Sointula, British Columbia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sointula is an isolated village on Malcolm Island in British Columbia, Canada. It lies between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland, northeast of Port McNeill and not far from Alert Bay. As of 2005 it has a population of roughly 800.

The name "Sointula" means "Place of Harmony" in the Finnish language. It was founded by a group of Finnish settlers, led by visionary Matti Kurikka who rowed north from Nanaimo in 1901. They planned on setting up a utopian socialist society known as the "Kalevan Kansa". Financial difficulties plagued the group and in 1905 two years after a devastating fire the community was disbanded.

The town remained, however, and prospered well into the 1970s as an unusually vibrant resource-based settlement. Fishing and logging activities have been the mainstay for the community. The early cooperative ventures planted seeds that are also alive today. The Sointula Cooperative Store still handles drygoods, groceries and fuel for the islanders and there are two new cooperatives. The cooperative bakery serves Finnish bread (pulla) and wonderful home-cooked meals. The shellfish cooperative, Malcolm Island Shellfish Coop (MISC), was involved in research on the feasibility of raising and selling abalone. It has gone under due to financial difficulties as of Summer 2006. The abalone were relocated to a company (Orca Sand and Gravel) donated area near Port McNeill.

In recent decades, declining forestry and fishing industries have hit Sointula hard. Its school-age population has shrunk, although housing prices have risen as owners from as far as California have bought homes as summer retreats. Sointula is home to the province's oldest co-op store, as well as a museum, and is easy to reach by government car ferry from Port McNeill or Alert Bay (Which is itself on an island).

Wildlife on the island and in the waters around the island is abundant. Orca whales return to rub on Malcolm Island's northern beaches near Bere Point Regional Park every summer and fall. Seals and porpoises can be viewed from the beaches. Birds, mink, otter, beaver and deer live all over the island. The rainforest vegetation helps to sustain the mood of an uncluttered and peaceful haven.

Bill Gaston's 2004 novel Sointula is named for the community and has a plot that revolves in part around it. Rachel Lebowitz's 2006 book Hannus is also in part about the early days of the commune.