Port McNeill is a town in the North Island region of

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are o ...

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, ...

, Canada with a population of 2,356 (2021). Located on Vancouver Island's north-east shore on

Queen Charlotte Strait , image = Canadian pilot, near Port Hardy BC.jpg , alt = , caption = A pilot boat plies Queen Charlotte Strait near Port Hardy , image_bathymetry = Locmap-QCS-Hecate-Dixon.png , alt_bathymetry = ...

, it was originally a base camp for loggers. Port McNeill became a settlement in 1936. The town was named after Captain

William Henry McNeill William Henry McNeill (7 July 1803 – 4 September 1875) was best known for his 1830 expedition as the captain of the brig ''Llama'' (also spelled ''Lama''), which sailed from Boston, Massachusetts, United States, around Cape Horn, to the Pacific ...

of the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population 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 ...

, Port McNeill had a population of 2,356 living in 1,019 of its 1,111 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 2,337. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Religion

According to the 2021 census, religious groups in Port McNeill 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 ...

(1,545 persons or 65.9%) *

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 ...

(730 persons or 31.1%) *

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%)

Tourism and location

Along with housing the headquarters of the

Regional District of Mount Waddington The Regional District of Mount Waddington (RDMW) is a regional district in British Columbia. It takes in the lower Central Coast region centred on the Queen Charlotte Strait coast of northern Vancouver Island and the adjoining parts of mainland ...

, Port McNeill acts as a central hub for all of North Vancouver Island. It offers the only access to the villages of

Alert Bay Alert Bay is a village on Cormorant Island (British Columbia), Cormorant Island, near the town of Port McNeill on northeast Vancouver Island, in the Regional District of Mount Waddington, British Columbia, Canada. Demographics In the 2021 Can ...

(Cormorant Island) and

Sointula Sointula is an isolated village on Malcolm Island in British Columbia, Canada. Lying between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland, northeast of Port McNeill and not far from Alert Bay, the island is part of the historic and present ...

(Malcolm Island) via

BC Ferries British Columbia Ferry Services Inc., operating as BC Ferries (BCF), is a former provincial Crown corporation, now operating as an independently managed, publicly owned Canadian company. BC Ferries provides all major passenger and vehicle ferry ...

which run daily. Port McNeill Airport is located just 5 minutes South on highway 19. The town is also a popular tourism destination during the summer, with a large population of animals including black bear, cougar, elk and deer. The town also features a museum and a history revolving around logging.

Other information

Accounting for 25.7% of the labour force, logging remains the primary employer in Port McNeill and contributes approximately 8% of the total BC timber harvest. The main contractors are

Western Forest Products Western Forest Products Inc. is a Canadian lumber company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. History Following its initial acquisition of the assets of Doman in 2004, the Company undertook a series of restructuring activities includin ...

and LeMare Lake Logging. Port McNeill is also the home of the world's largest

burl A burl (American English) or burr (British English) is a tree growth in which the grain has grown in a deformed manner. It is commonly found in the form of a rounded outgrowth on a tree trunk or branch that is filled with small knots from do ...

. February 2007 marked the opening day of Orca Sand & Gravel LP, the largest sand and gravel quarry in the northern hemisphere. Material is shipped via 70,000 tonne container ships to ports in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

and via 7000 tonne barges to

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. Kwagis Power, owned by

Brookfield Renewable Power Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. is a publicly traded limited partnership that owns and operates renewable power assets, with corporate headquarters in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is 60% owned by Brookfield Asset Management. As of the end of ...

and the 'Namgis First Nation, constructed a 45

megawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units, International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), ...

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

facility on the Kokish River near Port McNeill. The Steelhead Society of B.C. and the

Western Canada Wilderness Committee The Western Canada Wilderness Committee (often shortened to Wilderness Committee) is a non-profit environmental education organization that aims to protect Canada's wild spaces and species. Paul George, along with Richard Krieger, were the foundin ...

opposed the project. The project was completed early 2014. Port McNeill is the hometown of Willie Mitchell, a former

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

defenceman, and is also the birthplace of former

defenceman

Clayton Stoner Clayton Stoner (born February 19, 1985) is a Canadians, Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He was drafted in the third round, 79th overall, by the Minnesota Wild at the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. Stoner played his entire career with ...

. Port McNeill is also the hometown of Thomas Symons, Canada's rookie representation at the 2022 STIHL World Timbersports Championship, which begins May 27th, in Vienna, Austria. The first, second and fourth seasons of

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

channel television show Alone were filmed in the forest outside Port McNeill. The third season filmed in

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and gl ...

and featured local female resident, Megan Hanacek.Megan Hanacek survived in the wild for 78 days on hit TV show Alone
/ref>

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Port Mcneill, British Columbia Populated places on the British Columbia Coast Towns in British Columbia Northern Vancouver Island Populated places in the Regional District of Mount Waddington