| Lake Cowichan | |
| Official Name: | Town of Lake Cowichan[1] |
| Pushpin Map: | Vancouver Island#Canada British Columbia |
| Pushpin Label Position: | none |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Leader Title: | Mayor |
| Leader Name: | Tim McGonigle |
| Established Date: | 1944 |
| Area Total Km2: | 8.05 |
| Population As Of: | 2021 |
| Population Total: | 3,325 |
| Population Density Km2: | 369.6 |
| Utc Offset: | -8 |
| Timezone Dst: | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Utc Offset Dst: | -7 |
| Coordinates: | 48.8258°N -124.0542°W |
| Elevation M: | 180 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code span |
| Website: | Town of Lake Cowichan |
Lake Cowichan (Nitinaht: ʕaʔk̓ʷaq c̓uubaʕsaʔtx̣) (pop. 3,325) is a town located near the eastern end of Cowichan Lake and, by highway, is a little over one hour northwest of Victoria, British Columbia. The town of Lake Cowichan was incorporated in 1944 and serves as the focal point of the Cowichan Lake Area, home to the indigenous c̓uubaʕsaʔtx̣ people. The Cowichan River flows through the middle of the town.[2] The Cowichan River is designated as a Heritage River, and is also a popular location for tubing.[3]
Lake Cowichan is at the western end of the Trans Canada Trail, which is the longest trail network in the world, almost 24000km (15,000miles) long.[4] Youbou, with a population of about 1,400 people; Honeymoon Bay, with a population of about 450 people, and Mesachie Lake, with a population of about 200 people are nearby communities.
Lake Cowichan is today best known for its summer tourism industry, with the lake, river and nearby mountains providing ample outdoor recreational opportunities, with some of its primary natural attractions being nearby Cowichan River Provincial Park, popular for hiking and fly fishing, and Gordon Bay Provincial Park, popular for camping, swimming, paddleboarding and kayaking. The town is also known for its rich cultural history, with Japanese, Punjabi and Scandinavian loggers pioneering the area's vibrant forestry sector. Lake Cowichan is also the location of the first community twinning program between Canada and Japan, with the district of Ohtaki, part of Date City, Hokkaido, being its sister city.
Lake Cowichan is surrounded on all sides by the Pacific temperate rainforests, containing some of the largest, tallest, and oldest trees in the world. Lake Cowichan has a Mediterranean climate (Csb) with oceanic influences due to the particularly heavy winter rainfall, with warm, dry summers and mild, damp winters. The location of the town at a low elevation in the interior of Vancouver Island means average summer daytime temperatures are generally several degrees warmer than most locations nearby, contributing to its reputation as a summer colony. Because of this sheltered location, the reverse is true during the other half of the year, when lower average winter nighttime temperatures within the town cause the community to receive more snowfall than the island's coastal population centres. The Cowichan Valley thus has the highest average temperature in Canada, as all locations in the country with warmer summers have significantly cooler winters, and all locations with warmer winters (limited to coastal areas of British Columbia) have much cooler summers. This unique climate is responsible for the region's burgeoning local wine industry.
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Lake Cowichan had a population of 3,325 living in 1,491 of its 1,586 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 3,226. With a land area of, it had a population density of in 2021.[5]
Lake Cowichan is one of several towns in the Cowichan Valley with significant South Asian Canadian (primarily Sikh-Canadian) community history for over 130 years, gaining notoriety in the forestry industry at local sawmills from the early 20th century until the 1980s.[6]
| 2021 | 2016[7] | 2011[8] | 2006[9] | 2001[10] | 1996[11] | 1991[12] [13] | 1986[14] [15] [16] | 1981[17] [18] | 1971[19] [20] | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| European | 2,775 | 2,785 | 2,610 | 2,555 | 2,550 | 2,700 | 1,960 | 1,860 | 2,000 | 1,910 | ||||||||||||
| Indigenous | 415 | 310 | 205 | 230 | 115 | 85 | 120 | 130 | 60 | 25 | ||||||||||||
| South Asian | 55 | 80 | 90 | 85 | 120 | 15 | 105 | 160 | 310 | 330 | ||||||||||||
| African | 30 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 10 | 5 | |||||||||||||
| East Asian | 15 | 10 | 15 | 55 | 10 | 50 | 30 | 15 | 65 | 110 | ||||||||||||
| Latin American | 15 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Southeast Asian | 0 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 10 | ||||||||||||||
| Middle Eastern | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||||||||||||
| Other/ multiracial | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 30 | |||||||||||||||
| Total responses | 3,315 | 3,220 | 2,955 | 2,940 | 2,830 | 2,855 | 2,240 | 2,185 | 2,435 | 2,415 | ||||||||||||
| Total population | 3,325 | 3,226 | 2,974 | 2,948 | 2,827 | 2,856 | 2,241 | 2,170 | 2,391 | 2,364 | ||||||||||||
According to the 2021 census, religious groups in Lake Cowichan included:[21]
In provincial politics, Lake Cowichan is part of the riding of Cowichan Valley. Its Member of the Legislative Assembly is Debra Toporowski of the British Columbia New Democratic Party. She has served in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia since 2024.
In federal politics, Lake Cowichan is part of the riding of Cowichan—Malahat—Langford. Its Member of Parliament is Alistair MacGregor of the federal New Democratic Party. He has served in the House of Commons of Canada since 2015.
See also