Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...

 off Canada's Pacific

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area

Metropolitan area

The term metropolitan area refers to a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories, sharing industry, infrastructure, and housing. A metropolitan area usually encompasses multiple jurisdictions and municipalities: neighborhoods, townships,...

 of Greater Victoria

Greater Victoria, British Columbia

Greater Victoria is located in British Columbia, Canada, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. It is a cultural rather than political entity, usually defined as the thirteen easternmost municipalities of the Capital Regional District on Vancouver Island but also includes adjoining areas and...

, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian metro region.

Victoria is about 100 kilometres (62.1 mi) from BC's largest city of 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,...

 on the mainland. The city is about 100 kilometres (62.1 mi) from Seattle by airplane or ferry, and 40 kilometres (24.9 mi) from Port Angeles

Port Angeles, Washington

Port Angeles is a city in and the county seat of Clallam County, Washington, United States. The population was 19,038 at the 2010 census. The area's harbor was dubbed Puerto de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles by Spanish explorer Francisco de Eliza in 1791, but by the mid-19th century the name had...

, Washington by ferry

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

 across the Juan de Fuca Strait.

Named after Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

Victoria of the United Kingdom

Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....

 and of the Dominion of Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, Victoria is one of the oldest cities in the Pacific Northwest

Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...

, with British settlement beginning in 1841. The city has retained a large number of its historic buildings, in particular its two most famous landmarks, the British Columbia Parliament Buildings

British Columbia Parliament Buildings

The British Columbia Parliament Buildings are located in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada and are home to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia....

 (finished in 1897 and home of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia

The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is one of two components of the Parliament of British Columbia, the provincial parliament ....

) and the Empress hotel

The Empress (Hotel)

The Fairmont Empress is one of the oldest and most famous hotels in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Located on Government Street facing the Inner Harbour, the Empress has become an iconic symbol for the city itself...

 (opened in 1908). The city's Chinatown

Chinatown, Victoria

The Chinatown in Victoria, British Columbia is the oldest in Canada and second in age only to San Francisco's in North America, with its beginnings in the mass influx of miners from California to what is now British Columbia in 1858. Its history goes back to the mid nineteenth century. It remains...

 is the second oldest in North America after San Francisco's. The region's Coast Salish

Coast Salish

Coast Salish languages are a subgroup of the Salishan language family. These languages are spoken by First Nations or Native American peoples inhabiting the territory that is now the southwest coast of British Columbia around the Strait of Georgia and Washington state around Puget Sound...

 First Nations

First 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...

 peoples established communities in the area long before non-native settlement, possibly several thousand years earlier, which had large populations at the time of European exploration. Victoria, like many Vancouver Island communities, continues to have a sizable First Nations presence, composed of peoples from all over Vancouver Island and beyond.

Once known as the "City of Gardens," Victoria is an attractive city and a popular tourism destination with a thriving technology sector that has risen to its largest revenue producing private industry. The city has a large non-local student population, who come to attend the University of Victoria

University of Victoria

The University of Victoria, often referred to as UVic, is the second oldest public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It is a research intensive university located in Saanich and Oak Bay, about northeast of downtown Victoria. The University's annual enrollment is about 20,000 students...

, Camosun College

Camosun College

Camosun College is located in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. As of 2009 it had over 12,500 full-time and part-time students between its Lansdowne and Interurban campuses. The Lansdowne campus provides university transfer and access programs, as well as career, technical and vocational...

, Royal Roads University

Royal Roads University

Royal Roads University is a public university located in Colwood, Greater Victoria, British Columbia, that describes itself as "Canada's University for Working Professionals".-Overview:...

, the Sooke Schools International Program and the Canadian College of Performing Arts. Victoria is also popular with retirees

Pensioner

In common parlance, a pensioner is a person who has retired, and now collects a pension. This is a term typically used in the United Kingdom and Australia where someone of pensionable age may also be referred to as an 'old age pensioner', or OAP. In the United States, the term retiree is more...

, who come to enjoy the temperate and usually snow-free climate of the area as well as the usually relaxed pace of the city.

History

Prior to the arrival of Captain James Cook in the late 1700s, the Victoria area was home to several communities of Coast Salish

Coast Salish

Coast Salish languages are a subgroup of the Salishan language family. These languages are spoken by First Nations or Native American peoples inhabiting the territory that is now the southwest coast of British Columbia around the Strait of Georgia and Washington state around Puget Sound...

 peoples, including the Songhees

Songhees

The Songhees or Songish, also known as the Lekwungen or Lekungen, are an indigenous North American Coast Salish people who reside on southeastern Vancouver Island, British Columbia in the Greater Victoria area...

. The Spanish and British took up the exploration of the northwest coast of North America beginning with the visits of Juan Perez

Juan José Pérez Hernández

Juan José Pérez Hernández , often simply Juan Pérez, was an 18th century Spanish explorer. He was the first European to sight, examine, name, and record the islands near present-day British Columbia, Canada...

 in 1774 and of Captain James Cook

James Cook

Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...

 in 1778 although the Victoria area of the Strait of Juan de Fuca was not penetrated until 1790. Spanish sailors visited Esquimalt Harbour

Esquimalt Harbour

Esquimalt Harbour is a sheltered body of water in Greater Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It is connected to the Strait of Juan de Fuca by a narrow channel known as Royal Roads. Its entrance is marked by Fisgard Lighthouse....

 (just west of Victoria proper) in 1790, 1791, and 1792.

In 1841 James Douglas

James Douglas (Governor)

Sir James Douglas KCB was a company fur-trader and a British colonial governor on Vancouver Island in northwestern North America, particularly in what is now British Columbia. Douglas worked for the North West Company, and later for the Hudson's Bay Company becoming a high-ranking company officer...

 was charged with the duty of setting up a trading post on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, upon the recommendation by Sir George Simpson

George Simpson (administrator)

Sir George Simpson was a Scots-Quebecer and employee of the Hudson's Bay Company . His title was Governor-in-Chief of Rupert's Land and administrator over the Northwest Territories and Columbia Department in British North America from 1821 to 1860.-Early years:George Simpson was born in Dingwall,...

 that a new more northerly post be built in case Fort Vancouver

Fort Vancouver

Fort Vancouver was a 19th century fur trading outpost along the Columbia River that served as the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company in the company's Columbia District...

 fell into American hands (see Oregon boundary dispute

Oregon boundary dispute

The Oregon boundary dispute, or the Oregon Question, arose as a result of competing British and American claims to the Pacific Northwest of North America in the first half of the 19th century. Both the United Kingdom and the United States had territorial and commercial aspirations in the region...

). Douglas founded Fort Victoria

Fort Victoria (British Columbia)

Fort Victoria was a fur trading post of the Hudson’s Bay Company, the headquarters of HBC operations in British Columbia. The fort was the beginnings of a settlement that eventually grew into the modern Victoria, British Columbia, the capital city of British Columbia.The headquarters of HBC...

, on the site of present-day Victoria, British Columbia in anticipation of the outcome of the Oregon Treaty

Oregon Treaty

The Oregon Treaty is a treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States that was signed on June 15, 1846, in Washington, D.C. The treaty brought an end to the Oregon boundary dispute by settling competing American and British claims to the Oregon Country, which had been jointly occupied by...

 in 1846, extending the British North America

British North America

British North America is a historical term. It consisted of the colonies and territories of the British Empire in continental North America after the end of the American Revolutionary War and the recognition of American independence in 1783.At the start of the Revolutionary War in 1775 the British...

/United States border along the 49th parallel from the Rockies

Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...

 to the Strait of Georgia.

Erected in 1843 as a Hudson's Bay Company

Hudson's Bay Company

The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...

 trading post on a site originally called Camosun (the native word was "camosack", meaning "rush of water") known briefly as "Fort Albert", the settlement was renamed Fort Victoria

Fort Victoria (British Columbia)

Fort Victoria was a fur trading post of the Hudson’s Bay Company, the headquarters of HBC operations in British Columbia. The fort was the beginnings of a settlement that eventually grew into the modern Victoria, British Columbia, the capital city of British Columbia.The headquarters of HBC...

 in 1846, in honour of Queen Victoria

Victoria of the United Kingdom

Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....

. The Songhees established a village across the harbour from the fort. The Songhees' village was later moved north of Esquimalt. When the crown colony was established in 1849, a town was laid out on the site and made the capital of the colony. The Chief Factor of the fort, James Douglas

James Douglas (Governor)

Sir James Douglas KCB was a company fur-trader and a British colonial governor on Vancouver Island in northwestern North America, particularly in what is now British Columbia. Douglas worked for the North West Company, and later for the Hudson's Bay Company becoming a high-ranking company officer...

 was made the second governor of the Vancouver Island Colony (Richard Blanshard

Richard Blanshard

Richard Blanshard MA was an English barrister and first governor of the Colony of Vancouver Island from its foundation in 1849 to his resignation in 1851....

 was first governor, Arthur Edward Kennedy

Arthur Edward Kennedy

Sir Arthur Edward Kennedy GCMG CB was a British colonial administrator who served as governor of a number of British colonies, namely Sierra Leone, Western Australia, Vancouver Island, Hong Kong and Queensland....

 was third and last governor), and would be the leading figure in the early development of the city until his retirement in 1864.
With the discovery of gold

Gold rush

A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...

 on the British Columbia mainland in 1858, Victoria became the port, supply base, and outfitting centre for miners on their way to the Fraser Canyon

Fraser Canyon

The Fraser Canyon is an 84 km landform of the Fraser River where it descends rapidly through narrow rock gorges in the Coast Mountains en route from the Interior Plateau of British Columbia to the Fraser Valley...

 gold fields, mushrooming from a population of 300 to over 5000 literally within a few days. Victoria was incorporated as a city in 1862. In 1865, Esquimalt was made the North Pacific home of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

, and remains Canada's west coast naval base. In 1866 when the island was politically united with the mainland, Victoria was designated the capital of the new united colony

United Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia

The Colony of British Columbia is a crown colony that resulted from the amalgamation of the two former colonies, the Colony of Vancouver Island and the mainland Colony of British Columbia...

 instead of New Westminster - an unpopular move on the Mainland - and became the provincial capital when British Columbia joined the Canadian Confederation

Canadian Confederation

Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...

 in 1871. Memoirs still in print of those early days include those by painter Emily Carr

Emily Carr

Emily Carr was a Canadian artist and writer heavily inspired by the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. One of the first painters in Canada to adopt a post-impressionist painting style, Carr did not receive widespread recognition for her work until later in her life...

.

In the latter half of the 19th century, the Port of Victoria became one of North America's largest importers of opium, serving the opium trade from Hong Kong and distribution into North America. Opium trade was legal and unregulated until 1865, then the legislature issued licences and levied duties on its import and sale. The opium trade was banned in 1908.

In 1886, with the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway

Canadian Pacific Railway

The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...

 terminus on 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...

, Victoria's position as the commercial centre of British Columbia was irrevocably lost to the City of 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,...

. The city subsequently began cultivating an image of genteel civility within its natural setting, an image aided by the impressions of visitors such as Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...

, the opening of the popular Butchart Gardens

Butchart Gardens

The Butchart Gardens is a group of floral display gardens in Brentwood Bay, British Columbia, Canada, located near Victoria on Vancouver Island. The gardens receive more than a million visitors each year...

 in 1904 and the construction of the Empress Hotel

The Empress (Hotel)

The Fairmont Empress is one of the oldest and most famous hotels in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Located on Government Street facing the Inner Harbour, the Empress has become an iconic symbol for the city itself...

 by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1908. Robert Dunsmuir

Robert Dunsmuir

Robert Dunsmuir was a Scottish-Canadian coal miner, railway developer, industrialist and politician. -Origins in Scotland:...

, a leading industrialist whose interests included coal mines and a railway on Vancouver Island, constructed Craigdarroch Castle

Craigdarroch Castle

Craigdarroch Castle in Victoria, British Columbia, is a historic, Victorian-era Scottish Baronial mansion. The mansion was designated a National Historic Site of Canada due to its landmark status in Victoria.-Description:...

 in the Rockland

Rockland, Greater Victoria

Rockland is an historic neighbourhood of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, located just southeast of downtown and northeast of Beacon Hill Park, and comprising the northern portion of the official city neighbourhood of Fairfield...

 area, near the official residence

Government House (British Columbia)

Government House of British Columbia is the official residence of the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, as well as that in Victoria of the Canadian monarch, and has casually been described as "the Ceremonial Home of all British Columbians." It stands in the provincial capital on a 8.9 ha ...

 of the province's lieutenant-governor. His son James Dunsmuir

James Dunsmuir

James Dunsmuir was a British Columbian industrialist and politician. Son of Robert Dunsmuir, he was heir to his family's coal fortune. The Dunsmuir family dominated the province's economy in the late nineteenth century and were a leading force in opposing organized labour...

 became premier and subsequently lieutenant-governor of the province and built his own grand residence at Hatley Park (used for several decades as Royal Roads Military College

Royal Roads Military College

Royal Roads Military College was a Canadian military college located in Hatley Park, Colwood, British Columbia near Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The facility is currently being used as the campus for Royal Roads University, a public university that offers applied and professional academic...

, now civilian Royal Roads University

Royal Roads University

Royal Roads University is a public university located in Colwood, Greater Victoria, British Columbia, that describes itself as "Canada's University for Working Professionals".-Overview:...

) in the present City of Colwood

Colwood, British Columbia

Colwood is a city located on Vancouver Island to the southwest of Victoria, capital of British Columbia. Colwood was incorporated in 1985 and has a population of approximately 15,000 people. Colwood lies within the boundaries of the Victoria Census Metropolitan area or Capital Regional District,...

