West Vancouver (also West Van) is a district municipality in the province of British Columbia, Canada. A member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District, West Vancouver is situated on the north shore of Burrard Inlet to the northwest of the city of Vancouver. With the District of North Vancouver and the City of North Vancouver, West Vancouver is part of a regional grouping known as the North Shore municipalities. It is among the wealthiest municipalities in Canada by average household net worth.
History
thumb|right|250px|A cabin at 15th St. and Ottawa Ave. in 1942
thumb|right|Lighthouse at Point Atkinson
The Municipality of West Vancouver was incorporated on March 15, 1912, after separating from the District of North Vancouver. The first municipal election was held on April 6, 1912. In November 1938, the Lions Gate Bridge was opened to traffic, allowing extensive growth of the semi-populated community, previously only accessible by ferry. Some homes in West Vancouver date back to the 1920s and 30s, though most of the currently existing dwellings were built in the 1970s and 80s, and mostly in British Pacific Properties' developments.
Timeline
- 1792: Captain George Vancouver names Point Atkinson
- 1866: John Thomas, known as "Navvy Jack", sailed from England or Wales, arriving in Burrard Inlet, in about 1866. He was the first white resident of West Vancouver, offered first ferry service to what be known as Vancouver in a rowboat. His house still stands today at Ambleside and there is a Navvy Jack Point. Thomas' nickname Navvy Jack today remains used in British Columbia English to mean washed pea gravel used in construction and landscaping trades, as he was the original supplier of the material to Vancouver and mined it from coves in West Vancouver.
- 1872: James Blake preempted the first of land
- 1875: First lighthouse at Point Atkinson
- 1898: Mr. Francis Caulfeild was put ashore at Skunk Cove
- 1905: John Lawson, a local leader settled at foot of 17th street
- 1908: First pier, Hollyburn Pier
- 1909:
- West Vancouver Transportation Company was formed, provides ferry service across harbour to Vancouver
- "Real estate boom" lots sold for as little as $450 and as much as $4,500
- 1910: Water systems started at Caulfeild and Ambleside
- 1911: First primary school, Presbyterian Church at Dundarave
- 1912:
- West Vancouver separated from the District Municipality of North Vancouver and incorporated on March 15, 1912.
- Population was approximately 1,500 people
- First municipal election
- Council appointed John Teare as the first police constable on May 17. F.H. Kettle was appointed the second constable on May 28
- West Vancouver Transit System opens for public use
- 1913: Hollyburn Elementary School structure built, facility of the longest existing school in West Vancouver
- 1914:
- First known settlement, the Coast Salish village at Sandy Cove<!--was what? depopulated? expropriated?-->
- Pacific Great Eastern Railway in service from North Vancouver<!--Lonsdale?--> to Caulfeild and Horseshoe Bay<!--? but no farther until much later-->
- Colonel Albert Whyte pressed for a spelling change from White Cliff City to Whytecliff
- 1915:
- Dundarave Pier built
- Marine Drive was officially opened by Premier Richard McBride
- 1922: British Columbia Electric Railway starts electrical service
- 1923: Adopted STV for city elections (discontinued in 1930)
- 1924: House numbering scheme started
- 1926:
- Marine Drive extended to Horseshoe Bay
- Town Planning Act banned any new industry forming an exclusively residential community with minimum lot sizes
- 1927: Inglewood High School built
- 1928: Direct telephone service to Vancouver operational
- 1930:
- Septic tanks made mandatory
- Only 48 of West Vancouver's 100 kilometres of roads paved
- 1931: Dan Sewell opened his marina and the Whytecliff Lodge
- 1932: of land bought by A.R. Guinness-Br. Pacific Properties bought for $50 a hectare, they have been developed as the British Properties
- 1934: First police car
- 1936: Hollyburn Post Office built at 17th street and Marine Drive
- 1938: Lions Gate Bridge finished, opened May 29. The bridge cost a total of $6 million to build. It was financed by the Guinness family, in conjunction with the development and marketing of the British Properties.<!--Taylor Way would seem to have been built around the same time-->
- 1947: Ferry service stopped due to lack of demand after bridge constructed
- 1950:
- West Vancouver Memorial Library opened on November 11 (Remembrance Day)
- Park Royal Shopping Centre, Canada's first shopping centre opened
- 1951: Hollyburn Mountain opens first chairlift
- 1954: Public Safety Building opened. It housed the West Vancouver Police and Fire Departments
- 1959: Rezoning allowed 78 apartment buildings in Ambleside
- 1961: The Crescent Apartments, West Vancouver's first high rise apartment opened
- 1963: Tolls on Lions Gate Bridge lifted on April 1
- 1967: Fire hall was built and opened on November 22, 1967, at 16th and Fulton Ave. The Police Department remained in the Public Safety building
- 1973: Clyde McRae completes a world record walk across Canada on Ambleside Beach.
Facilities
right|thumb|[[West Vancouver Memorial Library]]West Vancouver is mainly a residential district as many residents are retired, work at home, or take the short commute to downtown Vancouver.
