The mainland territory north of the 49th parallel remained unincorporated until 1858, when a mass influx of Americans and others during the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush forced the hand of Colony of Vancouver Island's Governor James Douglas, who declared the mainland a Crown Colony, although official ratification of his unilateral action was several months in coming.

Port Alberni is a deep port city which lies within the Alberni Valley at the head of the Alberni Inlet, Vancouver Island's longest inlet.

Port Alberni was named for Captain Pere d ' Alberní, a Spanish officer, who commanded Fort San Miguel at Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island's west coast from 1790 to 1792.

It nests on offshore islands, with the main population stronghold being Triangle Island off Vancouver Island's Cape Scott, where the population is estimated to be around 550, 000 pairs.

Using his meagre resources, Douglas created the Victoria Voltigeurs, Vancouver Island's first militia, using money from the Company and composed of Metis and French-Canadians in the company's service.

Currently, Gold River serves as a base for such famous activities as the Nootka Island trek, hiking the Elk Lake trail and mountain climbing Golden Hinde ( Vancouver Island's highest peak ), Crest Creek climbing crags, MV Uchuck III, and the Great Walk.

Hornby Island of British Columbia, Canada, is a Northern Gulf Island parallel with Vancouver Island's Comox Valley.

Other major cities include Surrey, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Richmond, Delta, and New Westminster in the Lower Mainland ; Abbotsford, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and Langley in the Fraser Valley ; Nanaimo on Vancouver Island ; and Kelowna and Kamloops in the Interior.

The Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, Austin Film Festival, New York Film Festival, Montreal World Film Festival and Gimli Film Festival are also major festivals in North America, as is the Vancouver International Film Festival, the fifth largest film festival in North America.

The Spanish expeditions to the Pacific Northwest, with the 1791 Francisco de Eliza expedition preceding Vancouver by a year, had also missed the Fraser River although they knew from its muddy plume that there was a major river located nearby.

Steveston ( part of Metro Vancouver ) has a major street named after the city of Moncton.

A major scene developed in Vancouver, spearheaded by the Furies and Victoria's all-female Dee Dee and the Dishrags.

However, roads in Victoria are not based on a grid system as in Vancouver or Edmonton, and even most major streets do not follow a straight line from beginning to end as they wind around hills, parks, coastlines, and historic neighbourhoods, often changing names two or three times.

Vancouver is a major city in British Columbia, Canada.

Head coach and general manager Phil Maloney ( the third GM in team history after Poile and Hal Laycoe ) recalled the importance of a successful season for the Canucks in that year specifically, as the rival league World Hockey Association had established another major professional team in the city – the Vancouver Blazers.

Exploration and settlement of the Cascades region by Europeans and Americans was accelerated by the establishment of a major trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company ( HBC ) at Fort Vancouver near today's Portland, Oregon.

The major cities of Vancouver, Portland, Seattle, and Tacoma all began as seaports supporting the logging, mining, and farming industries of the region, but have developed into major technological and industrial centers ( such as the Silicon Forest ), which benefit from their location on the Pacific Rim.

Major Chinatowns emerged in Boston and Lowell, Massachusetts ; Detroit, Michigan ; Corpus Christi, Texas ; Camden and Trenton, New Jersey ; Chicago ; Los Angeles, South Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco and San Diego, California ; New York City ; New Orleans ; Akron, Ohio ; Cincinnati, Ohio ; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ; Portland, Oregon ; Seattle ; Vancouver ; Toronto ; Montreal and other major cities.

The local media faced national scrutiny in 2009 when both major newspapers refused to run anti-rodeo ads sponsored by the Vancouver Humane Society.

With U. S. airspace closed as a result of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, there was no choice for Vancouver International Airport but to take part in the operation since it was the only major Canadian airport on the West Coast of Canada that has the capability of handling large aircraft for trans-Pacific flights.

Whistler Blackcomb () is a major ski resort located 125 km north of Vancouver, in British Columbia, Canada.

The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12 to February 28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University Endowment Lands, and in the resort town of Whistler.

Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver are major production centres, with Vancouver being the second largest film and television production centre in North America ( after Los Angeles ).