.

A real estate and development boom ended just before World War I, leaving Victoria with a large stock of Edwardian

Edwardian architecture

Edwardian architecture is the style popular when King Edward VII of the United Kingdom was in power; he reigned from 1901 to 1910, but the architecture style is generally considered to be indicative of the years 1901 to 1914....

 public, commercial and residential structures that have greatly contributed to the City's character. A number of municipalities surrounding Victoria were incorporated during this period, including the Township of Esquimalt, the District of Oak Bay, and several municipalities on the Saanich Peninsula

Saanich Peninsula

The Saanich Peninsula is located north of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It is bounded by the Saanich Inlet on the west, and various straits of the Gulf of Georgia on the east, chiefly Haro Strait The exact southern boundary of what is referred to as the "Saanich Peninsula" is somewhat fluid...

. Since World War II the Victoria area has seen relatively steady growth, becoming home to two major universities. Since the 1980s the western suburbs have been incorporated as new municipalities, such as Colwood and Langford

Langford, British Columbia

Langford is a city of 22,459 residents on southern Vancouver Island, within the province of British Columbia, Canada. It is considered one of Greater Victoria's Western Communities...

, which are known collectively as the Western Communities

Western Communities

The Western Communities or WestShore is a term used to describe the suburban municipalities of Colwood, Langford, Metchosin and The Highlands. Greater Langford and unincorporated districts west of Esquimalt Harbour and Portage Inlet, and south of the Malahat in the Capital Regional District ,...

.

Greater Victoria periodically experiences calls for the amalgamation

Amalgamation (politics)

A merger or amalgamation in a political or administrative sense is the combination of two or more political or administrative entities such as municipalities , counties, districts, etc. into a single entity. This term is used when the process occurs within a sovereign entity...

 of the thirteen municipal governments within the Capital Regional District. The opponents of amalgamation state that separate governance affords residents a greater deal of local autonomy. The proponents of amalgamation argue that it would reduce duplication of services, while allowing for more efficient use of resources and the ability to better handle broad, regional issues and long-term planning.

Geology

The landscape of Victoria was formed by water in various forms. Pleistocene glaciation put the area under a thick ice cover, the weight of which depressed the land below present sea level. These glaciers also deposited stony sandy loam till. As they retreated, their melt water left thick deposits of sand

Sand

Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...

 and gravel

Gravel

Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...

. Marine clay

Clay

Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...

 settled on what would later become dry land. Post-glacial rebound exposed the present-day terrain to air, raising beach and mud deposits well above sea level. The resulting soils are highly variable in texture, and abrupt textural changes are common. In general, clays are most likely to be encountered in the northern part of town and in depressions. The southern part has coarse-textured subsoils and loamy topsoils. Sandy loams and loamy sands are common in the eastern part adjoining Oak Bay. Victoria's soils are relatively unleached and less acidic than soils elsewhere on the British Columbia coast. Their thick dark topsoils denoted a high level of fertility which made them valuable for farming until urbanization took over.

Climate

Victoria has a temperate climate that is usually described as Oceanic

Oceanic climate

An oceanic climate, also called marine west coast climate, maritime climate, Cascadian climate and British climate for Köppen climate classification Cfb and subtropical highland for Köppen Cfb or Cwb, is a type of climate typically found along the west coasts at the middle latitudes of some of the...

 or Marine west coast, with mild, damp winters and relatively dry and mild summers. Like much of the Pacific Northwest

Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...

, the Köppen climate classification

Köppen climate classification

The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Crimea German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936...

 places it at the northernmost limits of the cool, dry-summer subtropical zone (Csb), or cool-summer Mediterranean climate

Mediterranean climate

A Mediterranean climate is the climate typical of most of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, and is a particular variety of subtropical climate...

 due to its usually dry summers. Other climate classification systems, such as Trewartha, place it firmly in the Oceanic zone (Do).

At the Victoria Gonzales weather station, daily temperatures rise above 30 °C (86 °F) on an average less than one day per year and fall below -2 °C on an average of only 6 nights per year. During the winter, the average daily high and low temperatures are 8 and 4 °C (46.4 and 39.2 °F), respectively. The summer months are equally mild, with an average high temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) and low of 11 °C (51.8 °F), although inland areas often experience warmer daytime highs. Victoria does occasionally experience more extreme temperatures. The highest temperature ever recorded in Victoria was 36 °C (97 °F) on July 11, 2007, while the coldest temperature on record was -16 °C on December 29, 1968.

Total annual precipitation is just 608 mm (23.9 in) at the Gonzales weather station in Victoria, contrasted to nearby Seattle, (137 km (85 mi) away to the southeast), with 970 mm (38.2 in) of rainfall, or Vancouver, 100 km (62 mi) away, with 1219 mm (48 in) of rainfall. Perhaps even more dramatic is the difference in rainfalls on Vancouver Island. Port Renfrew, just 80 km from Victoria on the wet southwest coast of Vancouver Island receives 3671 mm (144.5 in). Even the Victoria Airport

Victoria International Airport

Victoria International Airport serves Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It is north northwest of the city, in North Saanich, quite close to the town of Sidney on the Saanich Peninsula...

, 25 km (16 mi) north of the city, receives about 45 per cent more precipitation than the city proper. One of the most striking features of Victoria's climate is the distinct dry and rainy seasons. Nearly two thirds of the annual precipitation falls during the four wettest months, November to February. Precipitation in December, the wettest month (109 mm (4.3 in)) is nearly eight times as high as in July, the driest month (14 mm (0.551181102362205 in)). During the summer months, Victoria is the driest major city in Canada.

Victoria averages just 26 cm (10.2 in) of snow annually, or about half that of Vancouver. Every few decades, Victoria receives very large snowfalls, including the more than 100 cm (39.4 in) of snow that fell in December 1996. On the other hand, roughly one third of winters will see virtually no snow, with less than 5 cm (1.97 in) falling during the entire season. When snow does fall, it rarely lasts long on the ground. Victoria averages just 2–3 days per year with at least 5 cm (1.97 in) of snow on the ground.

The rain shadow

Rain shadow

A rain shadow is a dry area on the lee side of a mountainous area. The mountains block the passage of rain-producing weather systems, casting a "shadow" of dryness behind them. As shown by the diagram to the right, the warm moist air is "pulled" by the prevailing winds over a mountain...

 effect of the Washington Olympic Mountains to the south also means that Victoria gets more sunshine than surrounding areas. With 2,193 hours of sun annually, Victoria is one of the sunniest places in British Columbia, and gets more sunshine than most other cities in Canada except those in the southern Prairies.
Victoria's equable climate has also added to its reputation as the "City of Gardens". The city takes pride in the many flowers that bloom during the winter and early spring, including crocuses, daffodils, early-blooming rhododendrons, cherry and plum trees. Every February there is an annual "flower count" in what for the rest of the country and most of the province is still the dead of winter.

Due to its mild climate, Victoria and its surrounding area (southeastern Vancouver Island, Gulf Islands

Gulf Islands

The Gulf Islands are the islands in the Strait of Georgia , between Vancouver Island and the mainland of British Columbia, Canada....

, and parts of the Lower Mainland

Lower Mainland

The Lower Mainland is a name commonly applied to the region surrounding and including Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. As of 2007, 2,524,113 people live in the region; sixteen of the province's thirty most populous municipalities are located there.While the term Lower Mainland has been...

 and Sunshine Coast

Sunshine Coast, British Columbia

The Sunshine Coast is a region of the southern mainland coast of British Columbia, on the eastern shore of the Strait of Georgia, and just northwest of Greater Vancouver...

) is also home to many rare, native plants found nowhere else in Canada, including Quercus garryana (Garry oak

Garry Oak

Quercus garryana, the Garry Oak, Oregon White Oak or Oregon Oak, has a range from southern California to extreme southwestern British Columbia, particularly southeastern Vancouver Island and the adjacent Gulf Islands. It grows from sea level to 210 m altitude in the northern part of its range, and...

), Arctostaphylos columbiana (Hairy manzanita

Manzanita

Manzanita is a common name for many species of the genus Arctostaphylos. They are evergreen shrubs or small trees present in the chaparral biome of western North America, where they occur from southern British Columbia, Washington to California, Arizona and New Mexico in the United States, and...

), and Canada's only broad leaf evergreen tree, Arbutus menziesii (Pacific madrone

Pacific Madrone

Arbutus menziesii, commonly known as the Pacific Madrone, is a species of Arbutus found on the west coast of North America, from British Columbia to California...

). Many of these species exist here at the northern end of their range, and are found as far south as Central and Southern California, and even parts of Mexico.

Non-native plants found in Victoria include Washingtonia

Washingtonia

Washingtonia is a genus of palms, native to the southwestern United States and northwest Mexico...

palm trees, one of which can be found in front of city hall. Palm trees of this genus are not capable of surviving in the ground anywhere else in Canada. A variety of cold-hardy palms (mainly in the Trachycarpus genus) dot gardens and public areas of Victoria.

Neighbourhoods of Victoria

The following is a list of neighbourhoods in the City of Victoria, as defined by the city planning department. For a list of neighbourhoods in other area municipalities, see Greater Victoria, or the individual entries for those municipalities.

• Burnside
• Downtown
  Downtown Victoria
  Downtown Victoria is a neighbourhood of Victoria, British Columbia that acts as the commercial and entertainment hub of the city and surrounding region....
  
  
• Esquimalt
• Fairfield
  Fairfield (Greater Victoria)
  Fairfield is a neighbourhood of Victoria, BC. It is bounded by the James Bay, Downtown, Harris Green, Fernwood, Rockland, and Gonzales neighbourhoods, and meets the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the south .-Community:...
  
  
• Fernwood
  Fernwood (Greater Victoria)
  Fernwood is a neighbourhood near downtown Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, bounded by the neighbourhoods of Jubilee, North Park, Fairfield, Downtown, Oaklands and Harris Green.-Community:...
  
  
• Gonzales (Foul Bay)
• Gorge/Tillicum
• Harris Green
• Hillside-Quadra
• James Bay
• Jubilee (North/South)
• North Park
• Oaklands
• Rockland
  Rockland, Greater Victoria
  Rockland is an historic neighbourhood of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, located just southeast of downtown and northeast of Beacon Hill Park, and comprising the northern portion of the official city neighbourhood of Fairfield...
  
  
• Victoria West
  Victoria West, Greater Victoria
  Victoria West, commonly called Vic West, is an historic neighbourhood of the city of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, located just west of downtown across Victoria Harbour, bordering on the Township of Esquimalt....
  
  

Informal neighbourhoods include:

• Chinatown
• Rock Bay
  Rock Bay (Greater Victoria)
  Rock Bay is a neighbourhood bordering downtown Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, whose borders are the Upper Harbour on the west, David Street and Hillside Avenue on the north, Douglas Street on the east, and approximately Pembroke Street on the south...
  
  
• Oak Bay Border (Foul Bay Road)
• Songhees (part of Vic West)
• Selkirk

Population

Census	Population
1871	3,270
1881	5,925
1891	16,841
1901	20,816
1911	31,660
1921	38,727
1931	39,082
1941	42,907
1951	51,331
1961	54,941
1971	61,761
1981	64,379
1991	71,228
2001	74,125
2006	78,057

The population of the City of Victoria was 78,057 in 2006. The Victoria Census Metropolitan Area, comprising thirteen municipalities informally referred to as Greater Victoria, has a population of 330,088 and is the largest urban area on Vancouver Island. By population, Greater Victoria is the 15th largest metropolitan area in Canada. The Capital Regional District

Capital Regional District, British Columbia

The Capital Regional District is a local government administrative district encompassing the southern tip of Vancouver Island and the southern Gulf Islands in the Canadian province of British Columbia...

, which includes additional rural areas, has a total population of 345,164.

Age distribution

Victoria is known for its disproportionately large retiree population. Some 6.4 percent of the population of Victoria and its surrounding area are more than 80 years of age—the highest proportion for any of Canada's metropolitan areas. The city also boasts the country's third-highest concentration of people 65 and older (17.8 per cent), behind only Peterborough, Ontario

Peterborough, Ontario

Peterborough is a city on the Otonabee River in southern Ontario, Canada, 125 kilometres northeast of Toronto. The population of the City of Peterborough was 74,898 as of the 2006 census, while the census metropolitan area has a population of 121,428 as of a 2009 estimate. It presently ranks...

, and Kelowna

Kelowna

Kelowna is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley, in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. Its name derives from a Okanagan language term for "grizzly bear"...

, British Columbia. Retirees throughout Canada are drawn to Victoria's mild climate, beautiful scenery, year-round golf season, and generally easy-going pace of life. A historically popular cliché referring to the city was that it is for "the newly wed and nearly dead".

Ethnic origins

Note: These categories are those used by Statistics Canada.

