Saanich ( ) is a district municipality on

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 ...

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, ...

, within the Greater Victoria area. The population was 117,735 at the 2021 census, making it the most populous municipality in the Capital Regional District and

, and the eighth-most populous in the province. The district adopted its name after the Saanich

First Nation Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

, meaning "emerging land" or "emerging people". The District acts as a

bedroom community A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

immediately to the north of

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. The ...

. With an area of , it is the largest municipality in Greater Victoria. The municipality contains a wide variety of rural and urban landscapes and neighbourhoods stretching north to the Saanich Peninsula. Saanich is home to part of the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary insti ...

which is bisected by the neighbouring district municipality of

Oak Bay Oak Bay is a municipality incorporated in 1906 that is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is one of thirteen member municipalities of the Capital Regional District, and is bordered ...

and to both campuses of Camosun College. The municipality's topography is undulating with many glacially scoured rock outcroppings. Elevations range from sea level to . The physical setting is greatly influenced by water. There are of freshwater lakes and of marine shoreline.

History

Saanich has been the home to

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

people for thousands of years. Saanich is on the territory of the Lək̓ʷəŋən peoples known today as

Songhees The Lekwungen or Lekungen nation (lək̓ʷəŋən often called the Songhees or Songish by non-Lekwungens) are an Indigenous North American Coast Salish people who reside on southeastern Vancouver Island, British Columbia in the Greater Victoria a ...

Esquimalt The Township of Esquimalt is a municipality at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. It is bordered to the east by the provincial capital, Victoria, to the south by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, to the west by Esquim ...

Nations, the Malahat Nation and the Saanich Peoples. These Indigenous peoples have connections to the land and those traditions are carried on to this day. Non-Indigenous history begins with the arrival 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 di ...

in the 1840s. The Craigflower Schoolhouse (originally called Maple Point School), the oldest surviving school building in Western Canada, was built on orders from Kenneth MacKenzie. He came from

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

with his family in 1852, on the Hudson's Bay Company ship Norman Morison, to establish a farm for the

Puget Sound Agricultural Company The Puget Sound Agricultural Company (PSAC), with common variations of the name including Puget Sound or Puget's Sound, was a subsidiary joint stock company formed in 1840 by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC). Its stations operated within the Pacific ...

, a subsidiary of the Hudson's Bay Company. A school was needed for the children of farm employees, as well as those of arriving settlers. The Municipality of Saanich was incorporated on March 1, 1906. The

Dominion Astrophysical Observatory The Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, located on Observatory Hill, in Saanich, British Columbia, was completed in 1918 by the Canadian government. The Dominion architect responsible for the building was Edgar Lewis Horwood. The main instrument ...

telescope was designed by

John Stanley Plaskett John Stanley Plaskett (November 17, 1865 – October 17, 1941) was a Canadian astronomer. Career He worked as a machinist, and was offered a job as a mechanician at the Department of Physics at the University of Toronto, constructing appar ...

, an astronomer with the Department of the Interior in Ottawa. The reflecting telescope was the largest of its kind in the world when it was built, though this was only the case for a few short months in 1918. The District of Saanich contains a long shoreline with sandy beaches located at several ocean bays. Two of the beaches are

Cadboro Bay Cadboro Bay is a bay near the southern tip of Vancouver Island and its adjacent neighbourhood in the municipalities of Saanich and Oak Bay in Greater Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Cadboro Bay was the site of Sungayka, a village of the Song ...

Beach and Cordova Bay Beach. Cadboro Bay is known as the home of the " Cadborosaurus", a mythical cryptid. Saanich's notable parks include Mount Douglas Park, Mount Tolmie Park (with viewpoints), and Gyro Park.

W̱SÁNEĆ peoples

Groups

The W̱SÁNEĆ (weh-saanich) peoples are represented by the Tsartlip (Sart-Lip), Pauquachin (Paw-Qua-Chin), Tsawout (Say-Out), Tseycum (Sigh-Come) and Malahat (Mal-a-hat) Nations. The W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council Society consists of three of theses Nations: Tsartlip, Tseycum and Tsawout. These W̱SÁNEĆ First Nations remain on their ancestral lands and continue to prosper today.

Leadership Council

On May 7, 2018, the W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council was created as a representation of the W̱SÁNEĆ First Nations to the Government. The creation of this council not only brought three Indigenous groups together, but it also established a legal governing body. With this council, came many proposals and projects to benefit the W̱SÁNEĆ First Nations. Includes: *January 2018, the submission of a proposal for the

Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...

to make the council a legal governing body (accepted). *Submission of funding to the federal government's "National Rebuilding" program. *Negotiations of a government to government project with the Capital Regional District.

Language

The W̱SÁNEĆ language or Saanich dialect is called SENĆOŦEN This dialect was revitalized by the late John Elliot, an important member of the W̱SÁNEĆ community and peoples.

