54-574: The Colony of Vancouver Island , officially known as the Island of Vancouver and its Dependencies , was a Crown colony of British North America from 1849 to 1866, after which it was united with the mainland to form the Colony of British Columbia . The united colony joined Canadian Confederation , thus becoming part of Canada, in 1871. The colony comprised Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands of
108-793: A Knight or Dame of Justice and the Vice-Prior in British Columbia of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem . The viceroy further presents other provincial honours and decorations , as well as various awards that are named for and presented by the lieutenant governor ; these are generally created in partnership with another government or charitable organization and linked specifically to their cause. These honours are presented at official ceremonies, which count amongst hundreds of other engagements
162-529: A crown and surrounded by ten gold maple leaves, symbolizing the ten provinces of Canada . Within British Columbia, the lieutenant governor also follows only the sovereign in the province's order of precedence , preceding even other members of the Canadian Royal Family and the Canadian monarch's federal representative, the governor general of Canada . The first British settlement in the area
216-495: A decision on the competing claims of ownership. The two countries nearly began a war over the issue; the confrontation became known as the Nootka Crisis . That was averted when both agreed to recognize the other's rights to the area in the first Nootka Convention in 1790, a first step to peace. Finally, the two countries signed the second Nootka Convention in 1793 and the third Convention in 1794. As per that final agreement,
270-455: A different type of English colonial administration before then. ^ Ben Bathurst Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia The lieutenant governor of British Columbia ( / l ɛ f ˈ t ɛ n ə n t / ) is the representative of the monarch in the province of British Columbia , Canada. The office of lieutenant governor is an office of the Crown and serves as a representative of
324-416: A great deal of influence because the previous Governor, James Douglas was the executive officer of HBC. After Arthur Kennedy was appointed Governor, his rule was initially met with suspicion and opposition by the colonial assembly, which feared the loss of Vancouver Island's status vis-à-vis the growing power of the mainland colony. It resisted the colonial office's request for the permanent appropriation for
378-472: A part of British Columbia politics , Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière was the last lieutenant governor in Canada to dismiss an incumbent premier, Edward Gawler Prior, from office. Prior had been found to have given an important construction contract to his own hardware business; though, he was later appointed as lieutenant governor himself. In 1952, without a clear majority in the legislative assembly following
432-481: Is Janet Austin , who has served in the role since 24 April 2018. The lieutenant governor of British Columbia is vested with a number of governmental duties . The viceroy is also expected to undertake various ceremonial roles . The lieutenant governor, him or herself a member and Chancellor of the order, will induct deserving individuals into the Order of British Columbia and, upon installation, automatically becomes
486-424: Is named after him. The original Colony of British Columbia was amalgamated with the Colony of Vancouver Island in 1866. That larger jurisdiction was succeeded by the present-day province of British Columbia, following the territory's entry into Canadian Confederation in 1871, when the present office of the lieutenant governor of British Columbia came into being. Since 1871, 28 lieutenant governors have served
540-516: The Columbia River (present day Vancouver, Washington ) to Fort Victoria. Chief Factor James Douglas was relocated from Fort Vancouver to Fort Victoria to oversee the company's operations west of the Rockies . The British colonial office designated the territory a Crown colony on 13 January 1849. Douglas was charged with encouraging British settlement. Richard Blanshard was named
594-659: The Gibraltarians ) found that their "Citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies" had changed overnight to British Dependent Territories Citizenship , a form of British citizenship that stripped them of some of their rights, including the right to reside and work in the United Kingdom. From 2002, the dependent territories have been known officially as British Overseas Territories . Early English colonies were often proprietary colonies , usually established and administered by companies under charters granted by