Ethnic Origin	Population	Percent of 75,398
English English people The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...	31,545	41.84%
Scottish Scottish people The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...	21,205	28.12%
Irish Irish people The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...	16,785	22.26%
Canadian Canadian identity Canadian identity refers to the set of characteristics and symbols that many Canadians regard as expressing their unique place and role in the world....	14,500	19.23%
German	10,365	13.75%
French French people The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...	7,935	10.52%
Dutch (Netherlands) Dutch people The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...	3,395	4.50%
Chinese Chinese people The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....	3,315	4.40%
Ukrainian	3,285	4.40%
North American Indian	3,230	4.29%
Welsh Welsh people The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...	2,920	3.87%
Polish	2,660	3.53%
Norwegian Norwegians Norwegians constitute both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway. They share a common culture and speak the Norwegian language. Norwegian people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in United States, Canada and Brazil.-History:Towards the end of the 3rd...	2,440	3.24%
British Isles, n.i.e.	2,360	3.13%
Italian Italian people The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...	2,280	3.02%
Swedish	2,080	2.76%
American	1,920	2.55%
Russian	1,840	2.44%
Danish	1,320	1.75%
Austrian	1,180	1.57%
Filipino Filipino people The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....	1,055	1.40%
Spanish Spanish people The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....	1,050	1.39%
Métis	1,015	1.35%
Jewish	990	1.31%
Japanese Japanese people The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...	985	1.31%
East Indian Indian people Indian people or Indisians constitute the Asian nation and pan-ethnic group native to India, which forms the south of Asia, containing 17.31% of the world's population. The Indian nationality is in essence made up of regional nationalities, reflecting the rich and complex history of India...	915	1.21%
Hungarian (Magyar)	890	1.18%
Swiss	660	0.88%
Belgian	635	0.84%
Finnish	630	0.84%
Czech Czech people Czechs, or Czech people are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. Small populations of Czechs also live in Slovakia, Austria, the United States, the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries...	585	0.78%
Portuguese Portuguese people The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....	550	0.73%
Romanian	500	0.66%
Icelandic Icelanders Icelanders are a Scandinavian ethnic group and a nation, native to Iceland.On 17 June 1944, when an Icelandic republic was founded the Icelanders became independent from the Danish monarchy. The language spoken is Icelandic, a North Germanic language, and Lutheranism is the predominant religion...	485	0.64%
Korean Korean people The Korean people are an ethnic group originating in the Korean peninsula and Manchuria. Koreans are one of the most ethnically and linguistically homogeneous groups in the world.-Names:...	400	0.53%
Croatian	295	0.39%
African, n.i.e.	275	0.36%
Australian Australian people Australian people, or simply Australians, are the citizens of Australia. Australia is a multi-ethnic nation, and therefore the term "Australian" is not a racial identifier. Aside from the Indigenous Australian population, nearly all Australians or their ancestors immigrated within the past 230 years...	270	0.36%
Greek	265	0.35%
Mexican Mexican people Mexican people refers to all persons from Mexico, a multiethnic country in North America, and/or who identify with the Mexican cultural and/or national identity....	255	0.34%
European, n.i.e.	235	0.31%
Vietnamese Vietnamese people The Vietnamese people are an ethnic group originating from present-day northern Vietnam and southern China. They are the majority ethnic group of Vietnam, comprising 86% of the population as of the 1999 census, and are officially known as Kinh to distinguish them from other ethnic groups in Vietnam...	225	0.30%
Scandinavian, n.i.e.	210	0.29%
Serbian people Serbs The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...	210	0.29%
Iranian	195	0.26%
Lebanese Lebanese people The Lebanese people are a nation and ethnic group of Levantine people originating in what is today the country of Lebanon, including those who had inhabited Mount Lebanon prior to the creation of the modern Lebanese state....	190	0.25%
South African	185	0.25%
Acadian	175	0.23%
Lithuanian	170	0.23%
Yugoslav Yugoslavs Yugoslavs is a national designation used by a minority of South Slavs across the countries of the former Yugoslavia and in the diaspora... , n.i.e.	160	0.21%
Jamaican	155	0.21%
Chilean Chilean people Chilean people, or simply Chileans, are the native citizens and long-term immigrants of Chile. Chileans are mainly of Spanish and Amerindian descent, with small but significant traces of 19th and 20th century European immigrant origin...	155	0.21%
Latvian	155	0.21%
Black Black people The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...	155	0.21%
Taiwanese Taiwanese people Taiwanese people may refer to individuals who either claim or are imputed cultural identity focused on the island of Taiwan and/or Taiwan Area which have been governed by the Republic of China since 1945...	150	0.20%
Slovenian	140	0.19%
Ethiopian Ethiopian people Ethiopian people or Ethnic Ethiopians are an ethnic group found in the horn of African country of Ethiopia.-Origins:Ethnic Ethiopians are one of the nearly 80 ethnic groups of the horn of Africa country and are found in every regional state of Ethiopia...	130	0.17%
Czechoslovakian	115	0.15%
Slovak	115	0.15%
New Zealander New Zealanders New Zealanders, colloquially known as Kiwis, are citizens of New Zealand. New Zealand is a multiethnic society, and home to people of many different national origins...	115	0.15%
Argentinian Argentine people Argentines are the citizens of Argentina, or their descendants abroad. Argentina is a multiethnic society, which means that it is home to people of many different ethnic backgrounds. According to the , Argentina had a population of 36,260,130 inhabitants, of which 1,527,320, or 4.2%, were born...	95	0.13%
Turk Turkish people Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...	95	0.13%
Barbadian Barbadian people Barbadians are people originating on the Caribbean island of Barbados whether they live there or in the Barbadian diaspora.Rihanna is by far the most popular Barbadian on the planet.-Diaspora:...	90	0.12%
Trinidadian/Tobagonian	90	0.12%
Estonian	90	0.12%
Arab, n.i.e.	90	0.12%
Cambodian	85	0.11%
Indonesian Overseas Indonesian An Overseas Indonesian is a person of Indonesian origin who lives outside of Indonesia. This term applies to people of Indonesian birth and descent who are citizens or residents of temporary status.-History:...	80	0.11%
West Indian	75	0.10%
Flemish Flemish people The Flemings or Flemish are the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Belgium, where they are mostly found in the northern region of Flanders. They are one of two principal cultural-linguistic groups in Belgium, the other being the French-speaking Walloons...	75	0.10%
Egyptian	75	0.10%
Thai Thai people The Thai people, or Siamese, are the main ethnic group of Thailand and are part of the larger Tai ethnolinguistic peoples found in Thailand and adjacent countries in Southeast Asia as well as southern China. Their language is the Thai language, which is classified as part of the Kradai family of...	75	0.10%
Inuit Inuit The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...	70	0.09%
Guyanese Guyanese people Guyanese people are people originating in the South American nation of Guyana. Geographically Guyana is not an island in the Caribbean but a nearby mainland land mass associated with the English Caribbean through history and culture first as a Dutch, then British colony, and as a founding member of...	65	0.09%
Salvadorean	65	0.09%
Oromo Oromo people The Oromo are an ethnic group found in Ethiopia, northern Kenya, .and parts of Somalia. With 30 million members, they constitute the single largest ethnic group in Ethiopia and approximately 34.49% of the population according to the 2007 census...	65	0.09%
Punjabi Punjabi people The Punjabi people , ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ), also Panjabi people, are an Indo-Aryan group from South Asia. They are the second largest of the many ethnic groups in South Asia. They originate in the Punjab region, which has been been the location of some of the oldest civilizations in the world including, the...	65	0.09%
Hawaiian	65	0.09%
Maltese Maltese people The Maltese are an ethnic group indigenous to the Southern European nation of Malta, and identified with the Maltese language. Malta is an island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea...	55	0.07%
Armenian	55	0.07%
Colombian Colombian people Colombian people are from a multiethnic Spanish speaking nation in South America called Colombia. Colombians are predominantly Roman Catholic and are a mixture of Europeans, Africans, and Amerindians.-Demography:...	50	0.07%
Gypsy (Roma)	50	0.07%
Manx Manx people The Manx are an ethnic group coming from the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea in northern Europe. They are often described as a Celtic people, though they have had a mixed background including Norse and English influences....	45	0.06%
Brazilian	45	0.06%
Maya	45	0.06%
Venezuelan Venezuelan people Venezuelan people are from a multiethnic nation in South America called Venezuela. Venezuelans are predominantly Roman Catholic and speak Spanish, and a majority of them are the result of a mixture of Europeans, Africans, and Amerindians.-Demography:...	45	0.06%
Albanian	45	0.06%
Ghanaian	45	0.06%
Somali Somali people Somalis are an ethnic group located in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula. The overwhelming majority of Somalis speak the Somali language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family...	45	0.06%
Byelorussian	40	0.05%
Syrian Syrian people The Syrian people are the inhabitants and citizens of Syria. Syrians are tied together by geography, linguistic heritage, religion, and similar Eastern Mediterranean ethnicities...	40	0.05%
Pakistani	40	0.05%
Sri Lankan	40	0.05%
Laotian	40	0.05%
Fijian Fijian people Fijian people are the major indigenous people of the Fiji Islands, and live in an area informally called Melanesia. The Fijian people are believed to have arrived in Fiji from western Melanesia approximately 3,500 years ago, though the exact origins of the Fijian people are unknown...	40	0.05%
Aboriginal from Central/South America	35	0.05%
Bulgarian	35	0.05%
Sicilian Sicily Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...	35	0.05%
Burmese	35	0.05%
Malaysian	35	0.05%
Maori	35	0.05%
Newfoundlander	30	0.04%
Peruvian Peruvian people Peru is a multiethnic country formed by the combination of different groups over five centuries, so people in Peru usually treat their nationality as a citizenship rather than an ethnicity. Amerindians inhabited Peruvian territory for several millennia before Spanish Conquest in the 16th century;...	30	0.04%
Tigrian	30	0.04%
South Asian, n.i.e.	30	0.04%
Mongolian	30	0.04%
Québécois Quebec Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....	25	0.03%
Dominican, n.o.s.	25	0.03%
Caribbean, n.i.e.	25	0.03%
Belizean Belizean people Belizeans are people originating in the Central American nation of Belize whether they live there or in the Belizean diaspora.-Diaspora:About one out of every three Belizeans now lives overseas and outside of Belize; the majority have migrated to Anglophone countries, especially the United States,...	25	0.03%
Guatemalan	25	0.03%
Panamanian	25	0.03%
Latin, Central or South American, n.i.e.	25	0.03%
Frisian	25	0.03%
Bosnian	25	0.03%
Eritrean	25	0.03%
Moroccan Moroccan people The Moroccan people are a people that share a common Moroccan culture, ancestry and speak the Moroccan variant of the Arabic language or a Berber language as a mother tongue....	25	0.03%
Cornish Cornish people The Cornish are a people associated with Cornwall, a county and Duchy in the south-west of the United Kingdom that is seen in some respects as distinct from England, having more in common with the other Celtic parts of the United Kingdom such as Wales, as well as with other Celtic nations in Europe...	20	0.03%
Other provincial or regional groups	20	0.03%
Basque Basque people The Basques as an ethnic group, primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country , a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.The Basques are known in the...	20	0.03%
Zimbabwean	20	0.03%
Afghan	20	0.03%
Ecuadorian	15	0.02%
Luxembourger	15	0.02%
Slav (European)	15	0.02%
Amhara Amhara people Amhara are a highland people inhabiting the Northwestern highlands of Ethiopia. Numbering about 19.8 million people, they comprise 26% of the country's population, according to the 2007 national census...	15	0.02%
Zulu	15	0.02%
Libyan	15	0.02%
Azerbaijani	15	0.02%
Bengali Bengali people The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...	15	0.02%
Grenadian	10	0.01%
Puerto Rican Puerto Rican people A Puerto Rican is a person who was born in Puerto Rico.Puerto Ricans born and raised in the continental United States are also sometimes referred to as Puerto Ricans, although they were not born in Puerto Rico...	10	0.01%
Kosovar Kosovo Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...	10	0.01%
Montenegrin	10	0.01%
Guinean, n.o.s.	10	0.01%
Kenyan	10	0.01%
Mauritian	10	0.01%
Rwandan	10	0.01%
Tatar Tatars Tatars are a Turkic speaking ethnic group , numbering roughly 7 million.The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of around 5.5 million, about 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan.Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,...	10	0.01%
Bangladeshi	10	0.01%

Ethnicities

Note: these categories are those used in the Statistics Canada census.

Group	Pop. in City of Victoria	Percentage of City of Victoria pop. (75,390)
White †	66,260	84.34%
Chinese Chinese Canadian Chinese Canadians are Canadians of Chinese descent. They constitute the second-largest visible minority group in Canada, after South Asian Canadians...	3,085	4.09%
Black	1,070	1.42%
South Asian	1,015	1.35%
Filipino Filipino Canadian Filipino Canadians are Canadians of Filipino ancestry. Filipino-Canadians are the fourth-largest subgroup of the Overseas Filipinos.Canada only had a small population of Filipinos until the late 20th century. To date, there are currently around 400,000 Filipino Canadians in Canada, most of them...	995	1.32%
All others	2,965	3.93%
† Includes respondents who reported 'Yes' to the Aboriginal identity question as well as respondents who were not considered to be members of a visible minority group.

Economy

The city's chief industries are technology, food products, tourism, education, federal and provincial government administration and services. Other nearby employers include the Canadian Forces

Canadian Forces

The Canadian Forces , officially the Canadian Armed Forces , are the unified armed forces of Canada, as constituted by the National Defence Act, which states: "The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces."...

 (the Township of Esquimalt

Esquimalt, British Columbia

The Township of Esquimalt is a municipality at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. It is bordered to the east by the provincial capital, Victoria, to the south by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, to the west by Esquimalt Harbour and Royal Roads, to the northwest by the...

 is the home of the Pacific headquarters of the Royal Canadian Navy

Royal Canadian Navy

The history of the Royal Canadian Navy goes back to 1910, when the naval force was created as the Naval Service of Canada and renamed a year later by King George V. The Royal Canadian Navy is one of the three environmental commands of the Canadian Forces...

