Talk:Vancouver Island

This article had used the map at Image:Vanisle.png. I've replaced it with Image:Vancouver-island-relief.jpg. Kbh3rd 02:30, 4 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Image:Vancouver-island-relief.jpg is an attractive map. And I would like to learn how it was made. But, in some ways it is not as useful as it could be. In particular, it hides some important details. It hides the deep inlet that Port Alberni lies at the base of. It hides that Nootka Sound, the location of the Nootka Sound Controversy, which lead to the Nootka Convention, is an island.

Confession, I have played with that map-making tool, and made the map of Vancouver Island that I uploaded today, before I noticed that the article already had a map. Maybe an article should only have one map? I am just a beginner here. I don't know. But the one I made is only 13K, less than a tenth as much to download as the relief map. Geo Swan 21:57, 3 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Let's move discussion of the relief map's shortcomings to its own talk page. I've made a note there. As far as the two maps, I don't think that the two there now are complementary – they're rather redundant. As discussed on the map's talk page, I'll see about improving the relief map. --Kbh3rd 23:38, 3 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Add more informations toward the electric power cables between Canada and Vancouver Island, also under HVDC Vancouver-Island

Population

Anyone willing to do a section on population (i.e., major centres)? I did one on geography today. Fishhead64 19:38, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

"National Maps?"

The National Maps show a nation of Vancouver consisting of the island and the mainland coastal regions from Queen Charlotte Sound to Cape Flattery

What reference is this? I've seen "Wakish Nation" for Vancouver Island, but never a nation of "Vancouver". What year was this map? "National Maps" - what are these? Cloest I can think of here is the old Vancouver (electoral district), the original Vancouver Island riding (outside of Victoria; actually the first was the protem Vancouver Island (electoral district) at the time of Confederation, in which seats were filled with byelections; the seat with shortened name filled in the 1872 election.)Skookum1 22:50, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

Marine transportation section

This almost looks like a List of passenger ferry services to Vancouver Island; and it's missing the Sayward-Prince Rupert run, whatever that's called officially. This section should maybe be more on the overall shipping/commercial life, including ferries as well as whalewatchers and tourcraft, and as a sideline the extensive marina/sportscraft lifestyle/culture/economy of most Island towns; the list of ferry routes - in that amount of detail - is maybe better as a subarticle; or titled under "Access", with the Marine Transportation section reworked to discuss the ports of Nanaimo and Victoria and so on, and about the passenger services and general marine life of the inland waters; there's also the water taxi services that are important on the west side of the Island, and I'd guess also out of North Island towns into the Broughton Archipelago etc.; Military bases, including one-time Fort Rupert and Nootka Sound as well as Nanoose, Comox, Esquimalt, Pat Bay should also be ref'd; again maybe as a subpage/list; ditto on the mainland, could be the same list?Skookum1 00:32, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

Fixed Link

The addition of information about the idea of a fixed link to the mainland might benefit from some connection to the similar discussion at Strait of Georgia. KenWalker | Talk 04:41, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Hi, I attempted to add in some information about the Fixed Link, however it will involve a bit more cleaning up than I thought it would.

My addition was as follows:

Fixed link proposals

Although the idea of building a bridge or tunnel across the Georgia Strait has been brought up many times, there are several factors that prohibit its construction with current technology. These challenges include crossings up to 26 km (16 mi), depths up to 356 m (1,168 ft), soft ocean floor sediments up to 450 m (1,476 ft), steep landslide prone eastern slopes, and open sea conditions with waves of 4 m (13 ft) to 7 m (23 ft) in height, winds of 115 km/h (71 mph) with gust of 180 km/h (112 mph) as well as other adverse weather conditions such as fog and snow. The strait is also a major shipping route and the crossing would need to allow marine passage as well as provide protection from possible impacts.

