The Greater Victoria Harbour Authority

Description

Victoria Harbour is the jewel of Vancouver Island. Lands surrounding the picturesque deep-sea harbour were a traditional winter home for First Nations peoples for thousands of years. When European explorers came about 220 years ago, the harbour was chosen by the Hudson Bay Company as its Pacific Northwest base, and Fort Victoria was born.
For almost a century and a half since then, the fortunes of the harbour have ebbed and flowed. And for just as long, the control of the harbour and its waterfront lands has been disputed. At times, control of Victoria's harbour has been in the hands of absentee landlords in Britain. Once the fledgling province of British Columbia joined the Dominion of Canada, jurisdiction rested with Ottawa. In modern times, Victoria business leaders advocated change. They wanted this local treasure to be under local control. Many people worked tirelessly towards this goal for many years. Their struggle for local ownership of the waters and lands around the beautiful harbour was rewarded in 2002. Greater Victoria Harbour Authority was formed, and four parcels of harbour land were divested to its control. The harbour finally had an advocate and a new voice. This is the story of the long journey to that historic day and a capsule of the highlights of the first five years of the Harbour Authority's existence. It is an evolving story, an unfinished one, with new chapters being written every year.