), and the University of Victoria

University of Victoria

The University of Victoria, often referred to as UVic, is the second oldest public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It is a research intensive university located in Saanich and Oak Bay, about northeast of downtown Victoria. The University's annual enrollment is about 20,000 students...

 (located in the municipalities of Oak Bay

Oak Bay, British Columbia

Oak Bay is a municipality located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in the Canadian Province of British Columbia, Canada. A member municipality of the Capital Regional District, it is a community east of and adjacent to the City of Victoria...

 and Saanich

Saanich, British Columbia

The District of Saanich is a municipality on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. It is located north of the provincial capital, Victoria. It has a population of 108,265 people, making it the most populous municipality on Vancouver Island, and the seventh most populous in the province...

) and Camosun College

Camosun College

Camosun College is located in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. As of 2009 it had over 12,500 full-time and part-time students between its Lansdowne and Interurban campuses. The Lansdowne campus provides university transfer and access programs, as well as career, technical and vocational...

 (which have over 33,000 faculty, staff and students combined). Other sectors of the Greater Victoria area economy include: investment and banking, online book publishing, various public and private schools, food products manufacturing, light aircraft manufacturing, technology products, various high tech firms in pharmaceuticals and computers, engineering

Engineering

Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...

, architecture

Architecture

Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...

 and telecommunication

Telecommunication

Telecommunication is the transmission of information over significant distances to communicate. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded...

s.

The Victoria Advanced Technology Council (VIATeC) is an umbrella organization

Umbrella organization

An umbrella organization is an association of institutions, who work together formally to coordinate activities or pool resources. In business, political, or other environments, one group, the umbrella organization, provides resources and often an identity to the smaller organizations...

, partnership between industry and education, promoting high tech industry development in the Victoria region.

The May 24, 2007 edition of the Victoria Times-Colonist

Victoria Times-Colonist

The Times Colonist is an English-language daily newspaper in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It was formed by the merger, in 1980, of the Victoria Daily Times, established in 1884, and the British Colonist , established in 1858 by Amor De Cosmos, who was also British Columbia's second...

newspaper reported that for the first time in Victoria history, high technology has overtaken tourism as the top performing economic sector in Greater Victoria. A gala awards event was staged at the Victoria Conference Centre for business executives and companies that achieved excellence in their respective fields.

The Victoria Region was experiencing a booming real estate economy up until late 2007. Its deflating real estate fortunes are attributed in part to the aftermath of the Global financial crisis of 2008. These incidents and other world financial issues are blamed for a potential economic near future recession

Recession

In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction, a general slowdown in economic activity. During recessions, many macroeconomic indicators vary in a similar way...

, where some regions will survive better than others, depending on their policy plans or lack of plans.

Lower interest rates in the spring of 2009 have fueled yet another round of speculative real estate purchases, despite Victoria already ranking as 'Severely Unaffordable' in the "5th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey". Housing experts who don't stand to gain from high real estate prices in Victoria have pointed out that Western Canadian 'bubble' cities will inevitably follow the path that virtually all the other 'Severely Unaffordable'-ranked cities have taken: substantial and long lasting price decreases. Experts assume the likely trigger for the substantial price decrease will be from many home buyers who, having only afforded their purchase due to historically low rates and very low equity requirements, must reset their mortgage payment amount under significantly higher interest rates and tightened lending environments. Experts further point out this scenario has already been played out by virtually all other 'bubble' housing markets in the world so far, with or without American-style mortgages, with disastrous results for the home purchasers and the local economies. A potential saving grace is that the steady flow of baby-boomers retiring to Victoria is unlikely to slow for 15 or 20 years. In fact, average selling prices of homes in Victoria have steadily increased since Jan/Feb 2009 although as of Nov. 2011, the average price for single-family homes sold in Greater Victoria last month was $595,836 down from $622,393 in September. The median price increased to $539,750 while the six-month average decreased slightly to $619,828. The overall average price for condominiums last month was $307,329, down from $332,490 in September. The median price for condominiums in October declined only slightly to $277,000 while the average for the last six months declined to $323,039. The average price of all townhomes sold last month was $428,040 compared to $436,039 in September. The median price declined to $374,500 while the six month average declined to $438,167.

Technology industry

Advanced technology is Victoria's largest revenue producing private industry with $1.95 billion in annual revenues generated by more than 800 tech companies that have over 13,000 direct employees. The annual economic impact of the sector is estimated at more than $2.65 billion per year. With three post secondary institutions, eight federal research labs, and Canada's Pacific Navy Base, Victoria has many of the elements required for a strong technology sector. Victoria has Canada's highest household internet usage and is ranked as "Canada's Smartest City" by Macleans Magazine.

Tourism industry

Victoria is a major tourism destination with over 3.5 million overnight visitors per year who add more than a billion dollars to the local economy,. As well, an additional 500,000 daytime visitors arrive via cruise ships which dock at Ogden Point

Ogden Point

Ogden Point is a deep water port facility located in the southwestern corner of the city of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Its location in the historic and beautiful city on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, by the Strait of Juan de Fuca not far from Vancouver and Seattle, USA, has made it...

 near the city's Inner Harbour. The city is also close to Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt

CFB Esquimalt

Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt is Canada's Pacific Coast naval base and home port to Maritime Forces Pacific and Joint Task Force Pacific Headquarters....

, the Canadian Navy's primary Pacific Ocean naval base. Downtown Victoria

Downtown Victoria

Downtown Victoria is a neighbourhood of Victoria, British Columbia that acts as the commercial and entertainment hub of the city and surrounding region....

 also serves as Greater Victoria's

Greater Victoria, British Columbia

Greater Victoria is located in British Columbia, Canada, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. It is a cultural rather than political entity, usually defined as the thirteen easternmost municipalities of the Capital Regional District on Vancouver Island but also includes adjoining areas and...

 regional downtown, where many night clubs, theatres, restaurants and pubs are clustered, and where many regional public events occur. Canada Day

Canada Day

Canada Day , formerly Dominion Day , is the national day of Canada, a federal statutory holiday celebrating the anniversary of the July 1, 1867, enactment of the British North America Act , which united three British colonies into a single country, called Canada, within the British Empire...

 fireworks displays, Symphony Splash

Symphony Splash

The Symphony Splash is an annual event held in Victoria, British Columbia on the first Sunday in August . The event consists of the Victoria Symphony playing, live on a barge, in the middle of Victoria's Inner Harbour. Also included in the event is a very large fireworks display, as well as live...

, and many other music festivals and cultural events draw tens of thousands of Greater Victorians and visitors to the downtown core. The Rifflandia and Electronic Music Festival are other music events that draw crowds to the downtown core.

The city and metro region has hosted high-profile sports events including the 1994 Commonwealth Games

1994 Commonwealth Games

The 1994 Commonwealth Games were held in Victoria, in the province of British Columbia in Canada, from 18 August to 28 August 1994.The XV Commonwealth Games marked South Africa's return to the Commonwealth Games following the apartheid era, and over 30 years since the country last competed in the...

, the 2009 Scotties Tournament of Hearts

Scotties Tournament of Hearts

The Scotties Tournament of Hearts is an annual Canadian women's curling championship, sanctioned by the Canadian Curling Association. The winner goes on to represent Canada at the women's world curling championships. Since 1985, the winner also gets to return to the following year's tournament as...

, the 2005 Ford World Men's Curling Championship

2005 Ford World Men's Curling Championship

-Draw 2:April 2, 18:30-Draw 3:April 3, 09:30-Draw 4:April 3, 14:00-Draw 5:April 3, 18:30-Draw 6:April 4, 09:00-Draw 7:April 4, 15:00-Draw 8:April 4, 19:30-Draw 9:April 5, 09:00...

 tournament, and 2006 Skate Canada. Victoria co-hosted the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup

2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup

The 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the sixteenth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup , hosted by Canada from June 30 to July 22, 2007. Argentina defeated Czech Republic in the title game by the score of 2–1, thus managing a back-to-back world title, its fifth in the past seven editions, and sixth...

 at Royal Athletic Park

Royal Athletic Park

Royal Athletic Park is a multi-purpose, fully lit stadium in Victoria, British Columbia. It is primarily used for baseball, soccer, softball and football, but also hosts special events, such as the annual Great Canadian Beer Festival.-History:...

, and is the venue for the Bastion Square Grand Prix Criterium road cycling race. The city is also a destination for conventions, meetings, and conferences, including a 2007 North Atlantic Treaty Organization military chief of staff meeting. Every year, the Swiftsure International Yacht Race attracts boaters from around the world to participate in the boat race in the waters off of Vancouver Island, and the Victoria Dragon Boat

Dragon boat

A dragon boat is a human-powered watercraft traditionally made, in the Pearl River delta region of southern China - Guangdong Province, of teak wood to various designs and sizes. In other parts of China different woods are used to build these traditional watercraft...

 Festival brings over 90 teams from around North America. The Tall Ships Festival brings sailing ships to the city harbour. Victoria also hosts the start of the Vic-Maui Yacht Race

Vic-Maui Yacht Race

The Victoria to Maui International Yacht Race , the longest offshore sailing race off the west coast of North America, is the pinnacle of Pacific Northwest ocean racing. First contested in 1968, the Vic-Maui runs every second year, starting in June or July off Victoria, British Columbia, Canada...

, the longest offshore sailboat race on the West Coast.

The Port of Victoria consists of three parts, the Outer Harbour

Ogden Point

Ogden Point is a deep water port facility located in the southwestern corner of the city of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Its location in the historic and beautiful city on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, by the Strait of Juan de Fuca not far from Vancouver and Seattle, USA, has made it...

, used by deep sea vessels, the Inner and Upper Harbours, used by coastal and industrial traffic. It is protected by a breakwater

Breakwater (structure)

Breakwaters are structures constructed on coasts as part of coastal defence or to protect an anchorage from the effects of weather and longshore drift.-Purposes of breakwaters:...

 with a deep and wide opening. The port is a working harbour, tourist attraction

Tourist attraction

A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, or amusement opportunities....

 and cruise

Cruising (maritime)

Cruising by boat is a lifestyle that involves living for extended time on a boat while traveling from place to place for pleasure. Cruising generally refers to trips of a few days or more, and can extend to round-the-world voyages.- History :...

 destination. Esquimalt Harbour

Esquimalt Harbour

Esquimalt Harbour is a sheltered body of water in Greater Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It is connected to the Strait of Juan de Fuca by a narrow channel known as Royal Roads. Its entrance is marked by Fisgard Lighthouse....

 is also a well-protected harbour with large graving dock and shipbuilding

Shipbuilding

Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to before recorded history.Shipbuilding and ship repairs, both...

 and repair facilities.

Social conditions

In January 2005, a volunteer study by the Victoria Cool-Aid Society found the homeless population to be approximately 700 individuals (although this number has likely grown since then). This was the first homeless count in the city. In 2006, a Times-Colonist news article estimated the homeless population to have increased by 30% in just a few weeks due to the anticipated tourism boom of the 2010 Winter Olympics

2010 Winter Olympics

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

 in Vancouver. In early 2008, an anti-homelessness program based on a successful Italian program was introduced to Victoria. Built on a farm in Central Saanich, the program would typically span two to five years for a homeless person to fully recover. The program boasts a 70 to 80 percent success rate, as opposed to the usual 28 day program with a five to ten percent success rate.

The homeless survey conducted by the Victoria Cool-Aid Society found 50% of the homeless population identify themselves as being of First Nations

First 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...

 origin, and the majority of people living on the streets do not receive income assistance from the government.

Culture

The Victoria Symphony

Victoria Symphony

The Victoria Symphony is a Canadian orchestra based in Victoria, British Columbia. It is considered by some to be Vancouver Island's premiere active performing arts organization. Currently directed by Tania Miller - one of North America's first female musical directors - the staff consist of both...

, led by Tania Miller, performs at the Royal Theatre and the Farquhar Auditorium of the University of Victoria

University of Victoria

The University of Victoria, often referred to as UVic, is the second oldest public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It is a research intensive university located in Saanich and Oak Bay, about northeast of downtown Victoria. The University's annual enrollment is about 20,000 students...

 from September to May. Every BC Day weekend, the Symphony mounts Symphony Splash, an outdoor event that includes a performance by the orchestra sitting on a barge in Victoria's Inner Harbour. Streets in the local area are closed, as each year approximately 40,000 people attend a variety of concerts and events throughout the day. The event culminates with the Symphony's evening concert, with Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture as the grand finale, complete with cannon-fire from Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Gunners from HMCS QUADRA, a pealing carillon and a fireworks display to honour BC Day. Pacific Opera Victoria

Pacific Opera Victoria

Pacific Opera Victoria is located in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It performs four full productions per season at Victoria's Royal Theatre accompanied by members of the Victoria Symphony...

, Victoria Philharmonic Choir

Victoria Philharmonic Choir

The Victoria Philharmonic Choir is a 60-voice auditioned choir based inVictoria, British Columbia. Conducted by Peter Butterfield, the choir performs a wide range of a cappella and accompanied music, and complements the nationally known Victoria Symphony and Pacific Opera VictoriaAn international...

, Canadian Pacific Ballet and Ballet Victoria stage two or three productions each year at the Macpherson or Royal Theatres. The Electronic Music Festival takes place in Centennial Square during the same time period for the BC Day holiday; DJs from various places show off their music skills.

The Bastion Theatre, a professional dramatic company, functioned in Victoria through the 1970s and '80s and performed high quality dramatic productions but ultimately declared bankruptcy in 1988. Reborn as The New Bastion Theatre in 1990 the company struggled for two more years before closing operations in 1992.

