:''"Qualicum" re-directs here. For the neighbourhood in Ottawa, see Qualicum, Ottawa'' Qualicum Beach () is a town located on Vancouver Island,

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

, Canada. In the 2021 census, it had a population of 9,303. It is situated at the foot of

Mount Arrowsmith Mount Arrowsmith is the highest mountain east of Port Alberni on Vancouver Island. Its dominant rock is basalt. The mountain is contained within the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region and as of September 18, 2009 is designated part of hectare M ...

, along the

Strait of Georgia The Strait of Georgia (french: Détroit de Géorgie) or the Georgia Strait is an arm of the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the extreme southwestern mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada and the extreme northwestern mainland coast ...

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

's northeastern coast. Qualicum Beach's natural environment and proximity to Victoria and

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

have made it a tourist destination, with

cottages A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager had to provide ...

along the coast. It is mostly of

retirement age This article lists the statutory retirement age in different countries. Background In some contexts, the retirement age is the age at which a person is expected or required to cease work. It is usually the age at which such a person may be enti ...

, with the oldest average population in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

with a median age of 65.9 in 2016. Qualicum Beach is served by the coast-spanning

Island Highway The Island Highway is actually a series of highways that follows much of the eastern coastline of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. While the Island Highway has no officially designated starting point, it is understood to begin at the ...

, the

Island Rail Corridor The Island Rail Corridor, previously the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway (E&N Railway), is a railway operation on Vancouver Island and is the only remaining railway on Vancouver Island after the closure of the Englewood Railway in November 2017. T ...

, a local airport, and a nearby ferry to

Lasqueti Island Lasqueti Island ( ) is an island off the east coast of Vancouver Island in the Strait of Georgia, qathet Regional District, British Columbia, Canada and has a population of 498. A passenger-only ferry connects the island to the community of ...

History

The name "Qualicum" comes from a Pentlatch term that means "Where the dog salmon (

chum salmon The chum salmon (''Oncorhynchus keta''), also known as dog salmon or keta salmon, is a species of anadromous salmonid fish from the genus '' Oncorhynchus'' (Pacific salmon) native to the coastal rivers of the North Pacific and the Beringian ...

) run." In May 1856,

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 trade, fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake b ...

explorer Adam Grant Horne, with a group of aboriginal guides, found a route across Vancouver Island from the Qualicum River to the

Alberni Inlet Alberni Inlet (formerly known as Alberni Canal) is a long, narrow inlet in Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, that stretches from the Pacific Ocean at Barkley Sound about inland terminating at Port Alberni. It was named by the Spanish e ...

. Horne Lake is named after him. In 1864, the botanist and explorer Robert Brown led the Vancouver Island Exploring Expedition through the area. He found the area deserted as a result of the

small pox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) ce ...

epidemic An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time. Epidemics of infectious d ...

of 1862. The first settlers arrived in the 1880s. A road was built from Nanaimo to Parksville in 1886 and extended to Qualicum in 1894. The E&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, however, attendance diminished with the school closing in 1970. The structure was operated as a hotel for a number of years, however, the college has now been demolished. Its playing fields have been turned into a housing subdivision. Freedomite settlers established a communal colony in the adjoining Hilliers farming district from 1946 to 1952. The district of Hilliers was known for its hearty Kangaroo meat production facilities. It was established when Taylor Toms moved to the district in 1934. Qualicum Beach was officially incorporated as a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

on May 5, 1942, and was changed to

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than city, cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares ...

status on January 7, 1983. The area is growing quickly with new housing subdivisions and a major new highway. It is a favoured retirement and golfing community. HMS Qualicum was a ship in the Royal Navy named for the community.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population 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 sli ...

conducted by Statistics Canada, Qualicum Beach had a population of 9,303 living in 4,435 of its 4,763 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 8,943. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Religion

According to the 2021 census, religious groups in Qualicum Beach 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 an ...

(4,615 persons or 52.6%) *

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesu ...

