Qualicum Beach () is a town located on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. In the 2021 census, it had a population of 9,303. It is situated at the foot of Mount Arrowsmith, along the Salish Sea on Vancouver Island's northeastern coast.
Qualicum Beach's natural environment and proximity to Victoria and Vancouver have made it a tourist destination, with cottages along the coast. The community is mostly of retirement age, with the oldest average population in Canada with a median age of 65.9 in 2016.
Qualicum Beach is served by the coast-spanning Island Highway, the Island Rail Corridor, a local airport, and a nearby ferry to Lasqueti Island.
History
Etymology The name "Qualicum" comes from a Pentlatch term that means "Where the dog salmon (chum salmon) run."
Qualicum First Nation Qualicum Beach is located within the traditional territory of the Qualicum First Nation.
People from all over would come to the Qualicum area to gather camas flowers in the spring and chum salmon in the fall. Camas bulbs are sweet tasting and were traded as a delicacy. The traditional diet of the Qualicum First Nation includes clams, including geoducks, butter clams, and horse clams. Pentlatch is the language that was spoken in this area. A large portion of the Qualicum First Nation population was lost due to small pox and war, leading to a loss of the Pentlatch language. Small pox was brought to what is now Canada by French settlers in the 17th century. Additionally, the loss of the Pentlatch language may also be attributed to the residential school system.
European settlers In May 1856, Hudson's Bay Company explorer Adam Grant Horne, with a group of aboriginal guides, found a route across Vancouver Island from the Qualicum River to the Alberni Inlet. Horne Lake is named after him.
In 1864, the botanist and explorer Robert Brown led the Vancouver Island Exploring Expedition through the area. He found the area deserted as a result of the small pox epidemic of 1862. The first settlers arrived in the 1880s.
A road was built from Nanaimo to Parksville in 1886 and extended to Qualicum in 1894.
The 20th century A school house was built in 1912. The school served as an elementary and secondary school until 1952. The school house was later converted into an arts centre.
A train station was built in 1913. The E&N Railway reached Qualicum in 1914.
H.E. Beasley, a railway official, sponsored the creation of The Merchants Trust and Trading Company which organised the original layout of the town and built the golf links and the Qualicum Beach Hotel in 1913.Town of Qualicum Beach web site, Early Days in Qualicum Retrieved June 30, 2019 The Qualicum Beach Hotel was managed by Noel Money. During World War 1 the hotel was used as a hospital, which was visited by the Prince of Wales in 1918. Visitors to the hotel included Shirley Temple, Bing Crosby, and the King of Thailand. The hotel was eventually torn down in 1969. The golf course (Memorial Golf Course) remains and is preserved by the Town of Qualicum Beach.
In 1914, the residence of Noel Money, the Crown Mansion, was built. The Crown Mansion overlooks the town's first golf course, the Memorial Golf Course, and is built in a Georgian Revival style. The Crown Mansion is now protected by the Brown Preservation Society and operates as a hotel.
In the 1920s, Giuseppe Roat, also known as the Hermit of Qualicum Beach, moved to the area. He opened the first museum in Qualicum Beach, called the Crystal Springs Museum of Nature Art. Alongside the museum, Roat also had a spring called Crystal Spring. Visitors could drink from the spring for 25 cents. Roat purchased 75 lots in the area of Qualicum Beach, totalling 44 acres. This land is now what is known as the Hermitage Park subdivision.
In the 1930s, Alexander Duncan McRae and his wife Blaunche built an upscale family retreat, known as Eaglecrest, in Qualicum Beach. Visitors included Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh in 1951. In the late 1960s, Eaglecrest was converted into a resort. A fire in 1969 burnt down the main house. In 1972, the new owners replicated the original house and opened a golf course. In 1981 a fire once again destroyed Eaglecrest.
A private boys' residential school, the Qualicum College, was established in 1935 by Robert Ivan Knight. The school grew through the 1960s, however, attendance diminished with the school closing in 1970. The structure was operated as a hotel for a number of years, however, the college has now been demolished. Its playing fields have been turned into a housing subdivision.The Homeroom: Qualicum College Retrieved June 30, 2019
St. Andrews Lodge, a hotel built in a Tudor style, was built in 1938 by Sam Little. The Lodge was especially popular during World War 2 with members of the Canadian armed forces.
Qualicum Beach was officially incorporated as a village on May 5, 1942, and was changed to town status on January 7, 1983.
The 21st century In 2002, the town's primary grocery store, Qualicum Foods, was destroyed by a fire. In 2003 a new Qualicum Foods was built. In 2021, Qualicum Beach councillor Teunis Westbroek was sued for allegedly suggesting that the owners of Qualicum Foods burnt down their own store in 2002. In 2023 Westbroek agreed to pay $130,000 to settle the defamation suit and issued a public apology in the local newspaper. Ultimately, Westbroek only paid $2,839 personally. The rest of the settlement was covered by the Town's liability insurance and the Town paid a $10,000 deductible.
In 2007, the Gardens, a long-term care facility, was built in Qualicum Beach. Another retirement home, Berwick, opened in 2019. There are currently 5 retirement homes in Qualicum Beach.
Trains stopped operating in 2011. The station is now used as an office space.