Climate

Government

The Saanich District Council is the governing body of the municipality of Saanich. The council consists of the Mayor and eight councillors. *Mayor: Dean Murdock *Councillors: Colin Plant, Susan Brice, Zac de Vries, Judy Brownoff, Mena Westhaver, Nathalie Chambers, Karen Harper, & Teale Phelps Bondaroff

Neighbourhoods

Saanich is divided into twelve local areas for planning purposes. In addition, there are a number of community associations in the municipality that represent neighbourhoods largely overlapping with the local areas. The Local Areas, and representative community associations, are listed below: * Blenkinsop. A primarily rural community in a valley situated west of Mount Douglas. Represented by the Blenkinsop Valley Community Association. *

. A small village located at the eastern edge of Saanich, bordering on

near the

. The community also includes the upscale waterfront neighbourhood of Ten Mile Point. Represented by the Cadboro Bay Residents' Association. * Carey. A suburban community located in western Saanich. Represented by the Residents Association of Strawberry Vale, Marigold and Glanford in the north, and the Mount View Colquitz Community Association in the south. * Broadmead. Originally developed from Broadmead Farms, it was designed as an architecturally controlled area. The focus of the development was to incorporate homes into the landscape. Large trees could not be cut down to accommodate the homes. Most of the area is considered to be in an urban forest. It is situated near Highway 17 and ends a few blocks west of Cordova Bay Road. The community is represented by the Broadmead Area Residents' Association, BARA. * Cordova Bay. A seaside community in northern Saanich. Represented by the Cordova Bay Association for Community Affairs. *

Gordon Head Gordon Head is a seaside neighbourhood in the municipality of Saanich in Greater Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Gordon Head lies north of McKenzie Avenue and east of the Blenkinsop Valley. The University of Victoria is located partly within G ...

. A large suburban community to the north of the

. Represented by the Gordon Head Residents' Association. * North Quadra. A suburban community in the centre of the municipality. Represented by the North Quadra Community Association. * Quadra. A large urban and suburban community surrounding the urban core of Saanich. Contains the Cedar Hill Golf Course and is represented by the Quadra Cedar Hill Community Association. * Royal Oak. A suburban community at the rural edge of Saanich. Represented by the Royal Oak Community Association, Falaise Community Association, and the Broadmead Area Residents' Association. * Rural Saanich. The largest Local Area by area, this part of Saanich is sparsely populated and mostly rural. Represented in part by the Prospect Lake and District Community Association. * Saanich Core. The urban centre of the District of Saanich. Contains Uptown and the municipal hall. Represented by part of the Mount View Community Association and part of the Quadra Cedar Hill Community Association. * Shelbourne. An urban and suburban community stretching between the

City of Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

and the

. Represented by the Mount Tolmie Community Association and Camosun Community Association. * Tillicum. An urban and suburban community along the Gorge in western Saanich. Represented by the Gorge Tillicum Community Association.

Education

The northeastern half of British Columbia's third-largest university, the

campus, is in Saanich, while the southwestern portion is in neighbouring Oak Bay. Saanich is also home to both major campuses of

Camosun College Camosun College is a public college located in Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The college has two campuses, Lansdowne and Interurban, with a total enrollment of around 14,000 students (including Professional Studies and Industry Training) ...

, the original Lansdowne campus, and the Interurban campus. Saanich is divided between two bordering school districts,

School District 61 Greater Victoria School District 61 Greater Victoria is a school district in the Canadian province of British Columbia. This includes Victoria, the municipalities of Esquimalt, Oak Bay, View Royal, and parts of Saanich. History The earliest history of schools ...

and School District 63 Saanich. It is also the home of South Island Distance Education School.

Demographics

In the 2021 Canadian census conducted by Statistics Canada, Saanich had a population of 117,735 living in 48,048 of its 50,064 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 114,148. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Ethnicity

*Note: Totals greater than 100% due to multiple origin responses.

Religion

According to the 2021 census, religious groups in Saanich 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 ...

(66,460 persons or 57.5%) *

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 ...

(38,645 persons or 33.5%) *

Sikhism Sikhism (), also known as Sikhi ( pa, ਸਿੱਖੀ ', , from pa, ਸਿੱਖ, lit=disciple', 'seeker', or 'learner, translit=Sikh, label=none),''Sikhism'' (commonly known as ''Sikhī'') originated from the word ''Sikh'', which comes fro ...

(3,250 persons or 2.8%) * Islam (1,855 persons or 1.6%) *

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...

(1,520 persons or 1.3%) *

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

(1,370 persons or 1.2%) *

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 t ...

(760 persons or 0.7%) * Indigenous spirituality (100 persons or 0.1%)

Surrounding municipalities and communities

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control Saanich Peninsula District municipalities in British Columbia Greater Victoria