Belcarra, British Columbia
Encyclopedia
See also Belcarra, County Mayo
Belcarra, County Mayo
Belcarra is a village in Mayo, Ireland about south-east of the county town of Castlebar.It is a growing village, which recently benefited from the addition of a sewage treatment plant and has had many new houses built in its centre over the last few years....
in the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
.
Belcarra is a village on the shore of Indian Arm
Indian Arm
Indian Arm is a steep-sided glacial fjord adjacent to the city of Vancouver in southwestern British Columbia. Formed during the last Ice Age, it extends due north from Burrard Inlet, between the communities of Belcarra and the District of North Vancouver , then on into mountainous wilderness...
, a side inlet of Burrard Inlet
Burrard Inlet
Burrard Inlet is a relatively shallow-sided coastal fjord in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Formed during the last Ice Age, it separates the City of Vancouver and the rest of the low-lying Burrard Peninsula from the slopes of the North Shore Mountains, home to the communities of West...
, and is part of Metro Vancouver. It lies northwest of Port Moody and immediately east of the Deep Cove
Deep Cove, North Vancouver
Deep Cove refers to both the community in the easternmost part of the District of North Vancouver, in British Columbia, Canada, and also the geographic name of the small bay beside the town. It is affectionately referred to as "The Cove" by local residents. Located at the foot of Mount Seymour,...
area of North Vancouver, across the waters of Indian Arm. Isolated by geography on a narrow peninsula, Belcarra is accessible by a single winding paved road or by water. Before incorporation it was commonly known as Belcarra Bay.
It is largely a residential bedroom community for Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
and its suburbs. Belcarra is the only community in this area that is not growing substantially. Even neighbouring Anmore, another tiny community has grown and changed, but Belcarra has remained a relatively small community. With a population of 682 as of 2001, it has the lowest population of any independent settlement in the Vancouver area. Many residents in Belcarra have private docks and boats; even houses that are not on the water are sometimes able to procure a shared dock. Belcarra Regional Park
Belcarra Regional Park
Belcarra Regional Park is a regional park located in metropolitan Vancouver, British Columbia. It is northeast of the meeting of Burrard Inlet with Indian Arm, beginning near Belcarra Bay and extending to Sasamat Lake. Sasamat is one of the warmest lakes in Greater Vancouver, is located in...
winds its way through the village.
History
Belcarra was a traditional camping area for the Tsleil-waututh, the First NationsFirst Nations
First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...
people whose territory it is in. Its beach and exposed westerly view give it a fine outlook and afternoon sun. The site was abandoned sometime between 1858 and 1864 when smallpox ravaged the Indian population. The remaining people moved their main permanent village across the inlet. The site at Belcarra was pre-empted early by European settlers, who were involved in an unfortunate murder in 1882. In turn, the land was deeded to the defending solicitor, who named the place Belcarra. A summer cabin was subsequently built. In time more cabins were built, and the local ferry company built a pier, park and campsite, for vacationers. Admiralty Point was a government naval reserve, and was thus saved from development. The area is now a regional park.
Belcarra adjoins several islands, and so it is a favourite spot for boaters. Bedwell Bay and Sasamat Lake
also are nearby, increasing the appeal.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2001
Canada 2001 Census
The Canada 2001 Census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population. Census day was May 15, 2001. On that day, Statistics Canada attempted to count every person in Canada. The total population count of Canada was 30,007,094. This was a 4% increase over 1996 Census of 28,846,761. In...
, there were 682 people, 260 households, and 220 families residing in the village. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 124.91/km² . There were 293 housing units at an average density of 53.66/km². The racial makeup of the village was 95.91% White
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
, 2.91% Asian Canadian
Asian Canadian
This is a list of Canadians of Asian ancestry. Asian Canadians comprise the largest visible minority in Canada, at 11% of the Canadian population.- Ethnicity :List of Asian Canadian Demographies according to the 2006 Census- Notable Asian Canadians :...
, 0.05% Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian.
The linguistic makeup of the village was English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
as the first language of 91.2% of the population, and 8.0% first learnt other languages. 94.2% of the population can speak only English, 5.1% can speak both English and French.
In the village the population was spread out with 17.6% under the age of 14, 11.0% from 15 to 24, 25.0% from 25 to 44, 40.4% from 45 to 64, and 6.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females there were 101.5 males.
For every 100 females age 15 and over, there were 107.3 males. There were 260 households out of which 26.9% had children living with them, 69.2% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 4.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 19.2% of all households were made up of individuals. The average married-couple family size was 2.7.
Christians
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
made up 55.1% of the population, or 22.8% Catholic
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
, 27.2% Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
, 0.0% Orthodox
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
, and 5.1% other Christian. Other religions in the village include 1.5% Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, and 1.5% other religions. 41.2% of the population claimed to have no religious affiliation.
The median income for a household in the village was $100,995, and the median income for a family was $105,016. Males had an average income of $61,200 versus $34,840 for females. About 3.7% of the labour force was unemployed. The largest occupation categories were 23.5% employed in social science, education, government service and religion occupations, 17.3% business, finance and administration occupations, 17.3% sales and service occupations, and 16.0% in management occupations.
Note: Percentages may not add up to 100 percent due to rounding of data samples.
Emergency services
Belcarra contracts out its police service to the Royal Canadian Mounted PoliceRoyal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
, with the main police station at Coquitlam Town Centre. Since 1978, Belcarra has had its own volunteer fire service, known as the Sasamat Fire Department, with two main halls and five fire apparatuses shared between it and the neighbouring community of Anmore. Belcarra's ambulance service is run by the British Columbia Ambulance Service
British Columbia Ambulance Service
The British Columbia Ambulance Service is the sole ambulance service and provider of pre-hospital emergency care in the province of British Columbia, Canada. It operates under the Emergency and Health Services Commission and the Provincial Health Services Authority, and is tasked with the...
.
In addition, Coquitlam Search and Rescue is responsible for urban and wilderness search and rescue for the area between Indian Arm
Indian Arm
Indian Arm is a steep-sided glacial fjord adjacent to the city of Vancouver in southwestern British Columbia. Formed during the last Ice Age, it extends due north from Burrard Inlet, between the communities of Belcarra and the District of North Vancouver , then on into mountainous wilderness...
and Pitt Lake
Pitt Lake
Pitt Lake is the second-largest lake in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, being about 53.5 square kilometres in area. It is about 25 km long and about 4.5 km wide at its widest, and is also one of the world's largest tidal lakes, its confluence with the Fraser being only a few miles upstream...
, and encompasses the local communities of Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Belcarra and Anmore.
Transportation
As part of Metro Vancouver, Belcarra is served by the TransLink public transit system, and is on bus route C26.Twinning of Village
Belcarra in June, 2007 twinned with its original namesake, Belcarra, County MayoBelcarra, County Mayo
Belcarra is a village in Mayo, Ireland about south-east of the county town of Castlebar.It is a growing village, which recently benefited from the addition of a sewage treatment plant and has had many new houses built in its centre over the last few years....
, Ireland.
William Norman Bole
William Norman Bole
William Norman Bole was an Irish-born lawyer, judge and political figure in British Columbia. He represented New Westminster City in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1886 to 1889....
, a successful criminal lawyer (and later a judge) in New Westminster was an immigrant from that county in the 19th century. As payment for his defense of the Irishman John Hall, Belcarra’s first European settler, Mr. Bole acquired the land that would become the Village of Belcarra, naming it after a village in his native Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
.
External links
- Village of Belcarra - official website
- Aerial view of Belcarra (L) and Bedwell Bay (L), looking towards Indian Arm
