Regional districts came into being via an order of government in 1965 with the enactment of amendments to the Municipal Act.[1] Until the creation of regional districts, the only local form of government in British Columbia were incorporated municipalities, and services in areas outside municipal boundaries had to be sought from the province or through improvement districts.[2]
Governance
Similar to counties in other parts of Canada, regional districts serve only to provide municipal services as the local government in areas not incorporated into a municipality, and in certain regional affairs of shared concern between residents of unincorporated areas and those in the municipalities such as a stakeholder role in regional planning. In those predominantly rural areas, regional districts provide services such as land use planning, building inspection, solid-waste management, and some responsibility for community fire protection.
Most land nominally within a regional district is under the control of the provincial government, or in the case of national parks and offshore waters, the federal government. Indian reserves located within the boundaries of regional districts are likewise excluded from their jurisdiction and infrastructure, and there are varying levels of collaboration between First Nations governments and regional district boards.
Regional districts are governed by boards of directly and indirectly elected directors. Municipalities appoint directors to represent their populations (usually the mayors), while residents of unincorporated areas (which are grouped into electoral areas) elect directors directly. The votes of directors from municipalities generally count more than the votes of directors from electoral areas, and larger municipalities have more votes than smaller ones. For example, both North Saanich and Metchosin appoint one director to the Capital Regional District board of directors, but the vote of North Saanich's director counts three times as much as the vote of Metchosin's appointee.[3]
List
British Columbia regional districts as of January 29, 2020[update][4]
^The Stikine Region is not officially per se a regional district but is rather an unincorporated area;[10] it is administered directly by the provincial government.
Historical regional districts
The first regional district was established in 1965, and the then-final regional district was established in 1968.
The following regional districts were dissolved in December 1995 and amalgamated largely into the newly formed Fraser Valley Regional District:
The western half of Dewdney–Alouette, consisting of Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows, was incorporated into the Greater Vancouver Regional District (now Metro Vancouver). Mission and the unincorporated areas east to the Chehalis River were incorporated into the Fraser Valley Regional District.
This amalgamation took place due to the western part of Dewdney–Alouette having become essentially a suburb of Vancouver and the thought it would be better served by being within Metro Vancouver. The Central Fraser Valley RD would be nearly completely dominated by the newly amalgamated City of Abbotsford, bringing the regional district's role into question; similarly, the remnant of Dewdney-Alouette would be dominated by Mission. Given the rapid growth being experienced in the Fraser Valley at the time, which was expected to continue for the foreseeable future, the creation of the Fraser Valley Regional District was seen as the best option.[citation needed]
, Ministry of Community and Rural Development, British Columbia
Civic Info BC
January 20, 2023
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The Canadian province of British Columbia is divided into regional districts as a means to better enable municipalities and rural areas to work together at a regional level Regional Districts of British ColumbiaAK YK NWT AB WA ID MT AlberniClayoquot BulkleyNechako Capital Cariboo CentralCoast CentralKootenay C Ok ColumbiaShuswap CV Cowichan EastKootenay FraserValley FraserFort George KitimatStikine KootenayBoundary MV MountWaddington Nan NorthOk NorthernRockies Ok Simil PeaceRiver qa North Coast SquamishLillooet Stikine Strathcona SC ThompsonNicolaLocationBritish ColumbiaNumber28Populations734 Stikine Region 2 691 343 Metro Vancouver Areas1 701 km2 657 sq mi Comox Valley 118 663 km2 45 816 sq mi Stikine Region GovernmentMunicipal governmentSubdivisionsMunicipalities cities district municipalities Indian government districts island municipalities mountain resort municipalities regional municipalities resort municipalities towns and villages and Indian reserves Contents 1 History 2 Governance 3 List 4 Historical regional districts 5 See also 6 References 7 External linksHistory EditRegional districts came into being via an order of government in 1965 with the enactment of amendments to the Municipal Act 1 Until the creation of regional districts the only local form of government in British Columbia were incorporated municipalities and services in areas outside municipal boundaries had to be sought from the province or through improvement districts 2 Governance EditSimilar to counties in other parts of Canada regional districts serve only to provide municipal services as the local government in areas not incorporated into a municipality and in certain regional affairs of shared concern between residents of unincorporated areas and those in the municipalities such as a stakeholder role in regional planning In those predominantly rural areas regional districts provide services such as land use planning building inspection solid waste management and some responsibility for community fire protection Most land nominally within a regional district is under the control of the provincial government or in the case of national parks and offshore waters the federal government Indian reserves located within the boundaries of regional districts are likewise excluded from their jurisdiction and infrastructure and there are varying levels of collaboration between First Nations governments and regional district boards Regional districts are governed by boards of directly and indirectly elected directors Municipalities appoint directors to represent their populations usually the mayors while residents of unincorporated areas which are grouped into electoral areas elect directors directly The votes of