Numismatic

Courtenay, British Columbia

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Coordinates: 49°41′16″N 124°59′40″W / 49.68778°N 124.99444°W / 49.68778; -124.99444 Courtenay is a city on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. It is the largest city (and only "city") in the area commonly known as the Comox Valley, and it is the seat of the Comox Valley Regional District. Courtenay is just 4 km west of the town of Comox, 7 km northeast of the Village of Cumberland, 5 km northwest of the unincorporated settlement of Royston, and 108 km northwest of Nanaimo.

History

Courtenay was officially incorporated as a town on January 1, 1915. The city was named after the Courtenay River, which in turn, was named after George William Courtenay, captain of the British ship HMS Constance, which was stationed in the area between 1846 and 1849. In 1946, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake demolished chimneys of houses in Courtenay and created a hole in one of the walls of the main post office. Courtenay became a city in 1953. The City is protected by the Courtenay Fire Department.

Paleontology

In recent years, Courtenay has established itself as a hot spot for paleontology discoveries. Professional and amateur paleontologists have been discovering fossils of pre-historic sea life in Courtenay, and the Comox Valley is considered to be the first stop on the Great Canadian Fossil Trail. Millions of years ago Vancouver Island was submerged under a warm salt-water sea, this habitat provided an excellent home to pre-historic marine life. After the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event, that caused the extinction of dinosaurs, Vancouver Island began to be shaped by volcanic activity, tectonic plate movement, and glacial ice movements. This activity and glacial erosion along the Puntledge and Trent rivers have revealed some of that 80-million year old sea floor. This access to the ancient sea bed has provided the opportunity for many great marine dinosaur discoveries, like the Elasmosaur and the Mosasaur.

The first major paleontological discovery in Courtenay occurred in 1988 when resident Mike Trask and his daughter discovered the first fossil of an 80 million year old Elasmosaur on the banks of the Puntledge River. Over the next few months, the excavation, lead by Dr. Roif Ludvigson, revealed a near complete skeleton. The skull and other key bones for identifying the species were in poor condition, it is still unknown what species or genus this Elasmosaur belonged to. The original bones and a replica model are on display at the Courtenay & District Museum and Paleontology Center.

In 1991 during a field trip, Dr. Joe Zanbilowicz discovered a fossilized bone along the Puntledge River and a few more vertebrae were excavated that day. During the summers of 1997 and 1998, excavation lead by Dr. Dirk Meckert revealed a near complete Mosasaur skeleton. After analysis of the skeleton began, paleontologists Dr. Meckter and Dr. Besty Nicholls, realized this 80-million year old skeleton was a new kind of Mosasaur that had not yet been discovered. They named this new species of Mosasaur, Kourisodon Puntledgensis, for its unique two extra rows of razor-like teeth and its discovery location.

After these two large discoveries there are still many species of animals being discovered, such as desmatochelys (Marine turtles), Nanaimoteuthis jeletzkyi (Vampire Squids), and multiple species of octopods.

Geography

Courtenay is located at 49°41′0″N 125°0′0″W / 49.683333°N 125°W / 49.683333; -125 (49.683333, -125.000000).

According to Statistics Canada, the city has a total area of 17.02 km². The major highway that runs through the city is Highway 19A. Courtenay is located at the northern terminus of the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway.

Climate

The climate in Courtenay is very similar to that of the rest of Vancouver Island, and is classified to have a marine west coast oceanic climate. In the summer months it can sometimes be considered to have Mediterranean like climate due to the low levels of precipitation and drying in the summer months. In the spring and fall seasons, Courtenay tends to be quite cool, damp, and wet. The high precipitation levels and be attributed to the Oceanic climate, but also its close proximity to the Insular Mountain range which results in the rain shadow effect to attribute to the high precipitation levels. Courtenay has quite mild winters, maintaining the cool, damp, and wet characteristics, temperature can drop below freezing level and snow may happen throughout the season due to arctic air movements.

Demographics

As of the Canada 2006 Census, there are 21,940 people, 7,995 private households, and 5,160 families residing in the city. The population density is 822.3/km². The city has a total of 8,549 housing units. The racial makeup of the city is 93.9% White, 4.9% of Asian descent, 4.0% Aboriginal, 0.5% Black, and 0.2% from two or more races. 0.4% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There are 7,995 households out of which 21.6% have couples with children under the age of 25 living with them, 50.0% are married couples living together, 31.4% with just one person, and 18.5% of other household types. The average household size is 2.7.

In the city the population is spread out with 26.6% under the age of 20, 5.5% from 20 to 24 due to lack of employment opportunities for that age group, 28.2% from 25 to 44, 23.1% from 45 to 64, and 16.5% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 38.6 years. For every 100 females there are 91.0 males. For every 100 females age 20 and over, there are 87.7 males.

There are 13,880 people in the city with an income, with a median total income of $19,716. Of this income, earnings are 65.4%, government transfers are 19.5%, and other income is 15.1%. Average overall earnings are $26,065, with an average among full-year full-time earnings of $37,721.

Education

Courtenay has numerous public schools operated by School District 71 - Comox Valley. In the 2007 school year, SD 71 had 9,197 students enrolled.

