Victoria's Inner Harbour

Victoria’s Inner Harbour on Vancouver Island is a cool place to visit. There’s the water on one side and stately government buildings on the other since Victoria is the capital of British Columbia. The city hosts a classic boat festival on Labour Day in September, with the harbor filling up with wooden boats. Visitors can also navigate the harbor on kayaks or tour boats. Take time out to have a traditional British tea at the Empress Hotel, a Victoria landmark since the early 1900s; it’s right across from the harbor.

Victoria Harbour, gateway to British Columbia and Canada, is one of the most beautiful harbours in the world. The harbour has a long history, starting with its use by First Nations.

Recreational vessels and small cruise ships can moor in the centre of this famous heritage city, just steps from its historic streets and distinctive architecture. During the summer months, the harbour is the focus of festivals, shows and music.

The Port of Victoria, although a major tourist attraction, remains a working harbour with a rich mixture of activities. The harbour serves the cruise ship industry, whale watching and ecotourism, ship repairing facilities, a float plane aerodrome, marine industrial uses, an International Ferry terminal with connections to Port Angeles and Seattle and a water taxi service.

Harbour Jurisdiction : Victoria Harbour waters and water traffic are administered and regulated by Transport Canada. The harbour seabed is also controlled by Transport Canada, as far inland as the Selkirk Trestle.Air traffic into the harbour, including helicopters and seaplanes, is regulated by Nav Canada.

Victoria's Spectacular Inner Harbour : Ever since Captain James Cook first explored Vancouver Island in 1778, Victoria Harbour has been a majestic and breath-taking backdrop for ships and boats to moor. Victoria, British Columbia, Canada is home to one of the world’s few natural harbours and is now a popular destination for visitors who love the lively ambience and authenticity of the West Coast.Greater Victoria Harbour Authority (GVHA) operates a deep-sea terminal at Ogden Point, a mixed-use facility at Fisherman's Wharf and marinas at Causeway/Ship Point, and Wharf Street. GVHA also leases the iconic Steamship Terminal Building.

Victoria Harbour is the jewel of Vancouver Island. Lands surrounding the picturesque deep-sea harbour were a traditional winter home for First Nations peoples for thousands of years. When European explorers came about 220 years ago, the harbour was chosen by the Hudson Bay Company as its Pacific Northwest base, and Fort Victoria was born.For almost a century and a half since then, the fortunes of the harbour have ebbed and flowed. And for just as long, the control of the harbour and its waterfront lands has been disputed. At times, control of Victoria's harbour has been in the hands of absentee landlords in Britain. Once the fledgling province of British Columbia joined the Dominion of Canada, jurisdiction rested with Ottawa.

In modern times, Victoria business leaders advocated change. They wanted this local treasure to be under local control. Many people worked tirelessly towards this goal for many years. Their struggle for local ownership of the waters and lands around the beautiful harbour was rewarded in 2002. Greater Victoria Harbour Authority was formed, and four parcels of harbour land were divested to its control. The harbour finally had an advocate and a new voice.This is the story of the long journey to that historic day and a capsule of the highlights of the first five years of the Harbour Authority's existence. It is an evolving story, an unfinished one, with new chapters being written every year.

First Nations peoples first arrived on the southeast tip of Vancouver Island after the last ice age ended about 10,000 years ago. The Songhees and Esquimalt peoples treasured the calm waters of the area's natural harbour, its abundant fishing and hunting, and its edible bounty of berries, crabapples and camas roots. They prized the towering cedars that provided clothing, shelter, and transportation and they honoured the spirit of the land they loved through towering totems, exquisite artwork and fine craftsmanship. Although they created no written records, they passed knowledge and understanding from generation to generation through strong oral traditions of storytelling and song.

When the first Europeans sailed into the sheltering harbour of what would become the City of Victoria, they found more than a dozen winter villages belonging to the Esquimalt and Songhees peoples, who called the area Lekwammen, or "the land of the winds" because of its winter windstorms.

The first documented arrival of a European on Vancouver Island was the Spanish explorer Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, in 1775. Three years later, in 1778, Captain James Cook arrived at Nootka Island on the northwest coast of Vancouver Island. Their reports so intrigued other English and Spanish explorers that it wasn't long before colonization began in earnest. In 1788, fur trader John Meares brought Chinese labourers to the Island and built the Island's first trading post at Nootka.At the heart of growing interest in Vancouver Island was the "safe harbour" explorers had discovered at the Island's southeastern tip. This sheltered moorage was a welcome discovery in the relatively unknown Pacific Northwest, and it quickly became a major catalyst for growth.