directors from municipalities generally count more than the votes of directors from electoral areas and larger municipalities have more votes than smaller ones For example both North Saanich and Metchosin appoint one director to the Capital Regional District board of directors but the vote of North Saanich s director counts three times as much as the vote of Metchosin s appointee 3 List EditBritish Columbia regional districts as of January 29 2020 update 4 Regional district Office location Established 5 Population 2019 est 6 7 Area km2 Density per km2 Alberni Clayoquot Port Alberni April 21 1966 33 315 6 588 4 7Bulkley Nechako Burns Lake February 1 1966 39 614 73 361 0 52Capital Victoria February 1 1966 418 511 2 340 163 8Cariboo Williams Lake July 9 1968 65 456 80 609 0 77Central Coast Bella Coola July 16 1968 3 584 24 492 0 14Central Kootenay Nelson November 30 1965 63 311 22 095 2 7Central Okanagan Kelowna August 24 1967 217 214 2 905 67 1Columbia Shuswap Salmon Arm November 30 1965 55 823 28 929 1 8Comox Valley Courtenay February 1 2008 72 625 1 701 39 1Cowichan Valley Duncan September 26 1967 90 448 3 475 24 1East Kootenay Cranbrook 64 695 27 543 2 2Fraser Valley Chilliwack December 12 1995 331 533 13 335 22 2Fraser Fort George Prince George March 8 1967 103 392 50 676 1 9Kitimat Stikine Terrace September 14 1967 39 150 104 461 0 36Kootenay Boundary Trail February 22 1966 33 432 8 082 3 9Metro Vancouver Burnaby June 29 1967 8 2 691 343 2 883 918 0Mount Waddington Port McNeill June 13 1966 11 667 20 244 0 55Nanaimo Nanaimo August 24 1967 169 960 2 038 76 4North Coast Prince Rupert August 17 1967 19 303 19 781 0 92North Okanagan Coldstream November 9 1965 90 865 7 503 11 2Northern Rockies Fort Nelson January 29 2009 4 956 85 111 0 06Okanagan Similkameen Penticton March 4 1966 89 075 10 414 8 0Peace River Dawson Creek October 31 1967 66 880 117 391 0 54qathet Powell River December 19 1967 9 21 102 5 075 4 0Squamish Lillooet Pemberton October 3 1969 46 357 16 310 2 6Stikine Region a N A N A 734 118 663 0 01Strathcona Campbell River February 1 2008 49 085 18 278 2 4Sunshine Coast Sechelt January 4 1967 31 810 3 777 7 9Thompson Nicola Kamloops November 24 1967 146 096 44 448 3 0 The Stikine Region is not officially per se a regional district but is rather an unincorporated area 10 it is administered directly by the provincial government Historical regional districts EditThe first regional district was established in 1965 and the then final regional district was established in 1968 The following regional districts were dissolved in December 1995 and amalgamated largely into the newly formed Fraser Valley Regional District Dewdney Alouette Regional District consisting of Mission Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge and unincorporated areas north of the Fraser River and west of the District of Kent Central Fraser Valley Regional District consisting of the modern City of Abbotsford itself newly formed at the time and adjacent unincorporated areas Sumas Mountain now FVRD Electoral H west of Chilliwack and south of the Fraser River Regional District of Fraser Cheam consisting of the eastern two thirds of the modern Fraser Valley Regional District including Chilliwack Kent Harrison Hot Springs Hope and the Fraser Canyon unincorporated areas 11 The western half of Dewdney Alouette consisting of Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows was incorporated into the Greater Vancouver Regional District now Metro Vancouver Mission and the unincorporated areas east to the Chehalis River were incorporated into the Fraser Valley Regional District This amalgamation took place due to the western part of Dewdney Alouette having become essentially a suburb of Vancouver and the thought it would be better served by being within Metro Vancouver The Central Fraser Valley RD would be nearly completely dominated by the newly amalgamated City of Abbotsford bringing the regional district s role into question similarly the remnant of Dewdney Alouette would be dominated by Mission Given the rapid growth being experienced in the Fraser Valley at the time which was expected to continue for the foreseeable future the creation of the Fraser Valley Regional District was seen as the best option citation needed The Comox Strathcona Regional District was abolished in February 2008 and replaced by two successor regional districts Comox Valley and Strathcona 12 The Peace River Liard Regional District was created October 31 1967 when the regional district system was first being established On October 31 1987 it was split into the Peace River Regional District and the Fort Nelson Liard Regional District which since has become the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality 13 See also EditList of regional district electoral areas in British Columbia Administrative divisions of Canada List of communities in British ColumbiaReferences Edit Regional Districts in B C Regional Districts in B C Province of British Columbia Retrieved 29 January 2020 Bish Robert L Clemens Eric G 2008 Local Government in British Columbia PDF Richmond Union of British Columbia Municipalities p 45 British Columbia Ministry of Community Services Primer on Regional Districts in British Columbia 2006 Archived 2007 07 03 at the Wayback Machine Municipal and sub provincial areas population 2011 to 2019 Government of British Columbia Retrieved January 29 2020 BC Geographical Names Population Estimates Province of British Columbia 2016 British Columbia Census Total Population Results Archived from the original on 2019 07 24 Retrieved 2017 10 25 As Greater Vancouver Regional District As Powell River Regional District BC STATS Statistical Glossary Archived 2009 06 26 at the Wayback Machine Accessed online June 13 2009 ALR Statistics Appendix 3 Archived 2006 10 07 at the Wayback Machine Regional District and Municipal Boundary Changes 1996 to Present Archived 2011 06 11 at the Wayback Machine Accessed online June 13 2009 BC Names GeoBC Peace River Liard Regional District External links EditRegional district maps Local Government Department History Ministry of Community and Rural Development British Columbia Civic Info BC A Primer on Regional Districts in British Columbia BC Government Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title List of regional districts of British Columbia amp oldid 1090011280, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