Elementary Schools

• Arden Elementary
• Courtenay Elementary
• École Puntledge Park Elementary
• Huband Park Elementary
• Queneesh Elementary
• Valley View Elementary

Secondary

• Georges P. Vanier Secondary
• Lake Trail Secondary
• Mark R Isfeld Secondary

Post Secondary

Courtenay is home to the largest North Island College Campus with approximately 1, 669 students enrolled in credit classes and an additional 1,393 enrolled in short term or vocational courses. The campus is complete with cafeteria, bookstore, library, and the notable Stan Hagen Theatre that holds many community events. The Comox Valley Campus offers many certificate, associate degrees, and bachelor degree programs, and is known for its Bachelor’s of Nursing program and its Professional Photography Certificate.

Public Library

The Vancouver Island Regional Library has a branch located in downtown Courtenay. The Courtenay branch offers many services such as free WIFI for library members, computer access, and printing and photocopying stations. .

Infrastructure

Transportation

Courtenay’s public transit system is managed and run by the BC Transit Authority. Although it is quite small with only 13 bus routes, it provides quick and inexpensive transportation throughout the Comox Valley. From the main bus stop, located on Cliffe avenue in downtown Courtenay, there are buses that go to Cumberland, Royston, and as far as Oyster River. BC Transit also operates a handyDART transportation service, for people who have a disability or require extra assistance. In November 2007 as part of a pilot program, the Comox Valley buses were equipped with free wireless Internet access for its passengers.

Within the Comox Valley BC Ferries has two terminals, one located in Little River, Comox, and the other south of Courtenay in Buckley Bay. Little River provides as the port for ferry travel between Powell River and Vancouver Island, while the Buckley Bay ferry terminal provides a route between Vancouver Island and Denman Island.

Courtenay is served by two airports, Comox Valley International Airport, and Courtenay Airpark. From the Comox Valley International Airport, Westjet, Air Canada, Central Mountain Air, and Pacific Costal provide daily flights to Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and Campbell River. In recent years during the winter months, Canjet and Westjet have been offering seasonal flights to Puerto Vallarta and Cancun, Mexico. The Comox Airpark located in downtown Courtenay and is a small airport owned by the by the City of Courtenay, but operated by the The Courtenay Airpark Association . The Courtenay Airpark provides hanger space for recreational fliers and aerial tours of the Comox Valley. In addition to these to airports, there is the Comox Water Aerodrome that has daily flights to and from Vancouver provided by West Coast Air.

Health Care

St. Joesph’s General Hospital (SJGH) is located in Comox, but serves as the primary hospital for the Comox Valley and surrounding communities from Bowser to Oyster River. SJGH provides 235 beds, with 110 for accute care and 125 for complex care.

SJGH was founded by four nuns from the Sister of St. Joseph of Toronto in 1913, to provide the needed health care to the settlers of the Comox Valley and its active logging industry. Initially it had room for only 10 patients, but it has continually increased its bed count throughout the years to 235 beds, in addition to expanding its services. Currently SJGH falls under the Vancouver Island Health Authority, but still maintains its Christian and Chatholic principles through its current board of directors, of “commitment, compassion, competence, excellence, human dignity, integrity, spirituality, subsidiarity and social responsibility while caring for the whole person”.

Today SJGH provides many specialist services including Dermatology, General Surgery, Gastroenterology, Internal Medicine, Obstetrics/Gynaecology, Ophthalmology, Orthopaedics, Paediatrics, Palliative Care, Pathology, Psychiatry, Radiology, and Urology.

Hate crimes in Courtenay

There has been several incidents of racial discrimination in Courtenay BC in over the last few years. On July 3, 2009, a black person was assaulted by three white men in the parking lot of a Courtenay, B.C., fast food restaurant. The three white men yelled racist slurs at him and threatened to kill his family unless he got out of their white town. However, in a strange coincidence, Courtenay city council which consists of all white Christians turned down an initiative Mandate to curb racial discrimination and hate crime. The report was drafted because of several incidents which have occurred over the last few years. This is one of the several racially motivated crimes that has garnered media attention.

Notable persons

• Brendan Fletcher, actor
• Pamela Anderson, actress
• Sarah Neufeld, musician
• Kim Cattrall, actress
• Barry Pepper, actor
• Olaf Kölzig, NHL goalie
• Byron Dafoe, NHL goalie
• Brett McLean, NHL forward

Tourist attractions

• The Courtenay and District Museum and Palaeontology Centre offers fossil tours of local rivers and historical exhibits. It is open year-round.
• Mount Washington Alpine Resort is the largest commercial ski area on Vancouver Island. Each winter season many flock there to enjoy the seasonal sports such as skiing, snowboarding, cross-country skiing, snow tubing, snow shoeing, sledding and more, as well summer attractions such as mountain bike riding and hiking. The resort has a lot of on-mountain accommodation in the Alpine Village.
• Every summer, usually in July, the largest music festival (Island Music Fest) on Vancouver Island takes place in the Comox Valley. Performers and audience members from near and far gather for three days of camping and an eclectic mix of music.

		Campbell River
	Cumberland		Comox
		Courtenay
		Nanaimo

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Courtenay, BC

• City of Courtenay
• 2006 Census
• Downtown Courtenay (Business Improvement Association website)
• Comox Valley Visitor Center

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