Nanaimo

Nanaimo
City of Nanaimo
Nanaimo

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Coat of arms
Nickname(s): The Hub, The Harbour City
City of Nanaimo is located in British Columbia
City of Nanaimo
Location of Nanaimo in British Columbia
Coordinates: 49°09′51″N 123°56′11″W / 49.16417°N 123.93639°W / 49.16417; -123.93639
Country Canada
Province British Columbia
Regional District Nanaimo
Incorporated 1874[1]
Government
 - Mayor John Ruttan
 - Governing body Nanaimo City Council
 - MPs Jean Crowder
James Lunney
 - MLAs Leonard Krog
Ron Cantelon
Doug Routley
Area
 - City 89.30 km2 (34.5 sq mi)
Elevation 28 m (92 ft)
Population (2006)
 - City 78,692 (ranked 62nd)
 - Density 881.2/km2 (2,282.3/sq mi)
 Metro 92,361 (ranked 38th)
 - Metro density 72.2/km2 (187/sq mi)
Time zone PST (UTC−8)
 - Summer (DST) PDT (UTC−7)
Postal code span V9R to V9V
Area code(s) +1-250
Website City of Nanaimo
Flag of Canada.svg

Nanaimo (play /nəˈnm/) (Canada 2006 Census population 78,692) is a city on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. It has been dubbed the "Bathtub Racing Capital of the World" and "Harbour City". Nanaimo is also sometimes referred to as the "Hub City" because of its central location on Vancouver Island and due to the layout of the downtown streets which form a "hub" pattern. It is also fondly known as the "Hub, Tub, and Pub City" because of its association with the bathtub racing and the numerous "watering holes" in Old Nanaimo. It is the location of the headquarters of the Regional District of Nanaimo.

Contents

History

The first Europeans to find Nanaimo Bay were those of the 1791 Spanish voyage of Juan Carrasco, under the command of Francisco de Eliza. They gave it the name Bocas de Winthuysen.

Nanaimo began as a trading post in the early 19th century; in 1849 the Snuneymuxw chief Ki-et-sa-kun ("Coal Tyee") informed the Hudson's Bay Company of the presence of coal in the area, and in 1853 the company built a fort known as the Nanaimo Bastion (still preserved). Subsequently the town was chiefly known for the export of coal.

Indigenous Nanaimo people

Robert Dunsmuir helped establish coal mines in the Nanaimo harbour area as an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company, and later mined in Nanaimo as one of the first independent miners. In 1869 Dunmuir discovered coal several miles North of Nanaimo at Wellington, and subsequently created the company Dunsmuir and Diggle Ltd so he could acquire crown land and finance the startup of what became the Wellington Colliery. With the success of Dunsmuir and Diggle and the Wellington Colliery, Dunsmuir expanded his operations to include steam railways. Dunsmuir sold Wellington Coal through its Departure Bay docks, while competing Nanaimo coal was sold by the London-based Vancouver Coal Company through the Nanaimo docks.

The gassy qualities of the coal which made it valuable also made it dangerous. The 1887 Nanaimo Mine Explosion killed 150 miners and was described as the largest man-made explosion[citation needed] until the Halifax Explosion. Another 100 men died in another explosion the next year. In the 1940s, lumber supplanted coal as the main business although Minetown Days are still celebrated in the neighbouring community of Lantzville.[2]

Chinatown

Nanaimo has had a succession of four distinct Chinatowns. The first, founded during the gold rush years of the 1860s, was the third largest in British Columbia. In 1884, because of mounting inter-racial tensions related to the Dunsmuir coal company's hiring of Chinese strikebreakers, the company helped move Chinatown to a location outside city limits. In 1908, when two Chinese entrpreneurs bought the site and tried to raise rents, in response, and with the help of 4000 shareholders from across Canada, the community combined forces and bought the site for the third Chinatown at a new location, focused on Pine Street. That third Chinatown, by then mostly derelict, burned down on September 30, 1960.[3] A fourth Chinatown, also called Lower Chinatown or "new town", boomed for a while in the 1920s on Machleary Street.[4][5]

Location and geography

Aerial photo of downtown and central Nanaimo and adjacent islands.