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#1732780666995648-593: The House of Assembly of Bermuda has existed continuously since its first session in 1620, Bermuda has only had responsible government since 1968. (Bermuda became a Crown colony in 1684, when the government revoked a royal charter given to the Somers Isles Company , successor to the Virginia Company , which had previously controlled administration, including the appointment of governors. Afterwards
702-510: The Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment . This position coexisted with the office of governor of British Columbia served by James Douglas during that time. The lieutenant governor of British Columbia is appointed in the same manner as the other provincial viceroys in Canada and is similarly tasked with carrying out most of the monarch's constitutional and ceremonial duties. The present, and 30th, lieutenant governor of British Columbia
756-600: The Strait of Georgia . Captain James Cook was the first European to set foot on the Island at Nootka Sound in 1778, during his third voyage. He spent a month in the area, claiming the territory for Great Britain . Fur trader John Meares arrived in 1786 and set up a single-building trading post near the native village of Yuquot (Friendly Cove), at the entrance to Nootka Sound in 1788. The fur trade began expanding across
810-656: The Thompson River area. Almost overnight, some ten to twenty thousand men moved into the interior of New Caledonia (mainland British Columbia), and Victoria was transformed into a tent-city of prospectors , merchants, land-agents, and speculators. Douglas – who had no legal authority over New Caledonia – stationed a gunboat at the entrance of the Fraser River to exert British authority by collecting licences from boats attempting to make their way upstream. To exert its legal authority, and undercut any HBC claims to
864-409: The civil list in return for control of the extensive Crown lands of the colony, and temporarily withheld salary and housing to Kennedy until they had achieved their aim. Kennedy met with further opposition by some in the assembly over the plan for the colony to unite with British Columbia. It was only when opponents were persuaded that such union would boost the colony's ailing economy that passage of
918-733: The general election , Lieutenant Governor Clarence Wallace was required to exercise his personal judgement in selecting the province's premier . Though the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; now the New Democratic Party ) held one fewer seat than the Social Credit Party (Socred), Wallace was under pressure to call on the CCF leader to form a government. Wallace, however, went with Socred leader W.A.C. Bennett , which resulted in
972-610: The legislative assembly's confidence in her. As the vote on the Speech from the Throne is automatically a confidence vote and the speech was voted down, Clark's government fell. She advised Lieutenant Governor Judith Guichon to call a new elections, contending that the NDP would be unable to provide a stable government due to the need for one of its members to act as speaker, likely resulting in frequent tied votes that could be broken only by
1026-442: The monarchy in the province , rather than the governor general of Canada . The office was created in 1871 when the Colony of British Columbia joined Confederation . Since then the lieutenant governor has been the representative of the monarchy in British Columbia . Previously, between 1858 and 1863 under colonial administration the title of lieutenant governor of British Columbia was given to Richard Clement Moody as commander of
1080-597: The 49th parallel latitude north the official border between the two countries. In order to ensure that Britain retained all of Vancouver Island and the southern Gulf Islands, however, it was agreed that the border would swing south around that area. In 1849, the Colony of Vancouver Island was established. The colony was leased to the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) for ten years, at an annual fee of seven shillings. Thus in 1849, HBC moved its western headquarters from Fort Vancouver on
1134-943: The British Government – such as Hong Kong , before its transfer in 1997 to the People's Republic of China . In 2002, the British Overseas Territories Act 2002 further changed their name to British Overseas Territories . There were three types of Crown colony as of 1918, with differing degrees of autonomy: Crown colonies with representative councils , such as Bermuda , Jamaica , Ceylon and Fiji , contained two legislative chambers, consisting of Crown-appointed and locally elected members. Crown colonies with nominated councils , such as British Honduras , Sierra Leone , British Windward Islands and Hong Kong , were staffed entirely by Crown-appointed members, with some appointed representation from
