
freeze free days in Canada, at 180 days per year, the Nanaimo lowlands
area is favourable for agriculture. The area is within the small
Coastal Douglas Fir biogeograpic zone which is considered to be the
finest climate in Canada. The Vancouver Island Ranges, an inland range
mountains which includes nearby Mount Arrowsmith, shadows rainfall.
This biogeographic area can support Garry Oak and Arbutus which do not
exist elsewhere in Canada. Wildlife include: black-tailed deer,
Roosevelt elk, black bear, and Cougar; although with the presence of
human population deer, racoons and other rodents remain prevalent. Soil
types in the area, classified as Orthic Dystric Brunisols, vary from
marginal to unsuitable for agriculture as they tend to be gravelly loam
with fertility limited by aridity and stoniness but are suitable for
urban use.