A 13-block strip of Marine Drive serves as a commercial district, featuring shops, small offices, garages and gas stations, restaurants, banks, and other common amenities. The area between 13th and 19th Streets is commonly known as Ambleside Village, and the area between 24th and 26th Streets is known as the village of Dundarave. This commercial area is served by the Ambleside Dundarave Business Improvement Association.
West Vancouver is also home to Park Royal Shopping Centre, Canada's first mall. Opened in the 1950s, it now consumes of both sides of Marine Drive near North Vancouver. Park Royal is the second largest mall in British Columbia, after Metropolis at Metrotown in Burnaby. Located nearby is a major bus terminal for Blue Bus and North Vancouver TransLink buses.
The West Vancouver Memorial Library, located in Ambleside, has a circulation rate of 21.32 per capita, the highest circulation rate per capita in Canada.
Demographics
At the 2021 Canadian census conducted by Statistics Canada, West Vancouver had a population of 44,122 living in 17,690 of its 18,795 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 42,473. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
West Vancouver has the second highest percentage of persons aged 65 or older in BC with 22% of persons fitting into the category, compared with 13% for the rest of the province. The top five professions in West Vancouver are professional science and technical services; retail trade; health care; finance and insurance; and educational services. A large portion of the population is involved in senior management in comparison with the rest of the province.
Ethnicity
{| class="wikitable collapsible sortable"
|+ Panethnic groups in West Vancouver (2001–2021)
! rowspan="2" |Panethnic group
! colspan="2" |2021
! colspan="2" |2011
! colspan="2" |2006
! colspan="2" |2001
|-
!Population (human biology)|
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
|-
| European
| 24,195
|
| 26,285
|
| 29,910
|
| 31,960
|
| 32,475
|
|-
| East Asian
| 9,990
|
| 8,970
|
| 5,870
|
| 5,025
|
| 4,755
|
|-
| Middle Eastern
| 5,310
|
| 3,915
|
| 3,445
|
| 2,480
|
| 2,055
|
|-
| South Asian
| 1,405
|
| 975
|
| 1,040
|
| 950
|
| 835
|
|-
| Southeast Asian
| 770
|
| 660
|
| 780
|
| 490
|
| 335
|
|-
| Indigenous
| 425
|
| 240
|
| 265
|
| 155
|
| 100
|
|-
| Latin American
| 430
|
| 240
|
| 185
|
| 255
|
| 135
|
|-
| African
| 185
|
| 90
|
| 185
|
| 125
|
| 80
|
|-
| Other
| 670
|
| 310
|
| 365
|
| 170
|
| 100
|
|-
! Total responses
! 43,385
!
! 41,680
!
! 42,045
!
! 41,625
!
! 40,860
!
|-
! Total population
! 44,122
!
! 42,473
!
! 42,694
!
! 42,131
!
! 41,421
!
|}
Religion
According to the 2021 census, religious groups in West Vancouver included:
- Irreligion (22,625 persons or 52.1%)
- Christianity (14,710 persons or 33.9%)
- Islam (3,855 persons or 8.9%)
- Buddhism (650 persons or 1.5%)
- Judaism (555 persons or 1.3%)
- Hinduism (300 persons or 0.7%)
- Sikhism (135 persons or 0.3%)
- Other (555 persons or 1.3%)
Language
{| class="wikitable"
|+2011 Canadian census
|-
! colspan="2" | Mother language!! Population !!% of total population !! % of non-official language population
|-
| colspan="2" | English || 28,280 || 67.1 || N/A
|-
| colspan="2" | Persian || 3,400 || 8.1 || 25.7
|-
| rowspan="3" | Chinese
|n.o.s.|| 1,415 || 3.4 || 10.7
|-
|Mandarin
|1,335
|3.2
|10.1
|-
|Total
|2750
|6.6
|20.8
|-
| colspan="2" | German || 1,015 || 2.4 || 7.7
|-
| colspan="2" | Korean || 915 || 2.2 || 6.9
|-
| colspan="2" | French || 545 || 1.3 || N/A
|}
As of the 2006 census, the languages spoken in West Vancouver were:
By mother tongue:
- English: 70%
- French: 1.2%
- Other languages: 28%
By most commonly used household language:
- English: 83%
- French: 0.4%
- Other languages: 14.5%
Affluence
West Vancouver is Canada's wealthiest municipality, with an average household net worth of . North Vancouver just next door is the tenth richest. West Vancouver is home to some very large, luxurious and expensive properties and houses. Occasionally, houses have been priced and sold at around $30,000,000. In 2011, West Vancouver's average house sold for over $2,000,000; 95% of the houses or close to 16,000 homes are worth over $1 million. In West Vancouver, average total incomes were $86,253 for males and $48,070 for females, almost double the provincial average. Over 80% of the population has a total family income of at least $100,000. Many residents from Squamish, the Sunshine Coast, and North Vancouver attend West Vancouver schools.
See also
- Architecture of Greater Vancouver
Notes
References
- Some highlights of West Vancouver (author unknown), West Vancouver Memorial Library archives
- West Vancouver Police Department
- "West Vancouver", The Encyclopedia of British Columbia (online edition), C 2000 Harbour Publishing