Located on Vancouver Island, Nanaimo is about 110 km northwest of Victoria, and 55 km west of Vancouver, separated by the Strait of Georgia, and linked to Vancouver via the Horseshoe Bay BC Ferries terminal in West Vancouver. As the site of the main ferry terminal, Nanaimo is the gateway to many other destinations both on the island — Tofino, Comox Valley, Campbell River, Port Alberni, Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park — and off its coast — Newcastle Island, Protection Island, Gabriola Island, Valdes Island, and many other of the Gulf Islands.

Climate

Climate data for Nanaimo
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 15.6
(60.1)
18.3
(64.9)
21.7
(71.1)
26.1
(79.0)
34.3
(93.7)
34.5
(94.1)
36.1
(97.0)
36.7
(98.1)
33.2
(91.8)
29.3
(84.7)
19.4
(66.9)
17.5
(63.5)
36.7
(98.1)
Average high °C (°F) 6.2
(43.2)
8.2
(46.8)
10.9
(51.6)
14.1
(57.4)
17.8
(64.0)
20.5
(68.9)
24
(75)
24.2
(75.6)
20.9
(69.6)
14.6
(58.3)
9.1
(48.4)
6.1
(43.0)
14.7
Daily mean °C (°F) 2.7
(36.9)
4.2
(39.6)
6.1
(43.0)
8.8
(47.8)
12.3
(54.1)
15.2
(59.4)
17.9
(64.2)
18
(64)
14.8
(58.6)
9.7
(49.5)
5.4
(41.7)
2.9
(37.2)
9.8
Average low °C (°F) −0.8
(30.6)
0
(32)
1.3
(34.3)
3.4
(38.1)
6.7
(44.1)
9.7
(49.5)
11.8
(53.2)
11.7
(53.1)
8.6
(47.5)
4.8
(40.6)
1.5
(34.7)
−0.4
(31.3)
4.9
Record low °C (°F) −17.8
(0.0)
−16.7
(1.9)
−12.2
(10.0)
−5
(23)
−4.4
(24.1)
0.6
(33.1)
2.8
(37.0)
3.3
(37.9)
−1.1
(30.0)
−6.7
(19.9)
−16.1
(3.0)
−20
(−4)
−20
(−4)
Precipitation mm (inches) 169.5
(6.673)
140.4
(5.528)
112.4
(4.425)
63.1
(2.484)
49.9
(1.965)
44.9
(1.768)
25.9
(1.02)
31.6
(1.244)
38.5
(1.516)
97.8
(3.85)
198.6
(7.819)
190.2
(7.488)
1,167.7
(45.972)
Sunshine hours 56.5 79.5 131.8 176.1 226.2 222.6 291 269.3 203.1 131.6 65.7 50 1,903.4
Source: Environment Canada[6]

Nanaimo does receive snow, but on a year to year basis this is not predictable. Like the Lower Mainland, there is enough rain during the wet season such that what snow does fall on southern Vancouver Island does not generally last long except at higher elevations.

Transportation

Nanaimo is served by three airports: Nanaimo Airport with services to Vancouver, Nanaimo Harbour Water Airport with services to Vancouver harbour, and Nanaimo/Long Lake Water Airport. Nanaimo also has three BC Ferry terminals located at Departure Bay, Duke Point, and downtown. The downtown terminal services Gabriola Island while Departure Bay and Duke Point service Horseshoe Bay and Tsawwassen respectively. There is also regular passenger train service south to Victoria and north to Courtenay along the E and N Railway.

Highways 1, 19 and 19A traverse the city. Bus service in the city is provided by Nanaimo Regional Transit.

Demographics

Nanaimo had a population of 78,692 people in 2006, which was an increase of 7.8% from the 2001 census count. The median household income in 2005 for Nanaimo was $45,937, which is below the British Columbia provincial average of $52,709.[7]

Economy

Nanaimo Waterfront

The original economic driver was coal mining; however, the forestry industry supplanted it in the early 1960s with the building of the MacMillan Bloedel pulp mill at Harmac in 1958, named after Harvey MacMillan. Today the pulp mill is owned by the employees and local investors[8] and injects well over half a million dollars a day into the local economy.[citation needed] The largest employer is the provincial government. The service, retail and tourism industries are also big contributors to the local economy.