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#17327806669951188-738: The British government appointed the Governor of Bermuda .) Despite its later usage, the term "Crown colony" was used primarily, until the mid-19th century, to refer to colonies that had been acquired through wars, such as Trinidad and Tobago . After that time it was more broadly applied to every British territory other than British India , and self-governing colonies, such as the Province of Canada , Newfoundland , British Columbia , New South Wales , Queensland , South Australia , Tasmania , Victoria , Western Australia , and New Zealand . By
1242-457: The City of Victoria in 1862 with Thomas Harris elected Mayor. With the colony's budget collapsing by 1865, and the assembly unwilling and unable to introduce proposals for raising revenue, Kennedy was barely able to keep the administration afloat. Pressure grew for amalgamation with the mainland Colony of British Columbia (which had been established in 1858). The two colonies were merged in 1866 into
1296-569: The Spanish dismantled their fort at Nootka and left the area, giving the British sovereignty over Vancouver Island and the adjoining islands (including the Gulf Islands ). It was not until 1843 that Britain – under the auspices of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) – established a settlement on Vancouver Island. In March of that year, James Douglas of the Hudson's Bay Company and a missionary had arrived and selected an area for settlement. Construction of
1350-540: The assembly to introduce the vote of a civil list, as well as enforcing various measures to protect the rights and well-being of the increasingly pressured aboriginal population. Despite his sympathy for the plight of neighbouring Indian peoples, Kennedy authorised naval bombardment of the Ahousahts of Clayoquot Sound in 1864 in reprisal for the murder of the crew of a trading vessel. Nine Ahousaht villages were destroyed, and thirteen people killed. Fort Victoria became
1404-617: The centuries in some Crown colonies, more independent authority was given. All remaining British colonies, whether Crown (such as the Falkland Islands ) or self-governing (such as Bermuda ), were renamed " British Dependent Territories " from 1 January 1983 under the British Nationality Act 1981 . Many British citizens in the colonies (with the exceptions of the Falkland Islanders and subsequently
1458-468: The colonial office easing Douglas into retirement in 1864. Douglas was succeeded as governor in 1864 by Sir Arthur Edward Kennedy , a career colonial administrator who had previously served as governor of Sierra Leone and Western Australia . There was popular acclaim for the appointment of a governor free from ties with the HBC. The company had leased the island from Britain during 1849–1859 and still exerted
1512-526: The colonies, there was no direct representation in the sovereign government for British subjects or citizens residing in Crown colonies. The administration of Crown colonies changed over time and in the 1800s some became, with a loosening of the power of royal governors, self-governing colonies , within which the sovereign state (the UK Government) delegated legislation for most local internal matters of governance to elected assemblies, with consent of
1566-424: The colony's governor . Blanshard discovered that the hold of the HBC over the affairs of the new colony was all but absolute, and that it was Douglas who held all practical authority in the territory. There was no civil service, no police, no militia, and virtually every British colonist was an employee of the HBC. Frustrated, Blanshard abandoned his post a year later, returning to England. In 1851, his resignation
1620-580: The executive council was similar to the Privy Council that advises the monarch. Members of executive councils were appointed by the governors, and British citizens resident in Crown colonies either had no representation in local government, or limited representation in a lower house . In several Crown colonies, this limited representation grew over time. As the House of Commons of the British Parliament has never included seats for any of
1674-609: The fort began in June of that year. This settlement was a fur trading post originally named Fort Albert (afterward Fort Victoria ). The fort was located at the Songhees settlement of Camosack (Camosun), 200 metres northwest of the present-day Empress Hotel on Victoria's Inner Harbour. In 1846, the Oregon Treaty was signed by the British and the U.S. to settle the question of the U.S. Oregon Territory borders. The Treaty made
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1728-670: The governor, overseen by the Colonial Office and the Board of Trade and Plantations . The Colonial Office gave way to the Dominion Office for some of these territories in 1925. Elected lower houses had their beginnings in the House of Burgesses of the Colony of Virginia in 1619 and the House of Assembly of the Parliament of Bermuda in 1620. While initially limited in government even with an elected lower house, over
