Bella Coola, British Columbia

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Location of Bella Coola, British Columbia

Bella Coola is a community of approximately 600 at the western extremity of the Bella Coola valley. Bella Coola may actually refer to the entire valley, encompassing the settlements of Bella Coola, Lower Bella Coola, Hagensborg, Saloompt, Nusatsum, Firvale and Stuie. It is also the seat of the Central Coast Regional District.

Bella Coola (the entire valley) contains a population of 2289 as of the 2001 Canadian census. This was a drop of 4.6% from the 1996 census, when the population was 2400 (exactly). However, the on-reserve native Canadian (almost entirely Nuxálk) population increased from 873 (1996) to 909 (2001), an increase from 36.4% to 39.7% of the overall population.

1 Geography
2 Transport
3 History
4 Economy
5 Elected Representatives
6 References
7 External link

[edit] Geography

The primary geographical structure of the community, both in terms of physical structures and population distribution is the long, narrow Bella Coola River valley. The Alexander MacKenzie Highway (British Columbia provincial highway 20, known over most of its length as the Chilcotin Highway) stretches from the Government wharf (on the Pacific Ocean) through the extent of the populated portion of the valley before climbing to the Chilcotin Plateau, and the entire population of the community lives either on this road or very near to it.

In recent years, the mountainous terrain around (and accessible from) the Bella Coola Valley has become a publicised destination for Heliskiing, with a number of skiing movies filmed in the area, and local companies advertising access to "1.5 million acres" of terrain.

[edit] Transport

[edit] Road

There is a 479 km mostly paved road connection by the aforementioned highway 20 to Williams Lake. The road features an 18% grade and narrow, winding switchbacks on the climb out of Bella Coola through the coastal mountains. Once out of Bella Coola, it runs through the mountainous Tweedsmuir Provincial Park^[1], which contains a great deal of wildlife, including grizzlies and black bears and then through the mostly desolate country of the Chilcotin Plateau.

[edit] Air

Bella Coola is also served by the 16 km-distant (10 miles) Bella Coola Airport (on highway 20), which has a 1,280 m-long (4,200 ft) asphalt runway. Pacific Coastal Airlines offers scheduled traffic to Vancouver and Anahim Lake. Charter flights to other destinations can be arranged.^[2]

[edit] Marine ferry

BC Ferries provides a vehicle/passenger service in the summer (June 5-September 3) through picturesque fjords and open sea to Port Hardy on the northern tip of Vancouver Island.^[3]

During the rest of the year (October 1-May 17), a smaller ferry service can be used to "shuttle" to outlying coastal communities McLoughlin Bay, Shearwater, Klemtu and Ocean Falls,^[4] for available transfers at McLoughlin Bay to a ferry serving either Prince Rupert or Port Hardy. Schedule varies throughout the season.^[5]

[edit] History

The Nuxalk people were present in the Bella Coola valley prior to any formal written history of the area. This is confirmed both by oral history that continues unbroken to present day, and by written history of some of the first European explorers of the area.

In 1793, Alexander MacKenzie arrived from the East, completing the first recorded crossing of the continent.

Immigration (non-Nuxalk) to the region was sporadic and often temporary for the next century. A Hudson's Bay fur trading post was set up at the mouth of the river (the land granted to the post forms the off-Reserve portion of the present-day "townsite"), and a handful of farmers were granted land further up the valley. The trading trails of the Nuxalk and neighbouring nations became a popular route from the Pacific Ocean to central British Columbia, particularly during the Barkerville gold rush of the 1860s. The Valley was surveyed as a potential Pacific terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway (Port Moody, near Vancouver, was the eventual choice).

In the 1890s, a group of Norwegian Lutheran settlers were given land grants in the Valley, after their previously-existing community in Minnesota suffered an internal conflict. The land they were granted, as well as other land previously granted to individuals was, in many cases, land that had been occupied by Nuxalk communities only a few decades (or less) earlier. However, a smallpox epidemic had decimated the Nuxalk population, and the survivors had, for the most part, gathered on land close to the mouth of the river (and close to the Hudson's Bay post).

These two populations (Norwegian settlers and Nuxalk), in varying proportions, continued to make up the vast majority of the community's population for most of the next century. However, in recent years, the Norwegian population (or connection to a Norwegian identity) has declined. In 2001, 43% of the population reported "Aboriginal identity", of which the vast majority is Nuxalk, while only 10% reported Norwegian (or Norwegian-Canadian) to be their "Ethnic Origin".

When the community of Ocean Falls suffered a massive population decline in 1980/81, due to the closure of the town's primary industry (a paper mill), Bella Coola became the administrative centre for British Columbia's central coast. This led to the relocation of the Central Coast Regional District (which, up until that time had been called the "Ocean Falls Regional District") offices to Bella Coola, and a general centralization of government services such as provincial government regional centres (e.g. Ministry of Forests).

[edit] Economy

Bella Coola has a more diversified economy than might be expected among a population of it's size. Fishing, forestry, public service (government/education), retail and tourism all contribute significantly to the economy. There is some limited agriculture, including an active farmers' market, a number of craftmakers and artists (including several celebrated Nuxalk artisans) and a fish hatchery. The only financial institution in Bella Coola is a branch of the Williams Lake & District Credit Union, heir to a sixty-plus-year tradition of the Bella Coola Valley Credit Union.

[edit] Elected Representatives

The Bella Coola Valley includes Electoral Areas C, D and E of the Central Coast Regional District (CCRD)

Electoral Area C: Brian Lande (chair of the Board of Directors of the Regional District)
Electoral Area D: Kevin O'Neill
Electoral Area E: Barney Kern

The Bella Coola Valley is split between two Electoral Districts in the British Columbia provincial government.

North Coast (which includes 99.6% of the Valley's population): New Democrat Gary Coons
Cariboo South (includes only Stuie, at the east end of the Valley): New Democrat Charlie Wyse

The Bella Coola Valley is split between two Electoral Districts in the Canadian federal government.

Skeena—Bulkley Valley (includes CCRD Electoral Areas D and E, 70% of the Valley's population): New Democrat Nathan Cullen
Cariboo—Prince George (includes CCRD Electoral C): Conservative Dick Harris