Galiano Island

Galiano Island (Hul'qumi'num: Swiikw) is one of the Southern Gulf Islands located between Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. Located on the west side of the Strait of Georgia, the island is bordered by Mayne Island to the southeast, Salt Spring Island to the west, and Valdes Island to the northwest. Galiano is part of the Capital Regional District Electoral Area G, and has a permanent population of 1,396 inhabitants as of 2021.

Galiano takes its name from Spanish explorer Dionisio Alcalá Galiano, who explored the area in 1792.

Before the arrival of Europeans, Galiano Island was long inhabited by Indigenous peoples from the Penelakut First Nation and other Coast Salish peoples. Midden pits at Montague Harbour suggest at least 3,000 years of habitation, with one study dating the earliest signs of permanent occupation in the island's proximities to over 5000 years ago. A complex culture, heavily reliant on the native Cedar trees, flourished on the island. In the late 1770s, the smallpox epidemic reached the Coast Salish region, reducing the region's population by as much as 30%. Subsequent outbreaks would reduce the First Nations population even further. By the time Captain Galiano arrived in the area in the late 18th century, the First Nations population had been significantly reduced.

By the 19th century, with European colonization of North America well underway, the area around Galiano remained relatively undisturbed. However, when news of the discovery of gold on the British Columbia mainland reached San Francisco in 1858, nearby Victoria became an important port for miners on their way to the Fraser Canyon gold fields. Due to increased interest in the area from white settlers, the Royal Navy hydrographer Captain George Henry Richards was tasked with mapping the Southern Gulf Islands in 1859, and decided to name the island in honour of the Spanish navigator who had visited the region 67 years prior.

In the early years of European settlement, the island's primary industries were fishing and logging. Poor soil on the island limited the development of widespread agriculture found on other Gulf Islands, such as nearby Salt Spring. Early settlement included a pioneer farming community on the shores of "Plumper Pass" (later renamed Active Pass). Other settlers, such as Scotty Georgeson (a Shetland Islander), also held land and had family on Galiano in this period.

Beginning in the 1870s, a small number of Asian immigrants, particularly Japanese, also settled in the area due to its abundant fish stocks and timber. These Japanese immigrants, primarily from Wakayama Prefecture, brought with them methods of charcoal production, whose evidence can still be found on the island today. Many of these Japanese settlers continued to operate salteries on the north end of the island until the outbreak of war with Japan.

Following the confederation of British Columbia into Canada in 1871 and the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885, the nearby Lower Mainland experienced rapid population growth. By 1928, this had grown to the point where the small community on Galiano had expanded sufficiently to construct the Galiano Community Hall, which remains in use today. In the 1960s logging rights for much of the island were given to MacMillan Bloedel for resource extraction. Many environmentally conscious residents objected to the widespread logging, leading to many disputes including MacMillan Bloedel Ltd. v. Galiano Island Trust Committee in 1995. Environmentalism and the 1960s counter-culture continue to influence the culture of the island to this day heavily. In 2011, the riding of Saanich—Gulf Islands, to which Galiano is a part, elected Canada's first Green member of parliament, Elizabeth May.

As of the 21st century, logging on the island has all but halted, replaced by industries such as tourism and a local art scene.