A recent surge of higher-density real estate development, centred in the Old City/Downtown area, as well as construction of a city-funded waterfront conference centre, have proven controversial. Proponents of these developments argue that they will bolster the city's economy, while critics worry that they will block waterfront views and increase traffic congestion. Concerns have also been raised about the waterfront conference centre's construction running over its proposed budget. The current council is working hard to solve homeless issues, and has established a strong relationship with the provincial government to provide several hundred low-income housing spaces. Nanaimo has also been experiencing job growth in the technology sector.[citation needed]

Media outlets

Nanaimo Harbour

Nanaimo is served by three newspapers — the PostMedia-owned Nanaimo Daily News with about 6367 (audited) copies six days a week and the Harbour City Star with approx. 37,000 copies (claimed) once per week, as well as the Black Press-owned Nanaimo News Bulletin (33,000 copies three times a week - audited). Nanaimo also hosts a bureau for CIVI-TV (CTV Victoria, cable channel 12) and a satellite office for CHEK-TV (Independent, cable channel 6).

Nanaimo is also served by the Jim Pattison Group's CHWF-FM and CKWV-FM, as well as CHLY-FM, an independent community campus radio station. CBC Radio One is heard over CBU from Vancouver, but with no local content for Nanaimo itself.

Politics

Federal

In the Canadian House of Commons, Nanaimo is represented by the ridings of Nanaimo—Cowichan (Jean Crowder, New Democratic Party) and Nanaimo—Alberni (James Lunney, Conservative).

Provincial

In the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Nanaimo is represented by the ridings of Nanaimo (Leonard Krog, British Columbia New Democratic Party) and Nanaimo-Parksville (Ron Cantelon, British Columbia Liberal Party).

Civic

The mayor of Nanaimo is currently John Ruttan, who was preceded by Gary Korpan. The most colourful and famous mayor Nanaimo ever had was Frank J. Ney, who instigated Nanaimo's well-known bathtub races, which he regularly attended dressed as a pirate. There is a statue to commemorate Ney — dressed in his pirate costume — and the bathtub races at Swy-a-Lana Lagoon, which is on the Nanaimo waterfront; Ney was also an MLA for the Social Credit party while he was also mayor.[citation needed] An elementary school has been named in his honour. Mark Bate became Nanaimo's first mayor in 1875. He served an additional 15 1-year terms as mayor (1876-1879, 1881-1886, 1888-1889, and 1898-1900).

Open Government

The city's planning department has, over the past five years, steadily produced enough municipal data to warrant a Time magazine article on open-government. Nanaimo has been dubbed 'the capital of Google Earth'.[9] Working directly with Google, the city fed it a wealth of information about its buildings, property lines, utilities and streets. The result is earth.nanaimo.ca, a wealth of city data viewed through the Google Earth 3D mapping program. http://www.nanaimo.ca/datafeeds/

Education

Nanaimo has over 30 elementary and secondary schools, most of which are public and are operated by School District 68 Nanaimo-Ladysmith.

The main campus of Vancouver Island University is located in Nanaimo, which brings many international students to the city.

Sprott-Shaw Community College, a private post-secondary institution, also has a campus in the city.

Arts

The Nanaimo Art Gallery has two locations, and showcases works by many artists year round.[10]The Port Theater in downtown Nanaimo hosts many performers and shows during the year.[11][12] A huge component of the underground music scene in Nanaimo is from the student body of Vancouver Island University.

The Nanaimo Blues Society has organized and presented five highly successful, Summertime Blues! festivals. These outdoor Blues festivals have been held in downtown Nanaimo featuring local, provincial, national and internationally renowned Blues musicians."Nanaimo Summertime Blues Festival". http://www.nanaimobluesfestival.com/festival.htm. 

Culture

The Nanaimo bar which is a no bake cookie bar, is a Canadian dessert named after Nanaimo, elected as "Canada's Favorite Confection" due in part to the bar's popularity in Nanaimo.

Sports

Notable residents

Sister cities

Nanaimo has one sister city.

References

External links

Coordinates: 49°09′51″N 123°56′11″W / 49.16417°N 123.93639°W / 49.16417; -123.93639


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