The Belfry Theatre

Belfry Theatre

The Belfry Theatre is a theatre and associated theatre company in the Fernwood neighbourhood of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The theatre is, in fact, a nineteenth-century church designed by Thomas Hooper.-Origins:...

 started in 1974 as the Springridge Cultural Centre in 1974. The venue was renamed the Belfry Theatre in 1976 as the company began producing its own shows. The Belfry's mandate is to produce contemporary plays with an emphasis on new Canadian plays.

Other regional theatre venues include: Phoenix Theatre student theatre at the University of Victoria, Kaleidoscope Theatre and Intrepid Theatre, producers of the Victoria Fringe Theatre Festival and The Uno Festival of Solo Performance.

The only Canadian Forces Primary Reserve brass/reed band on Vancouver Island is located in Victoria. The 5th (British Columbia) Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery Band traces its roots back to 1864, making it the oldest, continually operational military band west of Thunder Bay

Thunder Bay

-In Canada:Thunder Bay is the name of three places in the province of Ontario, Canada along Lake Superior:*Thunder Bay District, Ontario, a district in Northwestern Ontario*Thunder Bay, a city in Thunder Bay District*Thunder Bay, Unorganized, Ontario...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

. Its mandate is to support the island's military community by performing at military dinners, parades and ceremonies, and other events. The band performs weekly in August at Fort Rodd Hill National Historic Site where the Regiment started manning the guns of the fort in 1896, and also performs every year at the Cameron Bandshell at Beacon Hill Park

Beacon Hill Park

Beacon Hill Park is a 75 ha park located along the shore of Juan de Fuca Strait in Victoria, British Columbia. The park is popular both with tourists and locals, and contains a number of amenities including woodland and shoreline trails, two playgrounds, a waterpark, playing fields, a petting...

.

The current major sporting and entertainment complex, for Victoria and Vancouver Island Region, is the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre

Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre

The Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre is an indoor arena located in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and is the largest arena in British Columbia outside of Vancouver. It is primarily used for ice hockey, previously the home arena of the Victoria Salmon Kings of the ECHL, and currently the home of...

 arena. It replaced the former Victoria Memorial Arena

Victoria Memorial Arena

Victoria Memorial Arena was an ice hockey arena, located in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It was built in 1949 and demolished in 2003 due to aging and being outdated....

, which was constructed by efforts of World War II veterans as a monument to fallen comrades. World War I, World War II, Korean War, and other conflict veterans are also commemorated. Fallen Canadian soldiers in past, present, and future wars and/or United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

, NATO missions are noted, or will be noted by the main lobby monument at the Save On Foods Memorial Centre. The arena was the home of the ECHL

ECHL

The ECHL is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Princeton, New Jersey with teams scattered across the United States...

 (formerly known as the East Coast Hockey League) team, Victoria Salmon Kings

Victoria Salmon Kings

The Victoria Salmon Kings were a professional ice hockey team based in Victoria, British Columbia. They were members of the Mountain Division of the Western Conference of the ECHL, debuting in the 2004–05 ECHL season and folding after the 2010–11 ECHL season as the Chilliwack Bruins WHL franchise...

, owned by RG Properties Limited, a real estate development firm that built the Victoria Save On Foods Memorial Centre, and Prospera Place

Prospera Place

Prospera Place, formerly known as Skyreach Place, is a 6,886-seat multi-purpose arena, in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. It replaced the old Kelowna Memorial Arena, though it is still in use for smaller venues and sports....

 Arena in Kelowna

Kelowna

Kelowna is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley, in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. Its name derives from a Okanagan language term for "grizzly bear"...

. The arena will be the home of the Victoria Royals Western Hockey League

Western Hockey League

The Western Hockey League is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League as the highest level of junior hockey in Canada...

 (WHL

WHL

WHL may stand for:*Western Hockey League *Western Hockey League *Western Hockey League *West of Harvey Lock*White Hart Lane*World Heritage List*WorldHotel-Link*West Hawk Lake, Manitoba...

) team that replaced the Victoria Salmon Kings.

A number of well-known musicians and bands are from Victoria, including Nelly Furtado

Nelly Furtado

Nelly Kim Furtado is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Furtado grew up in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.Furtado first gained fame with her debut album, Whoa, Nelly!, and its single "I'm Like a Bird", which won a 2001 Juno Award for Single of the Year and a 2002 Grammy...

, David Foster

David Foster

David Walter Foster, OC, OBC , is a Canadian musician, record producer, composer, singer, songwriter, and arranger, noted for discovering singers such as Michael Bublé, Josh Groban, and Charice Pempengco; and for producing some of the most successful artists in the world, such as Céline Dion, Toni...

, The Moffatts

The Moffatts

The Moffatts were a Canadian pop/rock band, composed of brothers Scott, Clint, Bob and Dave Moffatt. Eldest brother Scott was born on March 30, 1983 in Whitehorse, Yukon. Less than a year later, on March 8, 1984, triplets Bob, Clint and Dave were born in Vancouver, British Columbia...

, Frog Eyes

Frog Eyes

Frog Eyes is an indie rock band from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada known for their highly idiosyncratic songs, which pit Carey Mercer's melodic falsetto whoops against an avalanche of guitar, keyboards, piano, and drums. Their 2010 album Paul's Tomb: A Triumph was a longlisted nominee for the...

, Johnny Vallis, Jets Overhead

Jets Overhead

Jets Overhead are a Canadian alternative rock band formed in 2003 and based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.-Formation and debut:Singer Adam Kittredge conceived of the name Jets Overhead while observing air traffic patterns in London, England...

, Bryce Soderberg

Bryce Soderberg

Bryce Dane Soderberg is a Canadian Musician, best known as the bassist and vocalist for American rock band Lifehouse.-Early life:...

, Swollen Members

Swollen Members

Swollen Members is a Canadian hip hop group from Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia, Canada consisting mainly of the duo Mad Child, and Prevail. Frequent collaborators include vocalist Moka Only and producer Rob the Viking, an official group member since 2002...

, Armchair Cynics

Armchair Cynics

Armchair Cynics are a rock band from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. In 2004 the band signed a recording and development contract with Vancouver based 604 Records. The initial release with 604 records was the EP Killing the Romance and is distributed by Universal Music Canada. The recording...

, Nomeansno

Nomeansno

NoMeansNo is a Canadian progressive punk rock music group originally from Victoria, British Columbia and now located in Vancouver.The band has never had, nor have they seemed to pursue, strong mainstream success, but they do have a devoted underground following in North America and Europe...

, Wolf Parade

Wolf Parade

Wolf Parade is an indie rock band formed in 2003 from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The band is currently on an indefinite hiatus as of May 31, 2011.-History:...

, The Racoons

The Racoons

Racoons are an indie rock band from Victoria, British Columbia.-History:Racoons were formed in 2008 by founding members Matthew Lyall and Murray Mckenzie. The duo were then joined by Jeff Mitchelmore and James Alexander Bodman, former members of indie pop band The Paper Cranes. The band's debut EP...

 and Hot Hot Heat

Hot Hot Heat

Hot Hot Heat is a Canadian indie rock band formed in 1999 from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.-Career:Dustin Hawthorne and Steve Bays had been in many different bands together since 1995 and met Hawley in 1998. In 1999, Hawley bought a Juno 6 keyboard and asked Bays to try playing it, as no one...

. Due to the proximity to Vancouver and a 6% distance location tax credit, Victoria is used as a filming location for many films, TV shows, and television movies. Some of these films include X2

X2 (film)

X2 is a 2003 superhero film based on the fictional characters the X-Men. Directed by Bryan Singer, it is the second film in the X-Men film series...

, X-Men: The Last Stand

X-Men: The Last Stand

X-Men: The Last Stand is a 2006 superhero film and the third in the X-Men series. It was directed by Brett Ratner and stars an ensemble cast including Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, Kelsey Grammer, Anna Paquin, Shawn Ashmore, Aaron Stanford, Vinnie Jones,...

, In the Land of Women

In the Land of Women

In the Land of Women is a 2007 American drama film directed and written by Jon Kasdan. It was screened at the Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2006. The film premiered in the United States on April 20, 2007.-Plot:...

, White Chicks

White Chicks

White Chicks is a 2004 American film directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans and written and produced by Keenen Wayans, Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans. The film was produced by Columbia Pictures and Revolution Studios...

, Scary Movie

Scary Movie

Scary Movie is a 2000 comedy-parody film directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans, as part of Warner Bros. Entertainment. It is an American dark comedy which heavily parodies the horror, slasher, and mystery genres...

, Final Destination

Final Destination

Final Destination is a 2000 supernatural slasher film written and directed by James Wong. The film was co-written by Glen Morgan and Jeffrey Reddick, both of them having previously worked with Wong in the TV series The X-Files. The film stars Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith and Tony Todd...

, Excess Baggage

Excess Baggage

Excess Baggage is a 1997 crime-comedy film written by Max D. Adams, Dick Clement, and Ian La Frenais, and directed by Marco Brambilla about a neglected young woman who stages her own kidnapping to get her father's attention, only to be literally kidnapped by a car thief...

, and Bird on a Wire

Bird on a Wire (film)

Bird on a Wire is a 1990 feature film starring Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn, directed by John Badham, and shot mainly in British Columbia, Canada. The title refers to the Leonard Cohen song "Bird on the Wire"...

. Television shows such as Smallville

Smallville

Smallville is the hometown of Superman in comic books published by DC Comics. While growing up in Smallville, the young Clark Kent attended Smallville High with best friends Lana Lang, Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross...

, The Dead Zone

The Dead Zone (TV series)

The Dead Zone, aka Stephen King's Dead Zone is an American-Canadian science fiction/suspense series starring Anthony Michael Hall as Johnny Smith, who discovers he has developed psychic abilities after a coma...

, and Poltergeist: The Legacy

Poltergeist: The Legacy

Poltergeist: The Legacy is a Canadian horror television series which ran from 1996 to 1999. The series tells the story of the members of a secret society known as the Legacy, and their efforts to protect humankind from occult dangers...

 were also filmed there. Canadian director Atom Egoyan

Atom Egoyan

Atom Egoyan, OC is a critically acclaimed Armenian-Canadian stage director and film director. Egoyan made his career breakthrough with Exotica...

 was raised in Victoria. Actors Cameron Bright

Cameron Bright

Cameron Bright is a Canadian actor. He has appeared in the films Godsend, Birth, Running Scared, Ultraviolet, X-Men: The Last Stand, Thank You for Smoking and three installments of The Twilight Saga.-Life and career:Bright was born in Victoria, British Columbia; he was given his middle name,...

 (Ultraviolet

Ultraviolet (film)

Ultraviolet is a 2006 American science fiction action film written and directed by Kurt Wimmer and produced by Screen Gems. It stars Milla Jovovich as Violet Song and Cameron Bright as Six. It was released in North America on March 3, 2006...

, X-Men: The Last Stand

X-Men: The Last Stand

X-Men: The Last Stand is a 2006 superhero film and the third in the X-Men series. It was directed by Brett Ratner and stars an ensemble cast including Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, Kelsey Grammer, Anna Paquin, Shawn Ashmore, Aaron Stanford, Vinnie Jones,...

, Thank You For Smoking

Thank You for Smoking

Thank You for Smoking is a 2005 black comedy film written and directed by Jason Reitman and starring Aaron Eckhart, based on the 1994 satirical novel of the same name by Christopher Buckley...

, New Moon

New Moon (2009 film)

The Twilight Saga: New Moon, commonly referred to as New Moon, is a 2009 American romance fantasy-vampire film based on Stephenie Meyer's 2006 novel New Moon. It is the second film in The Twilight Saga film series and is the sequel to 2008's Twilight. Summit Entertainment greenlit the sequel in...

) and Ryan Robbins

Ryan Robbins

Ryan Robbins is a Canadian actor. He was married to the actress Rebecca Reichert and they have one daughter.-Biography:...

 (Stargate Atlantis

Stargate Atlantis

Stargate Atlantis is a Canadian-American adventure and military science fiction television series and part of MGM's Stargate franchise. The show was created by Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper as a spin-off series of Stargate SG-1, which was created by Wright and Jonathan Glassner and was itself...

, Battlestar Galactica

Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)

Battlestar Galactica is an American military science fiction television series, and part of the Battlestar Galactica franchise. The show was developed by Ronald D. Moore as a re-imagining of the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series created by Glen A. Larson...

, Sanctuary) were born in Victoria. Actor Cory Monteith

Cory Monteith

Cory Allan Monteith is a Canadian actor and musician, best known for his role of Finn Hudson on the Fox television series Glee.-Early life:...

 from the television series Glee

Glee (TV series)

Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...

was raised in Victoria. Actor, artist, athlete Duncan Regehr

Duncan Regehr

Duncan Peter Regehr is a Canadian writer, multi-media artist, and film and television actor. He has also been a figure skater, an Olympic boxing contender, and a classically trained Shakespearean stage actor in his native Canada, before heading to Hollywood in 1980...

 of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe...

 was raised in the region.

Attractions

Beacon Hill Park

Beacon Hill Park

Beacon Hill Park is a 75 ha park located along the shore of Juan de Fuca Strait in Victoria, British Columbia. The park is popular both with tourists and locals, and contains a number of amenities including woodland and shoreline trails, two playgrounds, a waterpark, playing fields, a petting...

 is the central city's main urban green space. Its area of 75 hectares (185 acres) adjacent to Victoria's southern shore includes numerous playing fields, manicured gardens, exotic species of plants and animals such as wild peacocks, a petting zoo, and views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca

Strait of Juan de Fuca

The Strait of Juan de Fuca is a large body of water about long that is the Salish Sea outlet to the Pacific Ocean...

 and the Olympic mountain range

Olympic Mountains

The Olympic Mountains is a mountain range on the Olympic Peninsula of western Washington in the United States. The mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are not especially high - Mount Olympus is the highest at - but the western slopes of the Olympics rise directly out of the Pacific...

