Elkford is a

district municipality A district municipality is a designation for a class of municipalities found in several locations, including Canada, Lithuania, and South Africa. Canada British Columbia Under provincial law, municipalities in British Columbia are to be desig ...

in the southeast region of the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

in the

Rocky Mountain The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

range. It is north of the junction at

Sparwood Sparwood is a district municipality in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the second-largest community on the Elk River. Located approximately 30 kilometres from Fernie, the District Municipality of Sparwood has approximately 4,2 ...

, on provincial Highway 43. Outdoor recreational activities take place in Elkford throughout the year. Elkford hosts an annual festival called Wildcat Days during the last weekend of June. The town and area have many kilometres of horse riding, hiking, snowmobiling and cross country ski trails, and a ski hill, Wapiti, run by Elkford resident volunteers. The Elkford Aquatic Centre has a competition-size pool, hot tub and sauna. There are two public schools

Rocky Mountain Elementary School School District 5 Southeast Kootenay is a school district in British Columbia. It covers the southeast corner of the province up to the Alberta and Montana borders. This includes the major centres of Cranbrook, Fernie, Elkford, and Sparwood. Hi ...

and

Elkford Secondary School Elkford Secondary is a public high school in Elkford, British Columbia part of School District 5 Southeast Kootenay School District 5 Southeast Kootenay is a school district in British Columbia. It covers the southeast corner of the province up ...

with a combined student population of 400 in January 2006. There are five open-pit coal mines within an hour's drive of Elkford: Fording River Operations (FRO), Greenhills Operations (GHO), Line Creek Operations (LCO), Elkview Operations (EVO) and Coal Mountain Operations (CMO). All mines belong to

Teck Resources Teck Resources Limited, known as Teck Cominco until late 2008, is a diversified natural resources company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, that is engaged in mining and mineral development, including coal for the steelmaking indust ...

. Elkford was created due to mining activity, in the early 1970s. Many Elkford residents work for the mines or as contractors; other residents work in service industries directly related to the mines. The Fording River Operations (FRO) mine is located on the

Continental Divide of the Americas The Continental Divide of the Americas (also known as the Great Divide, the Western Divide or simply the Continental Divide; ) is the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas. The Continental Divide extends from t ...

, known as the Great Divide. A coal seam close to Aldridge Creek, north of Elkford, has been burning for decades and is known to residents of the area as "The Burning Coal Seam."Elkford Chamber of Commerce
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Demographics

In the

2021 Canadian census The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sl ...

conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, Elkford had a population of 2,749 living in 1,159 of its 1,602 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 2,499. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Religion

According to the 2021 census, religious groups in Elkford included: *

Irreligion Irreligion or nonreligion is the absence or rejection of religion, or indifference to it. Irreligion takes many forms, ranging from the casual and unaware to full-fledged philosophies such as atheism and agnosticism, secular humanism and a ...

(1,530 persons or 55.7%) *

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

(1,195 persons or 43.5%) *

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

(10 persons or 0.4%) *Other (10 persons or 0.4%)

Local media

Radio stations

* 99.1 FM - CJDR, Classic Rock * 92.7 FM - CFBZ, Country * 97.7 FM - CBTN,

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

* 106.9 FM - CJAY, Rock * 90.1 FM - ..., Hip-hop/Hits * 93.5 FM rock * 92.9 FM rock *107.9 FM summit 107

Cable television stations

* Channel 10:

Shaw TV Shaw Spotlight (formerly Shaw TV) is the name of locally based community channel services operated by cable TV provider Shaw Communications. The channels are available only to Shaw Cable subscribers and are produced in communities throughout w ...

* Channel 5: CFCN, CTV * Channel 13:

CBUT CBUT-DT (channel 2) is a television station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, serving as the West Coast flagship of CBC Television. It is part of a twinstick with Ici Radio-Canada Télé station CBUFT-DT (channel 26). Both stations sh ...

, CBC

In popular culture

Elkford is the setting of ''

Braceface ''Braceface'' is an animated television series that aired on Teletoon in Canada and the Fox Family Channel in the U.S. The series was produced by Nelvana and Jade Animation, the show features actress Alicia Silverstone from the movie ''Clueless'' ...

'', an animated children's television series that aired in the early 2000s.

References

External links

* {{authority control District municipalities in British Columbia Elk Valley (British Columbia) Populated places in the Regional District of East Kootenay