If someone else has the time to work this in, that'd be great, otherwise I will put this in later when I have more time. Cheers, --Skippingrock (talk) 22:00, 25 August 2011 (UTC)

8000 yrs

Eight Thousand Years? I may be wrong but i don't think people have been around for eight thousand years as this article says under Native settlers. Also, weren't the first humans from Africa? Just wanted to clarify.

Homo sapiens sapiens have been around for about 250,000 years, to be exact; and archaeological evidence places aboriginal people in British Columbia about 11,500 years ago (see here. It seems not unreasonable to assume that humans have been indigenous to Vancouver Island for at least 8000 years. Fishhead64 20:37, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

History questions

This page says that the Spanish explorers Juan José Pérez Hernández and Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra both sailed to the Vancouver Island area, but that "neither actually landed". However the page on Juan José Pérez Hernández says "In ... 1774, ... Pérez ... reached Nootka Sound ..., part of today's Vancouver Island. There he had an extended set of interactions with the natives, including the first trade of trade goods."

Are these two pages in disagreement? The Pérez page provides a reference, while this page's account of the Spanish does not. Also, while Quadra may not have landed on the island during his 1775 voyage, he certainly landed later, as he was the Spanish commandant of Nootka when Vancouver arrived.

Also, when Vancouver and the Spanish jointly mapped the island and determined it was in fact an island, they decided to name it after both Vancouver and Quadra. The first maps of the island, both British and Spanish made, show it with both names. In Spanish, Isla de Quadra y Vancouver, and in English (Vancouver's map not least of all), Quadra and Vancouver's Island. Granted the name Quadra did not stick for long, but does this warrant a mention in this article? Pfly 06:47, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

Some old vandalism

I have tried to incorporate the text removed in this edit by Shank77. The next edit removed the profanity but didn't revert the vandalism. I found it easy to incorporate most of the text except the paragraphs on climate, where I couldn't figure out how to make the paragraphs flow well without loss of information. For reference, here is the diff of my edit. Graham87 12:33, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

Air transportation

If two airports are mentioned, both should be named. Currently, only Victoria International is named. Could someone please optimize that?

Aren't there actually three airports? Victoria Intl, Nanaimo and Comox Valley? --Ds77 23:54, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

More than that - they didn't enter the info for the one at Campbell River as well. I must say when reading this article on our island, I find it very south end heavy. Barely anything on Port Hardy (or any of the northern towns)at all. 206.116.116.96 (talk) 22:50, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

Interesting-looking history source

Have a look here; journals and notes of an 1864 Vancouver Island Exploration Party.....Skookum1 (talk) 17:12, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

Also in the same website among many other useful items is Captain Walbran's British Columbia Coast Names.Skookum1 (talk) 17:13, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

Home Movie

Do we really need home movies in encyclopedia entries? As a novelty it was distictly underwhelming; is there anything about the (albeit pleasant) trip to Vancouver Island that warrants a poor resolution/bandwidth consuming video? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.84.50.246 (talk) 08:07, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

Tourism/Media

I remember hearing on the news a while back that Scarlet Johansson and Ryan Reynolds were married
on Vancouver island. I'm not sure where that would fit in but perhaps there could be a section
dealing with tourism and attention in the media? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.216.54.163 (talk) 15:20, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Anything good to see or do?

No,not whale or bear watching thats too boring for me.Is there any good places to go shopping or any good malls,or shops to buy things that you can't get anywere else,and I don't mean stuff that says BC on it? I might be going there,but more interested in shopping then just looking at trees,birds,whales or bears (Dirrtypittie (talk) 01:30, 23 February 2009 (UTC))

Victoria has great, if sometimes very unusual, shopping. Just don't be expecting Prada or Tiffany and you'll find it a great place to nose around in; smalltown galleries have a lot of nice stuff, but probably too eco-feeling for what you sound like. Like Vancouver, though to a lesser degree, Victoria has great restaurants, as do many of the island's small towns. If you're looking for malls just like the ones back in Wisconsin or South Carolilna, you'll find them; but if so, why did you leave home?Skookum1 (talk) 01:46, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

