The Sunshine Coast Regional District is a

regional district In the province of British Columbia in Canada, a regional district is an administrative subdivision of the province that consists of a geographic region with specific boundaries and governmental authority. there were 28 regional districts in t ...

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. It is located on the southern mainland coast, across

Georgia Strait 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 ...

(part of the

Salish Sea , image = PNW-straits.jpg , alt = , caption = The Salish Sea, showing the open Pacific Ocean at lower left, and from there, heading inland: the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the narrow Puget Sound at lower ri ...

) from

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 ...

. It borders on the

qathet Regional District The qathet Regional District (, qRD) is a regional district in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Its only incorporated municipality is the City of Powell River, although it includes a number of unincorporated areas. The district enco ...

to the north, the

Squamish-Lillooet Regional District The Squamish-Lillooet Regional District is a quasi-municipal administrative area in British Columbia, Canada. It stretches from Britannia Beach in the south to Pavilion in the north. Lillooet, Pemberton, Whistler and Squamish are the fou ...

to the east, and, across

Howe Sound Howe Sound (french: Baie (de /d')Howe, squ, Átl'ka7tsem, Nexwnéwu7ts, Txwnéwu7ts) is a roughly triangular sound, that joins a network of fjords situated immediately northwest of Vancouver, British Columbia. It was designated as a UNESCO Biosph ...

, the

Metro Vancouver The Metro Vancouver Regional District (MVRD), or simply Metro Vancouver, is a Canadian political subdivision and corporate entity representing the metropolitan area of Greater Vancouver, designated by provincial legislation as one of the 28 ...

District to the south. The regional district offices are located in the

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 ...

Sechelt Sechelt (, Shishalh language chat'lich) is a district municipality located on the lower Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. Approximately 50 km northwest of Vancouver, it is accessible from mainland British Columbia by a 40-minute ferry tr ...

Geography

The majority of the Sunshine Coast is sparsely populated. The

Coast Mountains The Coast Mountains (french: La chaîne Côtière) are a major mountain range in the Pacific Coast Ranges of western North America, extending from southwestern Yukon through the Alaska Panhandle and virtually all of the Coast of British Columbia ...

make up the inland area. Population is concentrated along the coast. Midway up the coast, beginning at the town of Sechelt, the coastal area forms a peninsula separated from the inland area by

Sechelt Inlet Sechelt Inlet formerly ''Seechelt Inlet'' is one of the principal inlets of the British Columbia Coast. The inlet is significant in that it almost makes an island of what is instead the Sechelt Peninsula, whose isthmus is at the town of Sechelt ...

. The 2016 census reported a total population of 29,970 persons living on a land area of 3,778.17 km² (1,458.76 sq mi). The Sunshine Coast is typically accessed via boat or plane; no roads connect the district with the rest of the province. From Vancouver, ferries run from Horseshoe Bay to

Gibsons Gibsons is a coastal community of 4,605 in southwestern British Columbia, Canada on the Strait of Georgia. Although it is on the mainland, the Sunshine Coast is not accessible by road. Vehicle access is by BC Ferries from Horseshoe Bay in West ...

across Howe Sound. At the northern end of the peninsula, ferries run from Earl's Cove to Saltery Bay.

Communities

District municipality

- Pop 10,200

Town

- Pop 4,605

Indian government district

(Part) - Pop 819

Indian reserves

Chekwelp Schenks ( Squamish ''Schètx̱w'') and Chekwelp (''Ch’ḵw’elhp'') are two villages of the Indigenous Squamish, located near what is now known as Gibsons, British Columbia. Although vacant for years, these villages are told in the oral his ...

26 *Chekwelp 26A * Schaltuuch 27

Unincorporated

* Roberts Creek - Pop 3,421 *

Halfmoon Bay Half Moon Bay is a city in San Mateo County, California Half Moon Bay may also refer to: Australia * Halfmoon Bay (Tasmania), a bay in Tasmania, near * Half Moon Bay (Victoria), a bay in Black Rock, Victoria In Canada * Half Moon Bay (Nunavut) ...

Madeira Park Madeira Park is an unincorporated community in the area of Pender Harbour on the Sunshine Coast of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is named after the pioneer Jose Goncalos, a native of the Madeira Islands ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthe ...

* Garden Bay * Egmont * Hopkins Landing Sources Statistic Canada Census. Area A revised from 2,678 (2016)

Demographics

As a

census division Census divisions, in Canada and the United States of America, United States, are areas delineated for the purposes of statistical analysis and presentation; they have no government in and of themselves. The census divisions of Canada are second-lev ...

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 ...

, the Sunshine Coast Regional District had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Provincial Parks

* Mount Richardson Provincial Park * Tetrahedron Provincial Park *

Spipiyus Provincial Park Spipiyus Provincial Park is a 2,979 hectare provincial park in British Columbia, Canada. Also known as the Caren Range, Spipiyus Park is north of Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia, Halfmoon Bay on the Sechelt Peninsula. It protects pockets of old- ...

References

;Sources
Community Profile: Sunshine Coast Regional District, British Columbia; Statistics Canada
;Notes

External links

* {{Subdivisions of British Columbia, region=yes Sunshine Coast