(4,015 persons or 45.7%) *

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...

(30 persons or 0.3%) *

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 ...

(20 persons or 0.2%) * Islam (20 persons or 0.2%) *Other (65 persons or 0.7%)

Politics and government

Municipal government A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

of the Town of Qualicum Beach has a 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 The Regional District of Nanaimo is a regional district located on the eastern coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. It is bordered to the south by the Cowichan Valley Regional District, to the west by the Alberni-Clayoquot Regio ...

) and a four-member council. These positions are filled by

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather than ...

elections every four years, as provided by

law. As of October 2018, the mayor is Brian Wiese and he is currently serving his first term.

School board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional ar ...

trustees, for representation on

School District 69 Qualicum School District 69 Qualicum is a school district on central Vancouver Island in British Columbia. This includes the major centres of Parksville and Qualicum Beach. Schools See also *List of school districts in British Columbia This is a list ...

, are also elected by residents of the town, the City of Parksville and the surrounding area. The town funds a volunteer fire department, which serves the town and nearby rural communities. The town has a local ambulance station. The nearest full hospital is Nanaimo Regional General Hospital in

Nanaimo Nanaimo ( ) is a city on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. As of the 2021 census, it had a population of 99,863, and it is known as "The Harbour City." The city was previously known as the "Hub City," which was ...

. Qualicum Beach is part of the Parksville-Qualicum provincial electoral district, represented by Adam Walker of the NDP in the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is the deliberative assembly of the Parliament of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The Legislative Assembly meets in Victoria. Members are elected from provincial ...

. Federally, Qualicum Beach, in the

Courtenay—Alberni Courtenay—Alberni is a federal electoral district in British Columbia. It encompasses a portion of B.C. formerly included in the electoral districts of Nanaimo—Alberni and Vancouver Island North. Courtenay—Alberni was created by the 2 ...

riding, is represented in the House of Commons of Canada by NDP

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

Gord Johns, who was first elected in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

Transportation

Highway 19A, runs the length of the town along the shore line of the

with the Island Highway, (Highway 19), near the towm. Highway 19 includes a junction with Highway 4, which runs through Cathedral Grove to

Port Alberni Port Alberni () is a city located on Vancouver Island in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The city lies within the Alberni Valley at the head of the Alberni Inlet, Vancouver Island's longest inlet. It is the location of the head offices o ...

and

Tofino Tofino ( ) is a town of approximately 2,516 residents on the west coast of Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The District of Tofino is located at the western terminus of Highway 4 on the tip of the Esowista Penins ...

Ucluelet Ucluelet (, also Ukee) is a district municipality (population 1,717) on the Ucluelet Peninsula on the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. Ucluelet means "people of the safe harbour" in the indigenous Nuu-chah-nulth ...

Bamfield Bamfield is a community that is surrounded by Crown Land, First Nation Lands belonging to the Huu-ay-aht Nations, and portions of the Pacific Rim National Park, located on Barkley Sound, Vancouver Island in British Columbia. The community, wi ...

and the

Pacific Rim National Park Reserve Pacific Rim National Park Reserve is a national park located in British Columbia, Canada, which comprises three separate regions: Long Beach, the Broken Group Islands, and the West Coast Trail. Its the Pacific Coast Mountains, are characterize ...

on the south-west coast of the

Island An island or isle is a piece of subcontinental land completely surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island in a river or a lake island may be ...

. Scenic, flight training and charter flights are offered by Qualicum Flight Center. The town has no marina or harbour, however, there is a launching area for trailered boats. French Creek Harbour, is south-east on Highway 19A.

Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via, is a Canadian Crown corporation that is mandated to operate intercity passenger rail service in Canada. It receives an annual subsidy from Transport Canada to offset the cost of operati ...

's Malahat service served Qualicum Beach station from 1979 until 2011. In 2011, service was suspended indefinitely due to track replacement work. As of 2015, service has not yet resumed.