. The sport of cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

 has been played in Beacon Hill Park since the mid-nineteenth century. Each summer, Beacon Hill Park plays host to several outdoor concerts, and the Luminara Community Lantern Festival.

The extensive system of parks in Victoria also includes a few areas of natural Garry oak

Garry Oak

Quercus garryana, the Garry Oak, Oregon White Oak or Oregon Oak, has a range from southern California to extreme southwestern British Columbia, particularly southeastern Vancouver Island and the adjacent Gulf Islands. It grows from sea level to 210 m altitude in the northern part of its range, and...

 meadow habitat, an increasingly scarce ecosystem that once dominated the region.

In the heart of downtown are the British Columbia Legislative Buildings, The Empress Hotel

The Empress (Hotel)

The Fairmont Empress is one of the oldest and most famous hotels in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Located on Government Street facing the Inner Harbour, the Empress has become an iconic symbol for the city itself...

, Victoria Police Department

Victoria Police Department

Victoria Police Department is the municipal police force for the City of Victoria and the Township of Esquimalt, British Columbia, Canada. It is the oldest municipal police department in Canada west of the Great Lakes, the first Canadian law enforcement agency to deploy Tasers and creating the...

 Station Museum, the gothic Christ Church Cathedral, and the Royal British Columbia Museum

Royal British Columbia Museum

The Royal British Columbia Museum is a natural history and human history museum in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, founded in 1886. The "Royal" title was approved by Queen Elizabeth II and bestowed by HRH Prince Philip in 1987, to coincide with a Royal tour that year...

/IMAX National Geographic Theatre, with large exhibits on local Aboriginal peoples, natural history

Natural history

Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...

, and modern history

Modern history

Modern history, or the modern era, describes the historical timeline after the Middle Ages. Modern history can be further broken down into the early modern period and the late modern period after the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution...

, along with travelling international exhibits. In addition, the heart of downtown also has the Emily Carr

Emily Carr

Emily Carr was a Canadian artist and writer heavily inspired by the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. One of the first painters in Canada to adopt a post-impressionist painting style, Carr did not receive widespread recognition for her work until later in her life...

 House, Royal London Wax Museum, Victoria Bug Zoo

Victoria Bug Zoo

The Victoria Bug Zoo is a two-room minizoo that is located in downtown Victoria, just one block north from the Fairmont Empress Hotel. The Victoria Bug Zoo is owned and operated by International Bug Zoos Incorporated.-Features:...

, Market Square

Market Square, Victoria

Market Square is one of Victoria, British Columbia's oldest landmarks and also one of its most visited tourist attractions.It was built in the late 19th century, when the city was rapidly growing, as people came through heading for the Klondike....

 and the Pacific Undersea Gardens

Pacific Undersea Gardens

The Pacific Undersea Gardens is located at the Inner Harbour in the heart of downtown Victoria. The Gardens is owned and operated by the Oak Bay Marine Group.-Features:...

, which showcases marine life of British Columbia. The oldest (and most intact) Chinatown

Chinatown

A Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...

 in Canada is located within downtown. The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria

Art Gallery of Greater Victoria

The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria is a Canadian art gallery located in Victoria, British Columbia. Opened in 1951, the gallery possesses notable works by artists such as Emily Carr, and has one of Canada's most significant collections of Asian art...

 is located close to downtown in the Rockland neighbourhood several city blocks from Craigdarroch Castle

Craigdarroch Castle

Craigdarroch Castle in Victoria, British Columbia, is a historic, Victorian-era Scottish Baronial mansion. The mansion was designated a National Historic Site of Canada due to its landmark status in Victoria.-Description:...

 built by industrialist Robert Dunsmuir

Robert Dunsmuir

Robert Dunsmuir was a Scottish-Canadian coal miner, railway developer, industrialist and politician. -Origins in Scotland:...

 and Government House

Government House (British Columbia)

Government House of British Columbia is the official residence of the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, as well as that in Victoria of the Canadian monarch, and has casually been described as "the Ceremonial Home of all British Columbians." It stands in the provincial capital on a 8.9 ha ...

, the official residence of the Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia.

Numerous other buildings of historic importance or interest are also located in central Victoria, including: the 1845 St. Ann's Schoolhouse; the 1852 Helmcken House

Helmcken House

Helmcken House is a museum in Victoria, British Columbia, located in Thunderbird Park. It was built by Dr. John Sebastian Helmcken, the first doctor in Victoria, in 1852, a surgeon with the Hudson's Bay Company. It is currently claimed to be the oldest house in British Columbia that is open to the...

 built for Victoria's first doctor; the 1863 Temple Emanuel, the oldest synagogue in continuous use in Canada; the 1865 Angela College built as Victoria's first Anglican Collegiate School for Girls, now housing retired nuns of the Sisters of St. Ann; the 1871 St. Ann's Academy built as a Catholic school; the 1874 Church of Our Lord

Church of Our Lord (Victoria, British Columbia)

The Church of Our Lord, built in 1876 and located at 626 Blanshard Street Victoria, British Columbia, is an historic Carpenter Gothic church that is designated as a National Historic Site of Canada. It has been affiliated with the Reformed Episcopal Church since its beginning.-External links:* *...

, built to house a breakaway congregation from the Anglican Christ Church cathedral; the 1890 St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church; the 1890 Metropolitan Methodist Church (now the Victoria Conservatory of Music),
which is publicly open for faculty, student, and guest performances, also acts as Camosun College

Camosun College

Camosun College is located in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. As of 2009 it had over 12,500 full-time and part-time students between its Lansdowne and Interurban campuses. The Lansdowne campus provides university transfer and access programs, as well as career, technical and vocational...

 Music Department; the 1892 St. Andrew's Cathedral; and the 1925 Crystal Gardens, originally a saltwater swimming pool, restored as a conservatory and most recently a tourist attraction called the B.C. Experience, which closed down in 2006. Victoria is also famous for its Capital Iron Building, which is a prime focus in its downtown core.

CFB Esquimalt

CFB Esquimalt

Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt is Canada's Pacific Coast naval base and home port to Maritime Forces Pacific and Joint Task Force Pacific Headquarters....

 navy base, in the adjacent municipality of Esquimalt

Esquimalt, British Columbia

The Township of Esquimalt is a municipality at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. It is bordered to the east by the provincial capital, Victoria, to the south by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, to the west by Esquimalt Harbour and Royal Roads, to the northwest by the...

, has a base museum dedicated to naval and military history, located in the Naden part of the base.

North of the city on the Saanich Peninsula are the marine biology Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre

Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre

The Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre is an aquarium and marine education centre that focuses on the ecosystem of the Salish Sea and is located inside the Sidney Pier Hotel on the Vancouver Island town of Sidney, Canada, in the Greater Victoria region...

, Butchart Gardens

Butchart Gardens

The Butchart Gardens is a group of floral display gardens in Brentwood Bay, British Columbia, Canada, located near Victoria on Vancouver Island. The gardens receive more than a million visitors each year...

, one of the biggest tourist and local resident attractions on Vancouver Island, as well as the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory

Dominion Astrophysical Observatory

The Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, located on Observatory Hill, in Saanich, British Columbia, was completed in 1918 by the Canadian government. Proposed and designed by John S...

, part of the National Research Council of Canada, Victoria Butterfly Gardens

Victoria Butterfly Gardens

The Victoria Butterfly Gardens is located in the Greater Victoria region of Brentwood Bay and is one of the most popular tourist sites in the Victoria area. The Victoria Butterfly Gardens is known for having different species of butterflies and moths in their indoor facility, as well as birds,...

 and Centre of the Universe

Dominion Astrophysical Observatory

The Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, located on Observatory Hill, in Saanich, British Columbia, was completed in 1918 by the Canadian government. Proposed and designed by John S...

 planetarium.
Notable museums in Victoria include the Royal British Columbia Museum

Royal British Columbia Museum

The Royal British Columbia Museum is a natural history and human history museum in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, founded in 1886. The "Royal" title was approved by Queen Elizabeth II and bestowed by HRH Prince Philip in 1987, to coincide with a Royal tour that year...

,the Maritime Museum of British Columbia

Maritime Museum of British Columbia

The Maritime Museum of BC reflects the Pacific maritime history and culture of Canada's west coast, with an exhibits and public program mandate for research, education, and partnership.-History:...

 and the British Columbia Aviation Museum

British Columbia Aviation Museum

The British Columbia Aviation Museum is located in Sidney, Greater Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It is on the grounds of the Victoria International Airport at 1910 Norseman Road on the north edge of the airport....

 located on the north edge of the Victoria International Airport

Victoria International Airport

Victoria International Airport serves Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It is north northwest of the city, in North Saanich, quite close to the town of Sidney on the Saanich Peninsula...

. There are also numerous National Historic Sites in close proximity to Victoria, such as the Fisgard Lighthouse, Craigflower Manor and Schoolhouse

Craigflower Manor and Schoolhouse

The Craigflower Manor and Craigflower Schoolhouse are National Historic Sites of Canada located in View Royal, British Columbia near Victoria. The centerpiece of each historic site is a 19th century building — a manor and schoolhouse commissioned by the Hudson's Bay Company to provide education...

, Hatley Castle and Hatley Park and Fort Rodd Hill, which is a coastal artillery fort built in the late 1890s, located west of the city in Colwood

Colwood, British Columbia

Colwood is a city located on Vancouver Island to the southwest of Victoria, capital of British Columbia. Colwood was incorporated in 1985 and has a population of approximately 15,000 people. Colwood lies within the boundaries of the Victoria Census Metropolitan area or Capital Regional District,...

. Also located west of the city is Western Speedway

Western Speedway

Western Speedway is located just outside of Victoria, British Columbia, in the All Fun Recreation Park which features go-karts, batting cages, and water slides. It is a 4/10-mile paved oval track that was founded in 1954, and it is western Canada's oldest speedway. It is southern Vancouver...

, a 4/10th-mile oval vehicular race track and the largest in Western Canada.

Sports

Steve Nash

Steve Nash

Stephen John "Steve" Nash, OC, OBC is a South African-born Canadian professional basketball player who plays point guard for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association . Nash enjoyed a successful high-school basketball career, and he was eventually given a scholarship by Santa Clara...

, twice Most Valuable Player in the National Basketball Association

National Basketball Association

The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...

, grew up in Victoria. Michael Saunders

Michael Saunders

Michael Edward Saunders is a Canadian Major League Baseball left fielder for the Seattle Mariners. He is a left-handed hitting, right-handed throwing outfielder...

, outfielder for the Seattle Mariners

Seattle Mariners

The Seattle Mariners are a professional baseball team based in Seattle, Washington. Enfranchised in , the Mariners are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Safeco Field has been the Mariners' home ballpark since July...

 was born in Victoria and still lives there during the off season. Baseball pitcher Rich Harden

Rich Harden

James Richard Harden is a Canadian professional baseball pitcher.-Early years:Harden attended Claremont Secondary School in Victoria, British Columbia. He was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 38th round of the 1999 Major League Baseball Draft...

 of the Oakland Athletics

Oakland Athletics

The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....

 is from Victoria. Professional racing cyclist Ryder Hesjedal

Ryder Hesjedal

Ryder Hesjedal is a Canadian professional racing cyclist for . He is a former mountain biker, winning a silver medal at the 2001 Under-23 world championship...

 was born in Victoria and still calls the city home. Olympic Games

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

 athletes Riley Mccormick

Riley McCormick

Riley McCormick is a Canadian diver. He won the 2008 national championship on the 10m and 10m synchronized and placed 16th in the individual 10m platform event at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He currently studies at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona...

, Silken Laumann

Silken Laumann

Silken Suzette Laumann, MSC is a Canadian champion rower.Starting in 1976, Laumann won a number of awards, including a gold medal in quadruple sculls at the U.S. Championships, two gold medals in single sculls at the Pan American Games, a bronze medal at the 1984 Olympics in the double sculls with...

, Ryan Cochrane

Ryan Cochrane (swimmer)

Ryan Andrew Cochrane is a Canadian long-distance swimmer. Cochrane is an Olympic bronze medalist as well as the reigning double gold medalist in both the Commonwealth Games and the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships. He holds multiple world championship medals...

, and Simon Whitfield

Simon Whitfield

Simon St. Quentin Whitfield is an Olympic triathlon champion from Canada.-Biography:Whitfield was born in Kingston, Ontario. As a young boy he played soccer but at age 11 began triathlon, honing his early competitive skills in the Canadian Kids of Steel program. By age 15 he was pursuing...

 reside or were born in Victoria.

In 1994 Victoria hosted the Commonwealth Games

1994 Commonwealth Games

The 1994 Commonwealth Games were held in Victoria, in the province of British Columbia in Canada, from 18 August to 28 August 1994.The XV Commonwealth Games marked South Africa's return to the Commonwealth Games following the apartheid era, and over 30 years since the country last competed in the...