LOL No,not looking for anything like Prada,I'm from Ontario-but I'm not into hiking,bears or whale watching,that type of thing is too boring to me.(Dirrtypittie (talk) 00:34, 24 February 2009 (UTC))

Seafood and nouveau cuisine restaurants, or good home-chow like you'll find in outlying locations like at Sooke or Swartz Bay; blue-plate log/cedar-beam b&bs, curio/artist shops, semi-tacky tourist attractions like Butchart Gardens (which really is quite extraordinary despite being over run by tour buses), hatley Castle, Craigdarroch Castle. Cycle around Victoria/Oak Bay on side streets is kinda neat...Vancouver Islan'ds more urban/suburban than it is wilderness; not in square mileage but in practical access and how people live; Courtenay and Chemainus are both worth short visits, and I'd say the main attraction in the many little seaside pubis is chatting up the locals; the smaller islands are all interesting, it's quaetino of how much time you're got and what you'll find interesting. Nightlife you won't find - go to Seattle for a good time LOL The Royal BC Museum is privately run and a bit of a sideshow IMO; but the island has other museums, especially up at Alert Bay (U'mista Cultural Centre) and the Duncan Forests Museum (logging railway-rides...)....also to suggest you could do t he wine-and-cheese tour of the Cowichan Valley, which is a "local food and culture" special kind of place (if a bit uppity/overly funky about its own funkness/trendiness a tad)....Skookum1 (talk) 02:08, 14 March 2009 (UTC)

Indigenous Peoples

Anonymous edits of Sept 18 2010 were mine (not logged in) Corlyon (talk) 22:36, 18 September 2010 (UTC)

Geography

I think it would be good to add in some latitude information in the introduction stating that Vancouver Island is also extends below the 49°N parallel and has the furthest point south west of Ontario. Also some history about the possibility of running the border through the island to some sort. Perhaps note that Ladysmith sits on the 49°N parallel.--Skippingrock (talk) 22:08, 25 August 2011 (UTC)

What comes first?

Noticed that the History/Geography/Geology sections are getting moved around a bit. I've noticed that history typically comes first in a number of articles about places, so perhaps this article should do that too? Ewaladel (talk) 07:02, 30 October 2011 (UTC)

I didn't find any guidelines, so I checked some other large Canadian islands: Baffin Island, Victoria Island, Newfoundland, and Cape Breton Island. Three of the four have history first, so I moved history back up. I think it's better to have geography first, to set the stage for history, but it's probably good to have uniformity. —hike395 (talk) 19:50, 30 October 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, it's a tough call. I agree that it makes more sense to set the stage, but consistency seems to be important too. My vote is to leave it as it is, with history first. Ewaladel (talk) 21:03, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

List of private schools

I'm noticing that the list of private schools is getting quite lengthy (no doubt as each school sees the value in advertising their presence on Wikipedia). I was thinking it might be a good idea to make a separate article "List of Private Schools on Vancouver Island" or even "List of Schools on Vancouver Island". Then we can write a prose-style paragraph about VI education and let the list grow without cluttering the article. Does anyone have thoughts on this, and perhaps want to do it? (I'm busy for the next month) Ewaladel (talk) 07:08, 8 April 2012 (UTC)

Geology

I was going to add a link to Siletzia, but backed off when I saw that a number of other geological features very relevant to Vancouver Island (e.g., Metchosin formation, Wrangellia, Juan de Fuca subduction zone, etc.) are not mentioned. The existing text is a bit of a paste-up of miscellaneous elements, and really needs to be done with a broader viewpoint. Unfortunately, I don't know if I can get around to it, so I mention it here in case anyone is looking for something to do. :-) ~ J. Johnson (JJ) (talk) 19:21, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

special fauna

As I recall, the Vancouver Island deer is a particular subspecies; cougars may also be a subspecies I think; just nothing this as I found File:Vancouver Island deer (HS85-10-25002).jpg this image in the Commons.Skookum1 (talk) 04:09, 11 July 2013 (UTC)