View Royal
Town
Town of View Royal[1]
Portage Park on Thetis Cove
Portage Park on Thetis Cove
View Royal is located in Capital Regional District
View Royal
View Royal
Location of View Royal within the Capital Regional District
View Royal is located in Vancouver Island
View Royal
View Royal
Location of View Royal within British Columbia
View Royal is located in British Columbia
View Royal
View Royal
View Royal (British Columbia)
Coordinates: 48°27′19″N 123°26′19″W / 48.455164°N 123.438705°W / 48.455164; -123.438705
CountryCanada
ProvinceBritish Columbia
Regional districtCapital
Incorporated1988
Government
 • TypeMunicipal
 • Governing bodyView Royal Town Council
 • MayorSid Tobias
Area
[2]
 • Total14.36 km2 (5.54 sq mi)
Elevation
20 m (70 ft)
Population
 (2016)[2]
 • Total10,408
 • Density724.8/km2 (1,877/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC-8 (PST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC-7 (PDT)
Postal code
V9B
Area code250
Highways Hwy 1 (TCH)
WaterwaysStrait of Juan de Fuca
Websitewww.viewroyal.ca

View Royal is a town in Greater Victoria and a member municipality of the Capital Regional District of British Columbia, Canada. View Royal has a population of 11,575[3] residents. With over 700 hectares (1,700 acres) of parkland, View Royal includes Thetis, McKenzie, Pike, and Prior Lakes and portions of Esquimalt Harbour and Portage Inlet.

History

View Royal's history is closely linked to the entire region. The Esquimalt First Nation, a Coast Salish indigenous peoples, have occupied View Royal since time immemorial. It began when early inhabitants of today's Esquimalt Harbour crossed an isthmus, now Portage Park, to harvest seafood in Portage Inlet.

European settlement began in the 1850s by Kenneth Mackenzie who established a farm known as Craigflower Manor.[4] In the mid-19th century, Dr. John Helmcken, Vancouver Island's first doctor and later speaker of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly, paid the Hudson's Bay Company $5 per acre for hundreds of acres of land between Esquimalt Harbour and what is now Victoria General Hospital. The land was cleared for Victoria's growth. In 1912, the Island Investment Company bought 80 acres (32 ha) of land below Four Mile Hill, fronting the harbour, from Dr. Helmcken’s son James. They marketed lots as “View Royal” because of their "royal view", which gave the town its name.

View Royal remained unorganized for over half a century. By the 1950s, things had begun to change. In 1959, a group of residents in the Shoreline Drive area circulated a petition urging annexation by Esquimalt. Several studies and referendums came and went, but View Royal continued with its unorganized status. In 1966, the Capital Regional District emerged, bringing with it regional approaches for such service deliveries as sewage collection. Then a Price Waterhouse study presented three options: status quo, union with Esquimalt, or incorporation as a town. The town’s incorporation became official on December 5, 1988.

Many historic sites still exist in View Royal, including:

  • Four Mile Pub & Six Mile Pub: two historic "road houses" or pubs that have existed for approximately 150 years.
  • Craigflower Manor & Schoolhouse: one of Canada's National Historic Sites. Completed in 1856, the Manor site was one of four original farms set up by the Hudson's Bay Company as part of their obligations in settling Vancouver Island. The site housed the McKenzie family in the Manor as well as twenty other dwellings, a sawmill, a flour mill, a blacksmith's shop, a brick kiln, a slaughterhouse, and a general store. The Craigflower Schoolhouse, the companion adjacent site to the Manor, is located across a municipal border. The two properties are located at the intersection of Admirals Road, Craigflower Road, and Island Highway.[5]

Present day

View Royal is divided into eight neighbourhoods based on topography, transportation corridors, natural environment, and the age of housing stock. These neighbourhoods are Atkins, Burnside, Craigflower, Harbour, Helmcken, Hospital, Thetis, and Wilfert. In 2011, there were almost 4,140 housing units in the town with a median population age of 44.1 years, which compares to the CRD at 44.8.[6]

View Royal has 70 municipal parks and 25 kilometres (16 mi) of trails.[7] View Royal's shoreline includes sandy beaches with small caves, large driftwood, and rocks, which are home to starfish, crabs, seals, and other marine life.

