Bowen Island

Indigenous peoples

The name for Bowen Island is Nex̱wlélex̱m in the Squamish language of the Squamish people. The Squamish peoples used and occupied the area around Howe Sound including Bowen Island. Areas such as Snug Cove and a few other parts of the island were used as campsites for hunting and gathering trips.

Historically they would use the warmer spring and summer months to travel to resource gathering sites and move from their permanent winter villages. The strip of land between Bowen and Finisterre Islands has a name that translates to "Fast Drumming Ground". The tide rushing in and out is reminiscent of the sound of drums beating quickly. The name "Kwém̓shem" is used for Hood Point. Bowen is still used by people from Squamish and Musqueam for deer hunting. Into the 20th century Bowen Island was actively used by Squamish people for deer and duck hunting, fishing and, later, wage jobs. In conversations with Vancouver archivist Major Matthews in the 1950s, August Jack Khatsahlano recalls knowing several Squamish 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.

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 (after the Mexican town of Apodaca, in north-east Nuevo León province - itself named after a benevolent bishop, Salvador de Apodaca y Loreto) by the Spanish Captain José María Narváez in July, 1791. In 1860 Cpt. George Henry Richards renamed the island after Rear Admiral James Bowen master of the HMS Queen Charlotte.

Bowen remained a wilderness until 1871 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.

20th century

In the first half of the 20th century, life on Bowen was dominated by a resort operated by the Terminal Steamship Company (1900 - 1920) and the Union Steamship Company (1920 - 1962). These companies provided steamer service to Vancouver, and the Horseshoe Bay - Bowen Island Ferry began in 1921. When the Union Steamship resort closed in the 1960s the island returned to a quiet period of slow growth. In the 1940s and 1950s, the artists' colony called Lieben was a retreat for many famous Canadian authors, artists, and intellectuals including Earle Birney, Alice Munro, Dorothy Livesay, Margaret Laurence, A.J.M. Smith, Jack Shadbolt, Eric Nicol and Malcolm Lowry, who finished his last book, October Ferry to Gabriola, there. 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. Prior to becoming a municipality, Bowen Island was part of the Sunshine Coast Regional District, made up of small communities and municipalities. However, in the 1980s the island transferred to the Greater Vancouver Regional District after a campaign organized by developers and realtors. A campaign to make the island an autonomous municipality was successful after two referendum attempts.

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.

Commerce

The Island has several small businesses including marinas, cafes, gift shops, grocery stores, a pharmacy, restaurants, garden and flower shops, and a building supply shop. In June 2007, First Credit Union, a full-service credit union, opened its doors in Snug Cove. There is also a North Shore Credit Union automated banking machine. Groceries stores and shops are available, concentrated around Snug Cove and Artisan Square. There are also several restaurants and cafes. Bowen Island has a high proportion of artists and artisans, whose products are available at local island venues. There is also a 2,746 metre (3,003 yard) 130 Slope rated 9-hole golf course.

Marine

Bowen Island is served by three scheduled water-transportation operators:

Land

Public roads are maintained by the Bowen Island Municipality. There are roadside walking trails in only a few places and the terrain is hilly and winding. Private vehicles are the primary form of transportation and hitchhiking is commonplace.

Bowen Island has a limited bus service (ending at 7 p.m.) of two TransLink routes:

Education

The Island is in the West Vancouver School district and has an award-winning public elementary school Bowen Island Community School. High school students living in Bowen Island (grades 8 to 12) travel to West Vancouver to attend West Vancouver Secondary School, Sentinel Secondary School, or Rockridge. Other education options are Daycare and Preschool programs run by the Bowen Children's Centre a private Montessori preschool / and the Island Pacific School, an international baccalaureate middle school for grades 6 through 9. Some students also travel to West Vancouver to attend French Immersion at Ecole Pauline Johnson. There is a public supported home learning program The Learning Centre and a growing number of families also unschool.

Culture

Particularly for a small community, Bowen Island has an extensive cultural life. Notably, Bowen Island boasts four different choral ensembles; an extensive theatre school for children; a public gallery which showcases local artists; and a busy library housed in the heritage Old General Store. The Bowen Island Museum and Archive features regularly changing exhibits documenting Bowen Island's history, as well as a restored logger's cabin from 1948, while Bowen Heritage hosts special events such as a harvest Applefest and maintains a Union Steamship resort cottage museum built in 1928.

Recreation

Bowen has a long history as a day-trip destination from Vancouver. Today, the island offers a number of popular swimming beaches, including Sandy Beach, Tunstall Bay, Cates Bay and Bowen Bay. There is a kayak rental operation in Snug Cove. Crippen Regional Park features maintained trails and picnic areas. A popular hike leads from the ferry dock to Killarney Lake, and from there up Mount Gardner, the island's highest point. The island hosts annual sailing and kayaking races. There are work out facilities and a tennis court operated by the Recreation department of the municipality at the elementary school as well as private gym facilities and yoga classes. The baseball diamond In Snug Cove is home to the popular men's fastpitch league. The artificial turf field at the elementary school is home to Bowen Island FC.

Places of worship

There are a number of Christian churches on the Island. St Gerard's Catholic Church is located on Miller Road. The United Church is situated in a timber building erected in 1932 a little further along on the same road. Also on Miller Road, nearer to Snug Cove, and meeting in Bowen Court, is Bowen Island Community Church, an affiliate of the Congregational Christian Churches in Canada. Lastly, Cates Hill Chapel is a Christian Brethren church founded in 1991. Its present building on Carter Road was opened in 1999. There are also regular meetings held by Unitarians and Quakers. Bowen Island is home to the Canadian branch of L'Abri, a communal Christian retreat centre where visitors come for self-directed study. Finally, Camp Bow-Isle is a summer camp for Christian Scientists.

There are regular Buddhist meditation sittings in both the Zen and Vipassana traditions.

Bowen's Jewish community celebrates Shabbat and high holidays, and acquired a Torah in 2006.

Films shot entirely or partly on Bowen Island