He also produced the major meditations on childhood, adolescence, aging and mortality collectively known as the " Vancouver Island Quartet ," as well as numerous hand-painted works.

* University of British Columbia, a major Canadian university with its main campus in Greater Vancouver

Burnaby, Vancouver and New Westminster collectively occupy the major portion of the Burrard Peninsula.

** Granville Street, a major road in Vancouver

Michael Franklin Harcourt ( born January 6, 1943 ) served as the 30th Premier of the province of British Columbia in Canada from 1991 to 1996, and before that as the 34th mayor of BC's major city, Vancouver from 1980 to 1986.

In 2009, British Columbia had an estimated population of 4, 419, 974 ( about two and a half million of whom were in Greater Vancouver ).

Japanese emigrants can also be found in Peru, Argentina, Australia ( especially in the eastern states ), Canada ( especially in Vancouver where 1. 4 % of the population has Japanese ancestry ), the United States ( notably California, where 1. 2 % of the population has Japanese ancestry, and Hawaii ), and the Philippines ( particularly in Davao and Laguna ).

The majority of recent population growth in Canada's three largest metropolitan areas ( Greater Toronto, Greater Montreal, and Greater Vancouver ) has occurred in non-core municipalities, although this trend has already reversed itself in Toronto, where a building boom has begun to take place.

Kwakwaka ' wakw centres of population on Vancouver Island include communities such as Fort Rupert, Alert Bay and Quatsino, The Kwakwaka ' wakw tradition of the potlatch was banned by the federal government of Canada in 1885, but has been revived in recent decades.

Most of the population of the Pacific Northwest is concentrated in the Portland – Seattle – Vancouver corridor.

In the province of British Columbia, the city of Vancouver since 2002 has established a new bilingual Mandarin Chinese-English immersion programme at the elementary school level in order accommodate Vancouver's both historic and present strong ties to the Chinese-speaking world, already in itself having a very sizeable Chinese population local to the city.

Straddling the junction between Interstate 5 and the north end of Interstate 405 in Washington, it is the final tangle of population on the north end of " greater Seattle " before one continues on to other places: Everett, Bellingham, or Vancouver, BC.

Richmond's 2011 population of 190, 473 makes it the fourth largest city in British Columbia, after Vancouver ( 603, 502 ), Surrey ( 468, 251 ) and Burnaby ( 223, 218 ).

It is the third-largest city in British Columbia by population, surpassed only by nearby Surrey and Vancouver.

While Burnaby occupies about 4 % of the land area of the Greater Vancouver Regional District, it accounted for about 10 % of the Region's population in 2001.

It is the third most populated urban centre in British Columbia ( after Vancouver and Surrey ) with an estimated population of 205, 261.

It ranges, in the summer, from Alaska to the Gulf of California, but the population north of Vancouver Island migrates south during the winter.

Nanaimo () ( Canada 2011 Census population 83, 810 ) is a city on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.

It has a population of 109, 752 people, making it the most populous municipality on Vancouver Island, and the seventh most populous in the province.

The completion of the George Massey Tunnel in 1959 linking Ladner to Richmond and Vancouver along with the opening, in 1960, of the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal and the Highway 99 being rerouted from the King George Highway in Surrey in 1962 to a new route through Delta, ended Delta's isolation and resulted in a massive 400 % population growth over the next 20 years.

The Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District ( 2006 population 30, 664 ) of British Columbia is located on west central Vancouver Island.

By the 1980s, the area around Vancouver had become the largest center of Sikh population outside India.

As of the 2011 Census, Parksville's population is 11, 977 and it is the 15th-largest municipality on Vancouver Island in terms of population.

The ten largest census metropolitan areas of black population were Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary, Vancouver, Edmonton, Hamilton, Winnipeg, Halifax, and Oshawa.

Yet, as had been foreseen, West Vancouver ’ s population boomed as a result of the new connection.

This on-demand system reflected the small-scale ridership SkyTrain had before the city of Vancouver experienced a major population boost.

The riding is quite young, affluent and diverse, with a large LGBT population, which has made Vancouver Centre one of the safest seats in Western Canada for the Liberals.