1782-655: The island; this would eventually lead to permanent settlement. The Spanish Empire also explored the area. Commandant Esteban José Martínez built a fort at Friendly Cove on Vancouver Island in 1789 and seized some British ships, claiming sovereignty. The fort was re-established in 1790 by Francisco de Eliza and a small community was built around it. Ownership of the island remained in dispute between Spain and Britain. In 1792 Captain George Vancouver arrived to meet with Spanish Comdt. Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra but their lengthy negotiations failed to produce
1836-463: The landholdings. The result was that emigration was slow, and the landless labourers frequently fled the colony either to obtain free land grants in the United States, or work the newly discovered goldfields of California . A secondary result was the replication of the British class system, with the attendant resistance to non-parochial education, land reform, and representative government. At
1890-507: The lieutenant governor partakes in each year, either as host or guest of honour; the lieutenant governor of British Columbia undertook 350 engagements in 2006 and 390 in 2007. At these events, the lieutenant governor's presence is marked by the lieutenant governor's standard , consisting of a blue field bearing the escutcheon of the Arms of His Majesty in Right of British Columbia , surmounted by
1944-522: The local population. Hong Kong had a representative council following the introduction of election for the Hong Kong Legislative Council in 1995. Crown colonies ruled directly by a governor , such as Basutoland , Gibraltar , Saint Helena and Singapore , were fewest in number and had the least autonomy. The "from" column lists the year the colony began to be administered by the Crown. These colonies may have existed under
1998-577: The mid-1850s, the colony's non-aboriginal population was approaching 500, and sawmill and coal mining operations had been established at Fort Nanaimo and Fort Rupert (near present-day Port Hardy ). Douglas also assisted the British government in establishing a naval base at present-day Esquimalt to check Russian and American expansionism. Douglas's efforts at encouraging settlement were hampered by colonial officials in London, who gave preference to settlers who would bring out labourers with them to work
2052-587: The mid-19th century, the monarch was appointing colonial governors only on the advice of the Secretary of State for the Colonies . The term Crown colony continued to be used until 1981, when the British Nationality Act 1981 reclassified the remaining British colonies as "British Dependent Territories". By this time, the term "Crown colony" referred specifically to colonies lacking substantial autonomy, which were administered by an executive governor, appointed by
2106-494: The monarch. The first "royal colony" was the Colony of Virginia , after 1624, when the Crown of the Kingdom of England revoked the royal charter it had granted to the Virginia Company and assumed control of the administration. Executive crown governors are sometimes complemented by a locally appointed and/or elected legislature with limited powers – that is, such territories lack responsible government . For example, while
2160-485: The nations were given a one-time cash payment of a few shillings each. As settlement accelerated, resentment towards the HBC's monopoly – both economic and civil – over the colony swelled. A series of petitions were sent to the colonial office, one of which resulted in the establishment of the Legislative Assembly of Vancouver Island in 1855. At first, little changed, given that only a few dozen men met
2214-470: The proposal was assured by the assembly. Kennedy achieved some progress in breaking down the longstanding social barriers established over years of HBC hegemony. In 1865, the Common Schools Act funded public education. Kennedy also reformed the civil service, introduced auditing of the colonial budget, and improved revenue collection. Nonetheless, he continued to fail in his efforts to persuade
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2268-496: The province, including firsts such as David Lam —the first Asian-Canadian lieutenant governor in Canada—and Iona Campagnolo —the first female lieutenant governor of British Columbia. The shortest mandate by a lieutenant governor of British Columbia was Edward Gawler Prior , from 1919 to his death in 1920, while the longest was George Pearkes , from October 1960 to July 1968. In 1903, before political parties were
2322-452: The resource wealth of the mainland, the district was converted to a Crown colony on 2 August 1858, and given the name British Columbia . Douglas was offered the governorship of the new colony, on condition that he sever his relationship with the HBC. Douglas accepted these conditions, and a knighthood, and for the next six years would govern both colonies from Victoria. The remainder of Douglas's term as Vancouver Island governor (until 1864)
