:''"Qualicum" re-directs here. For the neighbourhood in Ottawa, see

Qualicum, Ottawa Qualicum-Graham Park or Qualicum is a suburban neighbourhood in College Ward in the City of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the former City of Nepean in the west end of the city. Many of the residences in the area are executive homes si ...

'' Qualicum Beach () is a town located on Vancouver Island,

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. 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 ...

, along the Strait of Georgia 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 ...

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

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

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 ...

have made it a tourist destination, with cottages along the coast. It is mostly of retirement age, 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 tot ...

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. ...

, 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 F ...

History

The name "Qualicum" comes from a Pentlatch term that means "Where the dog salmon ( chum salmon) 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 trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...

explorer

Adam Grant Horne Adam Grant Horne (1829 – 10 August 1901) was a Hudson's Bay Company employee at the Colony of Vancouver Island, a municipal politician and a businessman. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and died at Nanaimo, British Columbia. He married Elizab ...

, with a group of aboriginal guides, found a route across Vancouver Island from the

Qualicum River The Qualicum River or Big Qualicum River ("Where the Dog Salmon Run" in the Pentlatch language) is a river on the east coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, flowing northeast from its headwaters in Horne Lake into the Strait of Geor ...

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 In 1864 the Vancouver Island Exploring Expedition explored areas of the Colony of Vancouver Island outside the capital of Victoria and settlements in Nanaimo and the Cowichan Valley that were then unknown. The expedition went as far north as the ...

through the area. He found the area deserted as a result of the small pox

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 ...

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 ...

on May 5, 1942, and was changed to

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

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 ...

(4,615 persons or 52.6%) *

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 ...

(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 t ...

(30 persons or 0.3%) *

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. ...

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

Politics and government

Municipal government 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 Regi ...

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

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 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. Qualicum Beach is part of the Parksville-Qualicum provincial electoral district, represented by

Adam Walker Adam Walker may refer to: * Adam Walker (American football, born 1963), American football running back * Adam Walker (American football, born 1968), American football running back * Adam Walker (Australian politician) (1829–1902), Australian polit ...

of the

NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National ...

in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. 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 2012 ...

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

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 bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

Gord Johns Gord Johns (born November 29, 1969) is a Canadian businessman and politician. Since 2015, he has served as the New Democrat Member of Parliament for the federal electoral riding of Courtenay—Alberni in the House of Commons of Canada. He prev ...

, who was first elected in 2015.

Transportation

Highway 19A, runs the length of the town along the shore line of the Strait of Georgia 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 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 Peninsu ...

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 (No ...

, Bamfield 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 characterized ...

on the south-west coast of the

Island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

. 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 operating ...

'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 r ...

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 antl ...

black bear Black bear or Blackbear may refer to: Animals * American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), a North American bear species * Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), an Asian bear species Music * Black Bear (band), a Canadian First Nations group ...

, and cougar. 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 of ...

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 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 environm ...

: 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