. Victoria was also the first city location of the cross Canada 2010 Winter Olympics torch relay that occurred before the start of the 2010 Winter Olympics

2010 Winter Olympics

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

. The 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup

2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup

The 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the sixteenth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup , hosted by Canada from June 30 to July 22, 2007. Argentina defeated Czech Republic in the title game by the score of 2–1, thus managing a back-to-back world title, its fifth in the past seven editions, and sixth...

 was co-hosted by Victoria along with five other Canadian cities/municipalities (Burnaby, 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,...

, Edmonton

Edmonton

Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...

, Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

, Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

).

The Victoria Cougars

Victoria Cougars

The Victoria Cougars were a major league professional ice hockey team that played in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association from 1922 to 1924, and in the Western Hockey League from 1924 to 1926...

 are perhaps the most famous sports franchise the city has known, winning the Stanley Cup

Stanley Cup

The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...

 as members of the PCHA in 1925. The team then moved to Detroit under the name of the Detroit Cougars before the team changed its name to the current Detroit Red Wings

Detroit Red Wings

The Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League , and are one of the Original Six teams of the NHL, along with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, New York...

 of the NHL. Today a Junior 'B' team of that name plays in the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League

Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League

The Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a junior "B" ice hockey league of 7 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada. The Brent Patterson Memorial Trophy, is awarded annually to the league playoff champion...

. There was also a team called the Victoria Cougars in the Western Hockey League

Western Hockey League

The Western Hockey League is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League as the highest level of junior hockey in Canada...

, but they are now the Prince George Cougars

Prince George Cougars

The Prince George Cougars are a major junior ice hockey team in the Western Hockey League. The team is based in Prince George, British Columbia, and plays its home games at the CN Centre...

.

Victoria have been named as a team in the WAMNRL (American National Rugby League) which will begin in summer 2011.

Notable sports teams

Club	Sport	League	Venue
Victoria Royals	Ice Hockey Ice hockey Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...	Western Hockey League Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League as the highest level of junior hockey in Canada...	Save on Foods Memorial Centre
UVic Vikes Victoria Vikes The Victoria Vikes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Victoria of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada in Canadian Interuniversity Sport.The Vikes have both men's and women's teams in the following sports:* Basketball* Cross country...	various	Canadian Interuniversity Sport Canadian Interuniversity Sport Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada, comprising the majority of degree granting universities in the country. Its equivalent body for organized sports at colleges in Canada is The Canadian Colleges Athletic Association...	various
Camosun Chargers	various	Canadian Colleges Athletic Association Canadian Colleges Athletic Association The Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association is the national governing body for organized sports at colleges in Canada. It was formed in 1974. The CCAA hosts nine annual national championships. The CCAA's name in French is l'Association canadienne du sport collégial .Its equivalent body for...	various
Victoria Highlanders Victoria Highlanders Victoria Highlanders is a Canadian soccer team based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 2007, the team plays in the USL Premier Development League , the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference.The team plays its home games in...	Soccer	USL Premier Development League USL Premier Development League The USL Premier Development League is the amateur league of the United Soccer Leagues in the United States, Canada, and Bermuda, forming part of the American Soccer Pyramid...	Bear Mountain Stadium
Victoria Shamrocks Victoria Shamrocks The Victoria Shamrocks are a Senior A box lacrosse club, based in Victoria, British Columbia. The team competes in the 7-team Western Lacrosse Association .The Shamrocks have won the Mann Cup 8 times...	Box Lacrosse Box lacrosse Box lacrosse, also known as indoor lacrosse and sometimes shortened to boxla, LAX or simply box, is an indoor version of lacrosse played mostly in North America. The game originated in Canada, where it is the most popular version of the game played in contrast to the traditional field lacrosse game...	Western Lacrosse Association Western Lacrosse Association The Western Lacrosse Association is an amateur league of men's Senior A box lacrosse sanctioned by the Canadian Lacrosse Association. It consists of seven teams, based in cities throughout southwestern British Columbia. Each year, the playoff teams battle for the right to compete against the...	Bear Mountain Arena Bear Mountain Arena Bear Mountain Arena is in Colwood, British Columbia, Canada. The arena was built in 2004, has 2781 seats and houses year round events for both hockey and lacrosse. With an additional floor capacity of 860 people this premier spectator facility can hold any type of event, from trade shows to major...
Victoria Grizzlies Victoria Grizzlies The Victoria Grizzlies are a Junior "A" ice hockey team based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Coastal Conference of the British Columbia Hockey League . They play their home games at Bear Mountain Arena....	Ice Hockey Ice hockey Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...	British Columbia Hockey League British Columbia Hockey League The British Columbia Hockey League is a Junior "A" ice hockey league from British Columbia under Hockey Canada, a subsection of the Canadian Junior Hockey League. Founded in Vernon in 1961, the BCHL now includes 16 teams. These teams play in two conferences, known as the Coastal and the Interior...	Bear Mountain Arena Bear Mountain Arena Bear Mountain Arena is in Colwood, British Columbia, Canada. The arena was built in 2004, has 2781 seats and houses year round events for both hockey and lacrosse. With an additional floor capacity of 860 people this premier spectator facility can hold any type of event, from trade shows to major...
Westshore Rebels	Canadian Football Canadian football Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...	Canadian Junior Football League Canadian Junior Football League The Canadian Junior Football League is a national amateur Canadian football league consisting of 19 teams playing in six provinces across Canada. The teams compete annually for the Canadian Bowl...	Bear Mountain Stadium
Victoria United Victoria United Victoria United is a Canadian soccer team based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1904, the team plays in Pacific Coast Soccer League , a national amateur league at the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, which features teams from western Canada and the Pacific Northwest...	Soccer	Pacific Coast Soccer League Pacific Coast Soccer League The Pacific Coast Soccer League is a soccer league featuring teams from British Columbia, although the league has also featured teams from Washington in the past as well...	Royal Athletic Park Royal Athletic Park Royal Athletic Park is a multi-purpose, fully lit stadium in Victoria, British Columbia. It is primarily used for baseball, soccer, softball and football, but also hosts special events, such as the annual Great Canadian Beer Festival.-History:...

Notable defunct teams

• Victoria Capitals
  Victoria Capitals
  The Victoria Capitals were members of the Canadian Baseball League that lasted two months before the league ceased operations in 2003. The Capitals played out of Royal Athletic Park and led the league in attendance, averaging over 1,000 fans per game. They featured former Toronto Blue Jays...
  
   (Canadian Baseball League
  Canadian Baseball League
  The Canadian Baseball League, was an independent minor league that operated in 2003. The league's only Commissioner was Major League Baseball Hall of Famer and Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame member Ferguson Jenkins...
  
  )
• Victoria Cougars (Western Hockey League
  Western Hockey League
  The Western Hockey League is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League as the highest level of junior hockey in Canada...
  
  )
• Victoria Vistas
  Victoria Vistas
  The Victoria Vistas were a Canadian soccer club in the original Canadian Soccer League. The Vistas joined the CSL for the 1989 season, and folded after the 1990 season.-1990 Season:...
  
   (Canadian Soccer League)
• Victoria Seals
  Victoria Seals
  The Victoria Seals were a professional baseball team based in Victoria, British Columbia. The Seals were a member of the North Division of the independent Golden Baseball League, which is not affiliated with either Major League Baseball or Minor League Baseball. They joined the GBL on October 1,...
  
   (Golden Baseball League
  Golden Baseball League
  The Golden Baseball League, based in San Ramon, California, was an independent baseball league. It later merged with the Northern League and the United Baseball League to form the North American League in the western United States, western Canada and Mexico....
  
  )
• Victoria Salmon Kings
  Victoria Salmon Kings
  The Victoria Salmon Kings were a professional ice hockey team based in Victoria, British Columbia. They were members of the Mountain Division of the Western Conference of the ECHL, debuting in the 2004–05 ECHL season and folding after the 2010–11 ECHL season as the Chilliwack Bruins WHL franchise...
  
   (ECHL
  ECHL
  The ECHL is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Princeton, New Jersey with teams scattered across the United States...
  
  )

Recreation

Victoria's climate, location and variety of facilities make it ideal for many recreational activities including hiking

Hiking

Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...

, kayaking

Kayaking

Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving across water. Kayaking and canoeing are also known as paddling. Kayaking is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle...

, golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

, water sports, informal team sports and jogging

Jogging

Jogging is a form of trotting or running at a slow or leisurely pace. The main intention is to increase fitness with less stress on the body than from faster running.-Definition:...

.

Victoria is also known as the Cycling Capital of Canada, with hundreds of kilometres of bicycle paths, bike lanes and bike routes in the city, including the Galloping Goose Regional Trail. There are mountain biking

Mountain biking

Mountain biking is a sport which consists of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, using specially adapted mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain.Mountain biking can...

 trails at Mount Work Regional Park, and Victoria is quickly becoming a bike tourism destination.

Cycling advocacy groups including Greater Victoria Cycling Coalition

Greater Victoria Cycling Coalition

The Greater Victoria Cycling Coalition , is a cycling advocacy group based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.Founded in 1992, the GVCC is one of Canada's oldest cycling advocacy organizations....

 (GVCC) and the Bike To Work Society

Bike to Work Week Victoria

Bike to Work Week Victoria is an annual event held in communities throughout greater Victoria, British Columbia. It is organized by the Greater Victoria Bike to Work Society. The purpose of the event is to encourage bicycle commuting. Bike to Work Week began in 1995...

 have worked to improve Victoria's cycling infrastructure and facilities, and to make cycling a viable transportation alternative, attracting 5% of commuters in 2005.

Infrastructure

The Jordan River Diversion Dam is Vancouver Island's main hydroelectric power station. It was built in 1911.

The city's water is supplied by the Capital Regional District's Water Services Department from its Sooke Lake Reservoir. The lake water is very soft and requires no filtering. It is treated with chlorine, ammonia and ultraviolet light to control micro-organisms.

The water used to flow through the 44 km (27 mi) Sooke Flowline

Sooke Flowline

The Sooke Flowline is an abandoned 44 kilometer concrete aqueduct that snakes through the Sooke Hills from Sooke Lake to the Humpback Reservoir near Mt. Wells Regional Park. From this reservoir, a buried, riveted steel pressure main transported water to Victoria. In between 1994 and 2007, this...

 which has now been retired but can still be visited today.

The Hartland landfill

Hartland landfill

The Hartland landfill is the waste disposal site for the city of Victoria, British Columbia and the Greater Victoria area. Since 1985, it has been run by the Capital Regional District environmental services. It is located on top of a hill, between Victoria and Sidney, at the end of Hartland Avenue...

 is the waste disposal site for Greater Victoria area. Since 1985, it has been run by the Capital Regional District environmental services. It is located on top of a hill, between Victoria and Sidney

Sidney, British Columbia

Sidney is a town located at the northern end of the Saanich Peninsula, on Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is one of the 13 Greater Victoria municipalities. It has a population of approximately 11,300. Sidney is located just east of Victoria International Airport,...

, at the end of Hartland Avenue.48.538148°N 123.463368°W ′region:CA_" There is a recycling centre, a sewer solid waste collection, hazardous waste collection, and an electricity generating station. This generating station now creates 1.6 megawatts of electricity, enough for 1,600 homes. The site has won international environmental awards. The CRD conducts public tours of the facility. It is predicted to be full by 2045.

Victoria discharges 129 million litres (4.56 million cu ft) of screened but untreated sewage into the ocean every day. The sewage treatment facilities at Clover and Macaulay points serve most of Victoria. At these facilities, the sewage is screened to exclude objects larger than 6 millimetres (¼ in) prior to release into ocean outfall

Outfall

An outfall is the discharge point of a waste stream into a body of water; alternatively it may be the outlet of a river, drain or a sewer where it discharges into the sea, a lake or the like....

s. This procedure is heavily criticized, and the CRD is currently planning the upgrading of wastewater treatment practices.

The Saanich Peninsula wastewater treatment plant serves North Saanich, Central Saanich and the Town of Sidney as well as the Victoria International Airport, the Institute of Ocean Sciences and the Tseycum and Pauquachin First Nations communities. This is a secondary level treatment plant which produces Class A biosolids.

Transportation

Local public transportation is run by the Victoria Regional Transit System

Victoria Regional Transit System

Victoria Regional Transit System provides public transportation in the Greater Victoria region of British Columbia, Canada. Its operations are governed by the Victoria Regional Transit Commission in association with BC Transit. There were more than 25 million riders in 2010.-History:Transit service...

, which is part of BC Transit

BC Transit

BC Transit is a provincial crown agency responsible for coordinating the delivery of public transportation within British Columbia, Canada, outside of Greater Vancouver...

. Since 2000, double decker buses have been introduced to the fleet and have become an icon for the city. Rider fare payments can be made in cash, monthly bus passes, disability yearly passes, or tickets.

Passenger rail service to Victoria is provided by Via Rail

VIA Rail

Via Rail Canada is an independent crown corporation offering intercity passenger rail services in Canada. It is headquartered near Montreal Central Station at 3 Place Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec....

, which operates the Victoria – Courtenay train north, along the eastern coast of Vancouver Island, to the cities of Nanaimo, Courtenay

Courtenay, British Columbia

Courtenay is a city on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the largest city in the area commonly known as the Comox Valley, and it is the seat of the Comox Valley Regional District which replaced the Comox-Strathcona Regional District...

, and points between. There is one daily return trip, departing Victoria in the morning, and returning from Courtenay in the evening.

The Victoria International Airport

Victoria International Airport

Victoria International Airport serves Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It is north northwest of the city, in North Saanich, quite close to the town of Sidney on the Saanich Peninsula...

 has non-stop flights to and from Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, San Francisco, Seattle and many cities throughout Western Canada

Western Canada

Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces and commonly as the West, is a region of Canada that includes the four provinces west of the province of Ontario.- Provinces :...

