Bowen Island
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Bowen Island lies near Vancouver, British Columbia in Howe Sound, within the Greater Vancouver Regional District. Approximately 6 kilometres wide by 12 km long, the island sits about 6 km west of the mainland, with regular ferry service from West Vancouver. There are about 3,500 permanent residents, a number that is supplemented in the summer by roughly 1,500 visitors, as Bowen Island is a popular vacation home location for British Columbians. About 500 workers and over 200 students commute to offices and schools on the mainland each day.
First Nations history
Bowen Island emerged from the massive ice sheet that filled Howe Sound 14,000 years ago. It was first peopled by Coast Salish who found hunting and fishing in abundance. The Squamish used the present village site of Snug Cove and many other parts of the island as a temporary camp. The Squamish Nation of the Coast Salish traditionally had many other temporary spots along their territorial lands as they were semi-nomadic. The Squamish name for Snug Cove is Xwilil Xhwm, which means "Cove", according to Squamish Nation member and language/culture expert Shirley Lewis. Reference to the Squamish story of how the black-tailed deer were created on Bowen Island exists but the source is unconfirmed. Heron is said to have emerged on neighbouring Gambier Island.
The Squamish name "Kwumshum" was used for Hood Point. "Fast Drumming Ground" is a Squamish term applied to the strip of land between Bowen and Finisterre Islands. The tide rushing in and out is reminiscent of the sound of drums beating fast.
Into the 20th century Bowen Island was actively used by Squamish people for deer and duck hunting, fishing and, later, jobs. In conversations with Vancouver archivist Major Matthews in the 1950s, August Jack Khatsahlano (a direct descendant of Chief Khatsahlano [Kitsilano] ) recalls knowing several Squamish people who worked for whalers on the island at the turn of the 20th century. In a conversation with City of Vancouver archivist JA Matthews, Khatsahlano himself recalls deer hunting on Bowen saying that at one time he took the biggest deer in British Columbia from the island, weighing in at 195 pounds.
The island lies within the traditional territories of the Squamish Nation as shown in the Squamish statement of intent submitted to the British Columbia Treaty Commission. Bowen is still used by First Nations people from Squamish and Musqueam for deer hunting.
Post-colonization
When Spanish explorers arrived on the west coast of Canada, they named many of the features of what is now the Strait of Georgia. Bowen Island was called Isla de Apodaca by Quadra but the name was changed a week later by George Vancouver who named it for Rear Admiral James Bowen who fought in The Glorious First of June naval battle.
Bowen remained a wilderness until the 1870s when homesteaders built houses and started a brickworks, which supplied bricks to the expanding city of Vancouver. Over the years, local industry has included an explosives factory, logging, mining, and milling, although there is no heavy industry on the island at present.
In the first half of the 20th century, life on Bowen was dominated by the Union Steamship Company that operated a very busy resort at Snug Cove. The resort closed in the 1960s and the island returned to a quiet period of slow growth. In the 1980s, real estate pressures in Vancouver accelerated growth on Bowen and currently the local economy is largely dependent on commuters who work on the mainland in Greater Vancouver.
In 1999 the Bowen Island Municipality was incorporated, becoming the second 'island municipality' in BC. The first was Saltspring Island which was incorporated in 1873 and dissolved by the BC legislature 10 years later.
The Island today
Commerce
The Island has several small businesses and a Chamber of Commerce.[link] At present there is no gas station or bank. There is no supermarket, but groceries are available at a general store and a handful of smaller outlets. Shops are concentrated around Snug Cove and, further into the island, Artisan Square.
Education
The Island has an elementary school called Bowen Island Community School, a Montessori elementary school and the private Island Pacific School, a middle school. There is a public supported homelearning program which provides classroom and teacher support to homelearning families. A small number of families also unschool. Public school students travel to the West Vancouver mainland for high school.
Churches and other religious communities
There are regular Buddhist meditation sittings in both the Zen and Vipassana traditions. Bowen's small Jewish community celebrates Shabbat and high holidays, and acquired a Torah in 2006.
Bowen Island on Film
- 1966 The Trap starring Oliver Reed and Rita Tushingham was filmed in Tunstall Bay, where a whole village was specially constructed. (Weblink to some great photos of the village on the Rita Tushingham homepage) :
- 1976 Food of the Gods starring Marjoe Gortner and Ida Lupino, a shlock horror film which appears on many "Worst Films" lists. (Giant rats, chickens, wasps and maggots on Bowen in this butchered H.G.Wells classic)
- 1986 Clan of the Cave Bear starring Daryl Hannah and Pamela Reed, portions of this film were shot on Bowen.
- 1988 People Across the Lake starring Valerie Harper and Gerald McRaney, Made for TV, Murder Mystery/Horror film.
- 1988 American Gothic starring Rod Steiger, Yvonne De Carlo and Michael J. Pollard, homicidal hillbillies invade Bowen in this 80's slasher film!
- 1989 Cousins starring Ted Danson and Isabella Rossellini, shots of Bowen and locale.
- 1989 Look Who's Talking starring John Travolta and Kirstie Alley
- 1990 Bird on a Wire starring Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn
- 1990 The Russia House starring Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer, parts of the John Le Carre espionage thriller were filmed on Bowen Island
- 1993 Another Stakeout starring Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez
- 1995 Hideaway starring Jeff Goldblum and Christine Lahti
- 1997 All the Winters That Have Been starring Richard Chamberlain and Karen Allen, Made for TV, scenes inside The Snug cafe on Bowen....called Raven Island in the film.
- 1998 Disturbing Behavior starring James Marsden and Katie Holmes, Bowen becomes Cradle Bay where teens are brainwashed. There is even a race to catch the ferry!
- 1999 Double Jeopardy starring Tommy Lee Jones and Ashley Judd, partly filmed on the island
- 2005 A remake of horror film The Fog was filmed on the Island where a whole graveyeard was constructed.
- 2005 The documentary Crusader Babbitt Goes Home is still in production.
- 2005 Jacob Two Two and the Hooded Fang - an all island production.
- 2006 The Wicker Man starring Nicolas Cage and Ellen Burstyn , a remake of the 1973 Christopher Lee classic.
External links
- [Bowen Island Chamber of Commerce]
- [Bowen Island Journal] - links to webloggers on Bowen Island
- [Bowen Island GeoLibrary] - interactive maps, stories, and planning documents
- [Bowen Island Municipality] - official site for municipal government
Surrounding Municipalities
| Municipalities of the Greater Vancouver Regional District |
|---|
| Population over 100,000: Burnaby | Coquitlam | Delta | Richmond | Surrey | Vancouver |
| Population over 50,000: Langley Township | Maple Ridge | New Westminster | North Vancouver District | Port Coquitlam |
| Population under 50,000: Anmore | Belcarra | Bowen Island | Langley City | Lions Bay | North Vancouver City | Pitt Meadows | Port Moody | West Vancouver | White Rock |
| Unincorporated areas: Barnston Island | Passage Island | Bowyer Island | University Endowment Lands |
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