2 August: British Columbia Day

The first Monday in August is British Columbia Day, a holiday for the people who live in this province of Canada. here are 10 things you might not know about British Columbia:

1. It's the third largest and most westerly province in Canada. It is four times the size of Great Britain, more than twice the size of Japan, and larger than every single state in the US except Alaska. It has more than 27,000 kilometres of coastline.
2. The population is estimated to be around 5.1 million as of 2020, making it Canada's third-most populous province, after Ontario and Quebec. Half of those people live in the metropolitan area of Vancouver. Vancouver is the largest city but not the capital. The capital is Victoria.
3. The capital was named for Queen Victoria, and it was Queen Victoria who chose the name for the province when it became a British colony in 1858. She chose British Columbia to distinguish this province from the United States ("American Columbia" or "Southern Columbia"), which later became the Oregon Territory. The name Columbia relates to the river of the same name, which in turn was named for the Columbia Rediviva, an American ship which in turn was named for Christopher Columbus.
4. The longest river in BC is the Fraser, at 1,399 km; the highest point is Fairweather Mountain, at 4,663m/15,299ft. The highest waterfall in BC, and indeed, in Canada, is Della Falls in Strathcona Provincial Park, on Vancouver Island, at 440 metres high. That's more than eight times the height of Niagara Falls.
5. Just like American states, Canadian provinces have official emblems. British Columbia's are as follows: The provincial mammal is the Spirit Bear, aka the Kermode Bear (Ursus americanus kermodei), a rare black bear with white fur; the provincial flower is the Dogwood; the mineral emblem is jade; the tree is the Western red cedar (there is one on Meares Island known as “The Hanging Garden Tree”, which is estimated to be between 1,500 and 2,000 years old); the bird is Steller's jay; the fish Pacific salmon and the motto is "Splendor Sine Occasu" which translates as “splendour without diminishment”.
6. British Columbia has the mildest climate of all the Canadian provinces with the longest frost free periods. The annual mean temperature in the most populated areas of BC is up to 12 °C (54 °F), the mildest anywhere in Canada. It has some rainy places too with the prize for the wettest going to Prince Rupert on the west coast with an average of 239.7 days of rain and 2593.6 mm of rain per year.
7. Some records BC holds include the largest hockey stick ever, created for the Expo 1986 and then acquired by the city of Duncan, BC. The hockey stick is 62.48 metres long, weighs 28.12 tonnes (62,000 lb) and is therefore 40 times the size of a regular hockey stick. Another is the longest unsupported cable car in the world. You probably won't be surprised to learn that it's in a ski resort. It connects the two peaks of Whistler Blackcomb. The longest running movie theatre in Canada is here, too. It's Powell River’s Patricia Theatre, operating since 1913.
8. BC is home to the Bathtub Racing capital of the world, namely Nanaimo, a coastal city on Vancouver Island, which held its first bathtub race in 1967.
9. If you're vegetarian or vegan then you should feel at home here, as British Columbia is the province with the highest number of vegetarians and vegans in Canada. In March 2018, around 8.6 percent of survey respondents stated they were vegetarian, whilst 3.9 percent were vegan. When it comes to under 35 year olds, it's even more striking: almost 40% of the population claim to be vegetarian or vegan.
10. One in four North American Grizzly bears are found in BC, and a quarter of all black bears in Canada. One of the 400+ provincial parks is Khutzeymateen Provincial Park in Northern BC, which is Canada’s only grizzly bear sanctuary.

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