Geography

The town has an approximate area of . Qualicum Beach is on the Nanaimo lowlands, a narrow plain which lies between the Georgia Basin to the northeast and the Beaufort Range (one of the

Vancouver Island Ranges The Vancouver Island Ranges, formerly called the Vancouver Island Mountains, are a series of mountain ranges extending along the length of Vancouver Island which has an area of . The Vancouver Island Ranges comprise the central and largest part ...

) to the south-west. Landforms were significantly changed by the most recent advance of glacial ice about 18,000 to 19,000 years ago. Marshall-Stevenson Wildlife Sanctuary, in the west end of Qualicum Beach, is a tidal wetlands at the mouth of the Little Qualicum River. Wildlife include:

black-tailed deer Two forms of black-tailed deer or blacktail deer that occupy coastal woodlands in the Pacific Northwest of North America are subspecies of the mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus''). They have sometimes been treated as a species, but virtually all ...

Roosevelt elk The Roosevelt elk (''Cervus canadensis roosevelti)'', also known commonly as the Olympic elk and Roosevelt's wapiti, is the largest of the four surviving subspecies of elk ('' Cervus canadensis'') in North America by body mass (although by an ...

, black bear, and

cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large cat native to the Americas. Its range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. I ...

. With the presence of human population, deer,

raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight o ...

s and rodents persist. Soil types in the area, mostly classified as Orthic Dystric Brunisols and Duric Dystric Brunisols, vary from marginal to unsuitable for agriculture. They tend to be loamy sand or gravelly loamy sand. Their fertility is low and they are strongly acidic except in near-shore areas where Native American shell middens provide abundant calcium and organic matter. However, they are suitable for development.

Climate

The climate is a

Mediterranean Climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

. The town has cool, wet winters with 80 to 85% of the year's precipitation between October and April. The average annual precipitation is . Mean daily temperature ranges from in January, with cloud and rain from north Pacific air masses dominating the winter weather. High pressure ridges over the mainland can produce easterly air flows, bringing snow and freezing temperatures during winter but do not persist, as moist westerly winds bring above-freezing temperatures. North Pacific high pressure cells influence summer weather, making it warm and dry. July and August have an average precipitation of and average maximum temperatures of . With the longest freeze-free period in Canada, at 180 days per year, the Nanaimo lowlands area is favourable for agriculture. The area is within the small Coastal Douglas Fir bio-geographic zone, which is considered the mildest climate in Canada. The

, which includes nearby

, shadows rainfall. This bio-geographic area can also support

Garry Oak ''Quercus garryana'' is an oak tree species of the Pacific Northwest, with a range stretching from southern California to southwestern British Columbia. It is commonly known as the Oregon white oak or Oregon oak or, in Canada, the Garry oak. ...

and

Arbutus ''Arbutus'' is a genus of 12 accepted speciesAct. Bot. Mex no.99 Pátzcuaro abr. 2012.''Arbutus bicolor''/ref> of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae, native to warm temperate regions of the Mediterranean, western Europe, the Canary Islan ...

Landmarks

Image gallery

Image:Qualicum history monuments.jpg, 1992 History Monuments, 50th anniversary of Qualicum Beach Image:Qualicumbeachsummer2010kjfmartin.jpg, Image:Qualicum_history_1.jpg, From the beginning to 1913 Image:Qualicum_history_2.jpg, From 1913 to 1930 Image:Qualicum_history_3.jpg, From 1930 to 1992

Freedom of the Town

The following people and military units have received the

Freedom of the Town The Freedom of the City (or Borough in some parts of the UK) is an honour bestowed by a municipality upon a valued member of the community, or upon a visiting celebrity or dignitary. Arising from the medieval practice of granting respected ...

of Qualicum Beach.

Military Units

* 19 Mission Support Squadron,

RCAF The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environ ...

: 7 May 2022.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Populated places on the British Columbia Coast Towns in British Columbia Regional District of Nanaimo 1943 establishments in Canada