St. Andrews Lodge was purchased by the Town of Qualicum Beach in 2018 with hopes to transform the land into a waterfront park. The Town considered demolishing the Lodge. In late 2020 The St. Andrew Lodge Cultural and Historical Society was formed by local residents, with the goal of saving the Lodge from demolition. They succeeded in this goal, and the Lodge and park is currently being renovated. Qualicum First Nation gifted the new name of "Saahtlam" for the park.
Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Qualicum Beach had a population of 9,303 living in 4,435 of its 4,763 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 8,943. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
Age
The majority (56.3% in 2021) of residents are 65 years of age or older. The median age in 2021 was 67.5 and the average age was 61.2.
Education The majority (92.8% in 2021) of citizens aged 25 to 64 have obtained a high school diploma or equivalency certificate. 64% of citizens have obtained a postsecondary certificate, diploma, or degree.
According to the 2021 census, the most common major fields of study of citizens in Qualicum Beach included:
Business, management, and public administration (1,130 persons or 37.6%) Architecture, engineering, and related trades (895 persons or 29.8%) Health and related fields (855 persons or 28.5%) Education (635 persons or 21.1%) Social and behavioural sciences and law (475 persons or 15.8%)
Occupation and Income The median total income of households in 2020 was $76,500.
Of the labour force, 55% work as permanent employees and 32% are self-employed. The remaining hold casual, seasonal, temporary, short-term, or fixed (1 year or more) term positions. As of 2021, 7.7% of the population is unemployed. The majority (65.5% in 2021) of the population is not in the labour force.
According to the 2021 census, the most common occupational categories in Qualicum Beach included:
Sales and service (705 persons or 25.5%) Business, finance, and administration (515 persons or 18.6%) Trades, transport, and equipment operators (485 persons or 17.5%) Education, law and social, community and government services (300 persons or 10.8%) Health (255 persons or 9.2%) Natural and applied sciences (210 persons or 7.6%)
Ethnicity According to the 2021 census, the ethnic or cultural origin of citizens in Qualicum Beach included: English (3,315 persons or 37.8%) Irish (1,955 persons or 22.3%) Scottish (2,115 persons or 24.1%) German (1,040 persons or 11.9%) French (770 persons or 8.8%) Canadian (735 persons or 8.4%) Ukrainian (515 persons or 5.9%) Dutch (415 persons or 4.7%)
Panethnic groups in the Town of Qualicum Beach (2001−2021)Panethnic group20212016201120062001 European 8,205 8,030 7,810 7,945 6,665 Indigenous 280 290 205 155 75 East Asian 105 70 75 165 50 Southeast Asian 80 65 35 35 65 South Asian 50 20 30 55 55 African 20 20 10 0 0 Middle Eastern 10 0 0 0 10 Latin American 0 10 25 10 0 Other/multiracial 0 20 0 15 0 Total responses 8,775 8,505 8,215 8,375 6,920 Total population 9,303 8,943 8,687 8,502 6,921
Religion According to the 2021 census, religious groups in Qualicum Beach included: Irreligion (4,615 persons or 52.6%) Christianity (4,015 persons or 45.7%) Judaism (30 persons or 0.3%) Buddhism (20 persons or 0.2%) Islam (20 persons or 0.2%) Other (65 persons or 0.7%)
Politics and government
Municipal government of the Town of Qualicum Beach has a council-manager form of government. It is headed by a mayor (who also represents Qualicum Beach on the governing board of the Regional District of Nanaimo) and a four-member council. These positions are filled by at-large elections every four years, as provided by British Columbia law.See the Local Government Act, RSBC 1996, chapter 323 As of October 2022, the current mayor of Qualicum Beach is Teunis Westbroek. Voter turnout in the 2022 election was 52.53%.
School board trustees, for representation on School District 69 Qualicum, are also elected by residents of the town, the City of Parksville and the surrounding area. The town funds a volunteer fire department, which serves the town and nearby rural communities. The town has a local ambulance station. The nearest full hospital is Nanaimo Regional General Hospital in Nanaimo.NRGH web site. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
Qualicum Beach is part of the Parksville-Qualicum provincial electoral district. Qualicum Beach is represented by Independent Adam Walker. Walker was dismissed from his position as a parliamentary secretary and removed from the BC NDP caucus following an internal investigation. Federally, Qualicum Beach, in the Courtenay—Alberni riding, is represented in the House of Commons of Canada by NDP Member of Parliament Gord Johns, who was first elected in 2015.
Transportation
Highway 19A, runs the length of the town along the shoreline of the Salish Sea. Highway 19 includes a junction with Highway 4, which runs through Cathedral Grove to Port Alberni and Tofino, Ucluelet, Bamfield and the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve on the south-west coast of the Island. Scenic, flight training and charter flights are offered by Qualicum Flight Center. The town has no marina or harbour, however, there is a boat launch for trailered boats. French Creek Harbour is south-east on Highway 19A.
Via Rail's Malahat service served Qualicum Beach station from 1979 until 2011. In 2011, service was suspended indefinitely due to track replacement work. As of 2015, service has not yet resumed.
Geography The town has an approximate area of .
Qualicum Beach is on the Nanaimo lowlands, a narrow plain which lies between the Georgia Basin to the northeast and the Beaufort Range (one of the Vancouver Island Ranges) to the south-west. Landforms were significantly changed by the most recent advance of glacial ice about 18,000 to 19,000 years ago.
Marshall-Stevenson Wildlife Sanctuary, in the west end of Qualicum Beach, is a tidal wetlands at the mouth of the Little Qualicum River.