2376-519: The speaker. Guichon disagreed and refused to dissolve the legislature. Clark then resigned and Guichon invited Horgan to form a government, which was sworn in by Guichon on 18 July. During Guichon's time serving as lieutenant governor, she put a strong focus on the interaction of the Crown in British Columbia with the Indigenous peoples in the province, which she said needed to be defined by "respect, relationships, and responsibility", stating that
2430-465: The start of a 20-year dynasty for the latter. The provincial election in 2017 resulted in neither the incumbent Liberals , nor the opposition New Democrats (NDP), winning a majority. The balance rested with the Green Party , which eventually agreed to support an NDP minority government with NDP leader John Horgan as premier. Still, Premier Christy Clark refused to resign until she could test
2484-609: The time of the establishment of the colony, Vancouver Island had a large and varied First Nations population of upwards of 30,000. Douglas completed fourteen separate treaties with the various nations, or tribes . Under the terms of these treaties, known today as the Douglas Treaties , the nations were obliged to surrender title to all land within a designated area, with the exception of villages and cultivated areas, in perpetuity. They were also given permission to hunt and fish over unoccupied territories. For these concessions,
2538-556: The two countries garrisoned troops on San Juan Island . There was a second gold rush – the Cariboo Gold Rush – and again Victoria experienced an economic boom as the staging point for the prospectors. The increased conflicts between Douglas and the reformers, such as Amor De Cosmos , along with the growing desire of colonists in British Columbia to have a resident governor in their capital of New Westminster resulted in
2592-784: The united Colony of British Columbia by the Act for the Union of the colonies, passed by the Imperial Parliament. Kennedy was appointed governor of the united entity. (He would leave office in 1866 and later became Governor of the West African Settlements, British West Africa .) Victoria became the capital but the legislative assembly was located in New Westminster on the Lower Mainland. The capital
2646-422: The voting requirement of holding twenty or more acres. Moreover, the majority of the representatives were employees of the HBC. However, as time went on, the franchise was gradually extended, and the assembly began to assert demands for more control over colonial affairs and criticised Douglas's inherent conflict of interest . By 1857, Americans and British colonists were beginning to respond to rumours of gold in
2700-649: Was a colony governed by England , and then Great Britain or the United Kingdom within the English and later British Empire . There was usually a governor to represent the Crown, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government , with or without the assistance of a local council. In some cases, this council was split into two: an executive council and a legislative council , and
2754-408: Was finalized, and the colonial office appointed Douglas as governor. Douglas's situation as both the local chief executive of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) as well as the civil governor of the colony from whom the company had leased all rights, was barely tenable from the outset. Initially, Douglas performed the delicate balancing act well, raising a domestic militia and encouraging settlement. By
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#17327806669952808-480: Was marked by increased expansion of the economy and settlement, and greater agitation for both union of the two colonies and for the introduction of fully responsible government . It was also marked by occasional boundary disputes with the United States, the most significant of which was the San Juan Boundary Dispute in 1859. This resulted in a sometimes tense, twelve-year military standoff as
2862-545: Was moved to Victoria in 1868. By 1867, Canadian Confederation was accomplished by the British North America Act , and the united colonies joined Canada on 20 July 1871. Victoria was named the capital of the province of British Columbia . Three delegates were appointed to the federal government. 49°38′N 125°42′W / 49.633°N 125.700°W / 49.633; -125.700 Crown colony A Crown colony or royal colony
2916-566: Was the Colony of British Columbia , of which the first lieutenant governor was Richard Clement Moody , who had previously served as the first governor of the Falkland Islands . Moody selected the site for and founded New Westminster —the original capital of British Columbia —and established Cariboo Road and Stanley Park . He named Burnaby Lake after his private secretary, Robert Burnaby , and named Port Coquitlam's 400-foot (120 m) Mary Hill after his wife, Mary. Port Moody
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