From the safety of the harbour, early explorers and settlers discovered a wealth of natural resources that were much in demand in Europe. They began to trade with the First Nations people for furs and salmon, and to fell trees for lumber and sailing masts. Whaling and seal hunting bolstered the Island's fur trade and forestry industry, and when coal was discovered on Vancouver Island in 1835 it created even more interest in the area across Canada and around the world.The Hudson Bay Company, which already spanned much of the continent, determined that it needed a presence in the Pacific Northwest to take advantage of the many opportunties for trade. In 1837 the company sent Captain William H. McNeill in the steamship Beaver to examine the Strait of Juan de Fuca (as it is known today) for a site that would be suitable as the Hudson Bay Company's Pacific headquarters.

When Captain McNeill returned from his exploration, he reported that there was an excellent harbour, which he called Camosack, at the south end of Vancouver Island. The company began preparations for an outpost there. Five years later, McNeill and the Beaver returned to 'Camosack', bringing the Hudson Bay Company's Chief Factor, James Douglas, with them. They built a trading post and company headquarters on the harbour, and called it Fort Victoria in honour of Britain's young queen, who was just six years into her long reign.

The Hudson Bay Company traded with the First Nations people for furs and salmon, and generally treated them fairly. Their communities grew and prospered. Sadly, however, their newfound wealth encouraged them to abandon traditional home sites in favour of settlements closer to European forts and outposts.For Vancouver Island's First Nations, this meant a loss of traditional ways of living, including the potlatch that had been central to their culture for centuries. In this ceremonial feast, a host family provided a rich assortment of foods, presented elaborate dance performances, and gave away its most prized possessions to its guests, who would reciprocate when they, in turn, held potlatch. In the 1880's as the erosion of a way of life prized for thousands of years continued, the Canadian Indian Act made potlatching illegal.

The move from traditional home sites to encampments close to European settlements brought other ills; muskets, the scourge of smallpox, and lingering disputes over the ownership of land.In 1849 Britain recognized Vancouver Island as a colony, chose Victoria as its capital city, and began to encourage settlement. When the colony's first Governor, Richard Blanshard, left his post abruptly in 1851 James Douglas was appointed Governor of the new colony. Douglas attempted to settle outstanding land disputes, signing 14 treaties with First Nations peoples in and around Victoria, some of which are the foundation of continuing discussion today.

In 1858, word got out that gold had been discovered in the Fraser River valley. Tens of thousands of people streamed north from San Francisco and beyond to get to the new gold fields, stopping in Victoria to stock up. For prospectors eager to make their fortunes, the arrival in Victoria's harbour and the long lines of men waiting to purchase supplies and buy a miner's licence were memorable sights.

Further gold discoveries in the Cariboo continued to put Victoria and its harbour on the map as the major supply depot and busiest port north of San Francisco. Victoria's deep-sea port, which became a free port in 1860, was an important link in the frenzied supply chain, supporting both the Fraser River and Cariboo gold rushes.The Minister of Transport once promised GVHA that his department remained committed to "divestiture of all facilities of the Victoria and Esquimalt Harbours" through a phased approach, and the Authority has continued to advocate for additional strategic properties from the Johnson Street Bridge to Rock Bay.

In 2006, Transport Canada extended its Port Divestiture Program until March 2007 giving Victoria new hope for key land parcels and seabed divestiture. Control of the water airport and harbour movements are more difficult to resolve and remain outstanding.The goal of a pedestrian pathway system around the entire harbour is also oustanding although the GVHA is encouraging other harbour property owners including the City of Victoria to share in this vision.GVHA achieved financial sustainability more quickly than it anticipated, in part because of the growth of cruise operations at Ogden Point. King Brothers Limited have built a strong relationship with the major cruise lines, and this has strengthened Victoria's tourist industry despite challenges such as passport regulations and a stronger Canadian economy. Victoria's harbour is ranked as the second busiest cruise port in Canada. GVHA's financial position was further enhanced when Paul Servos, appointed as General Manager in February 2006, implemented an aggressive business strategy focused on ensuring the financial viability of all GVHA facilities. Don Prittie, appointed to the role of Board Chair in October 2006, focused on garnering support of the Greater Victoria community for a vibrant working harbour.

GVHA envisions a harbour where people can live, learn, work and play. With careful development and further divestiture, Victoria Harbour will be an even more spectacular gateway to millions of visitors each year, a place for celebration, and a vital centerpiece for the growth and development of local and regional economies.As the leading advocate for an "alive, accessible and dynamic harbour," GVHA is passionate about the power of the harbour to act as a catalyst for Victoria to fulfill its destiny as one of the most outstanding experiences in the world.