. Multiple scheduled helicopter and seaplane flights are available daily from Victoria's Inner Harbour

Victoria Inner Harbour Airport

Victoria Harbour Airport or Victoria Harbour Water Aerodrome, , is located in Victoria Harbour, adjacent to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada....

 to Vancouver International Airport

Vancouver International Airport

Vancouver International Airport is located on Sea Island in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, about from Downtown Vancouver. In 2010 it was the second busiest airport in Canada by aircraft movements and passengers , behind Toronto Pearson International Airport, with non-stop flights daily to...

, Vancouver Harbour, and Seattle. The BC Ferries

BC Ferries

British Columbia Ferry Services Inc. or BC Ferries is a de facto Crown Corporation that provides all major passenger and vehicle ferry services for coastal and island communities in the Canadian province of British Columbia...

 Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal, located 29 kilometres (18 mi) north of Victoria, has hourly sailings to Tsawwassen (a ferry terminal south of Vancouver) and to many of the Gulf Islands

Gulf Islands

The Gulf Islands are the islands in the Strait of Georgia , between Vancouver Island and the mainland of British Columbia, Canada....

. The Washington State Ferry terminal in Sidney

Sidney, British Columbia

Sidney is a town located at the northern end of the Saanich Peninsula, on Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is one of the 13 Greater Victoria municipalities. It has a population of approximately 11,300. Sidney is located just east of Victoria International Airport,...

 provides ferry service to Friday Harbor, Orcas Island

Orcas Island

Orcas Island is the largest of the San Juan Islands, which are located in the northwestern corner of Washington state in San Juan County, Washington.-History:...

, and ultimately Anacortes, Washington. In Victoria's Inner Harbour, an international ferry terminal provides car ferry service (M/V Coho) to Port Angeles

Port Angeles, Washington

Port Angeles is a city in and the county seat of Clallam County, Washington, United States. The population was 19,038 at the 2010 census. The area's harbor was dubbed Puerto de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles by Spanish explorer Francisco de Eliza in 1791, but by the mid-19th century the name had...

, Washington, high-speed catamaran

Catamaran

A catamaran is a type of multihulled boat or ship consisting of two hulls, or vakas, joined by some structure, the most basic being a frame, formed of akas...

 service (Victoria Clipper

Victoria Clipper

Clipper Navigation, Inc. is a privately held company based in Seattle, Washington that provides multiple transportation and vacation packages, many of which are offered under the name Clipper Vacations....

) to Downtown Seattle

Downtown Seattle

Downtown is the central business district of Seattle, Washington. It is fairly compact compared to other city centers on the West Coast because of its geographical situation: hemmed in on the north and east by hills, on the west by the Elliott Bay, and on the south by reclaimed land that was once...

, and seasonal passenger ferries to destinations in Washington including Friday Harbor, Port Angeles, and Bellingham

Bellingham, Washington

Bellingham is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It is the twelfth-largest city in the state. Situated on Bellingham Bay, Bellingham is protected by Lummi Island, Portage Island, and the Lummi Peninsula, and opens onto the Strait of Georgia...

. Victoria also serves as the western terminus (Mile Zero) for Canada's Trans-Canada Highway

Trans-Canada Highway

The Trans-Canada Highway is a federal-provincial highway system that joins the ten provinces of Canada. It is, along with the Trans-Siberian Highway and Australia's Highway 1, one of the world's longest national highways, with the main route spanning 8,030 km...

, the longest national highway in the world. The Mile Zero is located in the southern part of the city at the corner of Douglas Street

Douglas Street

Douglas Street is a road in Victoria, British Columbia. It is part of the Trans-Canada Highway and is named after Sir James Douglas, the second Governor of Vancouver Island....

 and Dallas Road, where there is a small monument.

Direct flights between Victoria and the San Francisco Bay Area

San Francisco Bay Area

The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...

 (San Francisco, Oakland, Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...

) began service on June 5, 2008 (Victoria Times Colonist, February 6, 2008). Trips will be 2 hours instead of the usual 6 hours because there will be no stop overs in Seattle, as with other flights. The service will be operated by United Airlines

United Airlines

United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees (which includes the entire holding company United Continental...

, using 66 seat Bombardier

Bombardier Aerospace

Bombardier Aerospace is a division of Bombardier Inc. and is the third-largest airplane manufacturer in the world. It is headquartered in Dorval, Quebec, Canada.- History :...

 CRJ700 aircraft. The same newspaper article also mentions the Victoria Airport Authority's plans for further capacity expansions at the Victoria International Airport

Victoria International Airport

Victoria International Airport serves Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It is north northwest of the city, in North Saanich, quite close to the town of Sidney on the Saanich Peninsula...

. These are expected to offer extended economic benefits to the region, especially the Tourism and High Tech industries. West Jet started a direct flight service to Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

, three times per week, on September 9, 2008 (Victoria Times Colonist, May 29, 2008).

Bus service between Victoria and Vancouver is run by Pacific Coach Lines(Pacific Coach Lines

Pacific Coach Lines

Pacific Coach Lines is a scheduled cross-water bus operator and tour company operating in Vancouver, Victoria, and Whistler, British Columbia, Canada....

). As the service is a cross-water service it is co-ordinated with the BC Ferries schedule. Average travel time between the two cities is 4 hours. Bus service from Victoria to points up island is run by Vancouver Island Coach lines. Both bus services depart from the Victoria bus terminal located at 900 Douglas Street, behind the Fairmont Empress Hotel.

Local roadways, although showing signs of increasing congestion due to increasing population, are relatively easy to travel via a variety of means. However, roads in Victoria are not based on a grid system as in Vancouver or Edmonton

Edmonton

Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...

, 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. There is no distinction between "streets" and "avenues" in Victoria as there is in other cities such as Vancouver or Edmonton where "streets" run north-south and "avenues" run east-west, and Victorians are very unlikely to use the terms "north", "south", "east", or "west" when giving directions.

Within the Greater Victoria area, private cars, SUVs, and light trucks together make up the majority of trips. However, the city boasts an excellent public transit system using a fleet of modern buses, and is beginning to plan for a rapid transit link to the western communities. Greater Victoria also has an expanding system designed to facilitate bicycles and electrically assisted bicycles

Electric bicycle

An electric bicycle, also known as an e-bike, is a bicycle with an electric motor used to power the vehicle. Electric bicycles typically cost between and , use rechargeable batteries and can travel up to...

 via bike lanes on many main roads as well as the Galloping Goose Regional Trail and Lochside Regional Trail. These trails are designed exclusively for foot traffic and cyclists, and now pass through many communities, beginning at the downtown core and extending into areas such as Langford and Central and North Saanich.

The compact size of the city lends itself readily to smaller, fuel efficient alternatives to full blown passenger cars, such as scooters

Scooter (motorcycle)

A scooter is a motorcycle with step-through frame and a platform for the operator's feet. Elements of scooter design have been present in some of the earliest motorcycles, and motorcycles identifiable as scooters have been made from 1914 or earlier...

, as areas with signicantly steep hills, such as one would find in San Francisco, are very few. Victoria is also in the process of making the use of such methods of transportation more desirable (in a push towards a more "green", eco-friendly environment), by offering incentives to use such modes of transport, such as parking spaces in the downtown core specifically designed for vehicles "3 metres (9.8 ft) or less" in wheelbase size, thus fostering the desirability for ownership of vehicles such as Smart Car

Smart car

Smart car may refer to:*Intelligent car, a car with artificial intelligence*Smart , the automobile brand...

s, motorcycles and small displacement scooters. Generally speaking, one can expect to reach almost most destinations within Greater Victoria within a time span of 20 – 30 minutes, perhaps approximately 60 minutes, dependent on traffic conditions, road construction or other reasons for blockage, where you are coming from, going to, and mode of transport. Travel time is longer during rush hour

Rush hour

A rush hour or peak hour is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice a day—once in the morning and once in the evening, the times during when the most people commute...

 times due to large volume of traffic.

Education

The city of Victoria lies entirely within the Greater Victoria School District. There is one high school located within the city boundaries, Victoria High School, founded in 1876, making it the oldest High School in North America north of Portland, Oregon and west of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Most of the elementary schools in Victoria now offer the popular French immersion

French immersion

French immersion is a form of bilingual education in which a child who does not speak French as his or her first language receives instruction in school in French...

 programmes in addition to programs in English. The educational needs of the Francophone community in Victoria are served by Ecole Victor Brodeur in the adjacent municipality of Esquimalt

Esquimalt, British Columbia

The Township of Esquimalt is a municipality at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. It is bordered to the east by the provincial capital, Victoria, to the south by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, to the west by Esquimalt Harbour and Royal Roads, to the northwest by the...

. In addition, within the city proper there are several smaller schools serving segments of the community such as the Chinese School in Chinatown, St. Andrew's Elementary School and Christ Church Cathedral School. The senior campus of Glenlyon-Norfolk House School is located in the Fairfield neighbourhood.

The City of Victoria is served by three public post secondary educational institutions actually located outside the city in the Greater Victoria area: University of Victoria

University of Victoria

The University of Victoria, often referred to as UVic, is the second oldest public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It is a research intensive university located in Saanich and Oak Bay, about northeast of downtown Victoria. The University's annual enrollment is about 20,000 students...

 (UVic), Camosun College

Camosun College

Camosun College is located in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. As of 2009 it had over 12,500 full-time and part-time students between its Lansdowne and Interurban campuses. The Lansdowne campus provides university transfer and access programs, as well as career, technical and vocational...

, and Royal Roads University

Royal Roads University

Royal Roads University is a public university located in Colwood, Greater Victoria, British Columbia, that describes itself as "Canada's University for Working Professionals".-Overview:...

. Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific is an international school, in Metchosin

Metchosin, British Columbia

The District of Metchosin is a small, coastal community in the metro Greater Victoria region of British Columbia. It is part of the Western Communities and one of the 13 regional municipalities. Many Metchosinites are small farmers . Most are retired or work outside the community...

, a municipality to the west of Victoria. There are also several private vocational and English (ESL

ESL

ESL is a common abbreviation for English as a Second Language, see English language learning and teaching.ESL may also refer to:-Companies:...

) training schools available for people who want to learn the English language or upgrade new job market skills. Sprott-Shaw Community College is a private career training institution that has had a campus in Victoria since 1913.

Media

Victoria is the only Canadian provincial capital without a local CBC Television

CBC Television

CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...

 station, owned-and-operated or affiliate, although it does host a small CBC Radio

CBC Radio

CBC Radio generally refers to the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which are outlined below.-English:CBC Radio operates three English language...

 station in the 1000 block of Pandora Avenue. The region is considered to be a part of the Vancouver television market, receiving most stations that broadcast from across the Strait of Georgia

Strait of Georgia

The Strait of Georgia or the Georgia Strait is a strait between Vancouver Island and the mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is approximately long and varies in width from...

, including the CBC

CBUT

CBUT-DT is the CBC's television station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and the flagship CBC Television station for the Pacific Time Zone. The station transmits its main terrestrial signal from a tower atop Mount Seymour....

, CTV

CIVT-TV

CIVT-DT is a television station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Owned by Bell Media, it is part of the CTV Television Network...

, Citytv

Citytv

Citytv is a Canadian English language television system owned and operated by Rogers Communications under its Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. division...

, and Global

CHAN-TV

CHAN-DT is a television station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, broadcasting over-the-air on digital channel 22, and available via cable providers in the area on channel 11. Owned by Shaw Communications as a part of its Shaw Media division, it is the West Coast flagship station of the...

 networks. Television stations based in Victoria include CHEK

CHEK-TV

CHEK-DT, channel 6.1, is a television station based in Victoria, British Columbia and broadcasting to all of southwestern BC...

 and CTV Two

CIVI-TV

CIVI-DT, also known as CTV Two Vancouver Island, is a television station based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Currently owned by Bell Media, the station serves the Vancouver Island area, and operates as part of the CTV Two system...

 (formerly The New VI and A-Channel).

Sister cities

Victoria has four Sister Cities: Khabarovsk

Khabarovsk

Khabarovsk is the largest city and the administrative center of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia. It is located some from the Chinese border. It is the second largest city in the Russian Far East, after Vladivostok. The city became the administrative center of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia...

, Russia Napier

Napier, New Zealand

Napier is a New Zealand city with a seaport, located in Hawke's Bay on the eastern coast of the North Island. The population of Napier is about About 18 kilometres south of Napier is the inland city of Hastings. These two neighboring cities are often called "The Twin Cities" or "The Bay Cities"...

, New Zealand Morioka, Japan Suzhou

Suzhou

Suzhou , previously transliterated as Su-chou, Suchow, and Soochow, is a major city located in the southeast of Jiangsu Province in Eastern China, located adjacent to Shanghai Municipality. The city is situated on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and on the shores of Taihu Lake and is a part...

, People's Republic of China

See also

• List of cities in Canada
• List of mayors of Victoria, British Columbia
• Monarchy in British Columbia
  Monarchy in British Columbia
  By the arrangements of the Canadian federation, Canada's monarchy operates in British Columbia as the core of the province's Westminster-style parliamentary democracy. As such, the Crown within British Columbia's jurisdiction is referred to as the Crown in Right of British Columbia, Her Majesty in...
  
  

External links

• Victoria (official website)
• Tourism Victoria website
• British Colonist newspaper in Victoria, complete text Dec. 1858 to June 1910, searchable
• A History of Victoria 19th century Victoria
• A unique system of networked weather stations covering Victoria