Several changes have gone on in View Royal in recent years, including the completion of the Island Highway Improvement Project in 2011, which included new cycle lanes, sidewalks, turning lanes, and planted medians.[8] Beginning in 2013, the Town of View Royal and District of Saanich replaced the 80-year-old Craigflower Bridge and approach roads,[9] and construction began on the new Public Safety Building, scheduled to be complete in fall 2014.[10]

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, View Royal had a population of 11,575 living in 4,915 of its 5,175 total private dwellings, a change of 11.2% from its 2016 population of 10,408. With a land area of 14.33 km2 (5.53 sq mi), it had a population density of 807.7/km2 (2,092.1/sq mi) in 2021.[11]

Ethnicity

Panethnic groups in the Town of View Royal (2001−2021)
Panethnic
group		 2021[12] 2016[13] 2011[14] 2006[15] 2001[16]
Pop. % Pop. % Pop. % Pop. % Pop. %
European[lower-alpha 1] 8,610 76.47% 8,045 81.18% 8,085 87.45% 7,710 88.88% 6,490 89.39%
Indigenous 670 5.95% 435 4.39% 250 2.7% 160 1.84% 180 2.48%
South Asian 655 5.82% 565 5.7% 415 4.49% 215 2.48% 190 2.62%
East Asian[lower-alpha 2] 615 5.46% 350 3.53% 210 2.27% 250 2.88% 190 2.62%
Southeast Asian[lower-alpha 3] 270 2.4% 200 2.02% 170 1.84% 65 0.75% 85 1.17%
African 205 1.82% 135 1.36% 20 0.22% 130 1.5% 60 0.83%
Middle Eastern[lower-alpha 4] 105 0.93% 45 0.45% 15 0.16% 30 0.35% 0 0%
Latin American 100 0.89% 90 0.91% 45 0.49% 110 1.27% 25 0.34%
Other/Multiracial[lower-alpha 5] 30 0.27% 35 0.35% 0 0% 10 0.12% 45 0.62%
Total responses 11,260 97.28% 9,910 95.22% 9,245 98.55% 8,675 98.94% 7,260 99.85%
Total population 11,575 100% 10,408 100% 9,381 100% 8,768 100% 7,271 100%
Note: Totals greater than 100% due to multiple origin responses

Religion

According to the 2021 census, religious groups in View Royal included:[12]

Notes

  1. ↑ Statistic includes all persons that did not make up part of a visible minority or an indigenous identity.
  2. ↑ Statistic includes total responses of "Chinese", "Korean", and "Japanese" under visible minority section on census.
  3. ↑ Statistic includes total responses of "Filipino" and "Southeast Asian" under visible minority section on census.
  4. ↑ Statistic includes total responses of "West Asian" and "Arab" under visible minority section on census.
  5. ↑ Statistic includes total responses of "Visible minority, n.i.e." and "Multiple visible minorities" under visible minority section on census.

References

  1. ↑ "British Columbia Regional Districts, Municipalities, Corporate Name, Date of Incorporation and Postal Address" (XLS). British Columbia Ministry of Communities, Sport and Cultural Development. Retrieved November 2, 2014.
  2. 1 2 "View Royal, Town [Census subdivision], British Columbia and Capital, Regional district [Census division], British Columbia". Statistics Canada. January 23, 2017. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
  3. ↑ Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2022-02-09). "Profile table, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population - View Royal, Town (T) [Census subdivision], British Columbia". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2023-01-17.
  4. ↑ Craigflower Manor and Schoolhouse, B.C. Ministry of Tourism and Culture website retrieved 21-09-10
  5. ↑ "Archives & Heritage".
  6. ↑ "2011 Census Profile". 8 February 2012.
  7. ↑ Annual Report - Year Ended 2013
  8. ↑ Annual Report - Year Ended 2011
  9. ↑ Craigflower Bridge Replacement Project Archived October 21, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  10. ↑ New Public Safety Building
  11. ↑ "Population and dwelling counts: Canada, provinces and territories, and census subdivisions (municipalities), British Columbia". Statistics Canada. February 9, 2022. Retrieved February 20, 2022.
  12. 1 2 Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2022-10-26). "Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2022-11-09.
  13. ↑ Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2021-10-27). "Census Profile, 2016 Census". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2023-03-08.
  14. ↑ Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2015-11-27). "NHS Profile". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2023-03-08.
  15. ↑ Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2019-08-20). "2006 Community Profiles". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2023-03-08.
  16. ↑ Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2019-07-02). "2001 Community Profiles". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2023-03-08.
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