Pender Island

Pender Island
Island
A view of North Pender Island's shoreline
The Southern Gulf Islands, including North and South Pender.
Country	Canada
Province	British Columbia
Government
• MP	Elizabeth May (Green)
• MLA	Gary Holman (BC NDP)
Area
• Total	North Pender 24 South Pender 10 km2 (Formatting error: invalid input when rounding sq mi)
Population
• Total	2,245
Time zone	PST (UTC−8)
• Summer (DST)	PDT (UTC−7)

North Pender 24

Pender Island (Saanich: st̕ey̕əs ) is one of the Southern Gulf Islands located in the Gulf of Georgia, British Columbia, Canada. Pender Island is approximately 34 km² (13 sq mi) in area and is home to about 2,250 permanent residents, as well as a large seasonal population. Like most of the rest of the Southern Gulf Islands, Pender Island enjoys a sub-Mediterranean climate and features open farmland, rolling forested hills, several lakes and small mountains, as well as many coves and beaches.

Pender Island consists of two islands, North Pender and South Pender, which are separated by a narrow canal originally dredged in 1903. In 1955 the islands were connected by a one lane bridge, as it remains today.

Most of the population and services reside on North Pender Island, with the highest concentration surrounding Magic Lake.

At the time of European Contact, Pender Island was inhabited by Coast Salish peoples speaking the North Straits Salish language. There is an Indian reserve at Hay Point on South Pender Island, which is home to members of the Tsawout and Tseycum First Nations. Carbon dating of artifacts in shell middens near Belden Cove identify an Indian village site that has been more or less continuously inhabited for five millennia. The Poets Cove Resort was built on an ancient First Nations village site. The provincial government's 2007 settlement with the Tsawwassen First Nation included hunting and fishing rights on and around Pender Island—an arrangement to which the Sencot'en Alliance objected, saying those rights are theirs under the 1852 Douglas Treaty.