Photo by Denis Bouvier.

Welcome to Cowichan Bay located just outside Duncan, BC on Vancouver Island. This is a charming little tourist and fishing village of about 2600 people with homes, shops, galleries, restaurants, marine buildings, marinas and other businesses. Many waterfront buildings are partially on stilts overlooking the bay. Pictured here is True Grain Bread, which opened in 2004. It’s a European style bakery featuring organic products and sourcing local and sustainable ingredients. They “connect the farmer to the miller to the baker to the community.” True Grain inspired similarly focused businesses in the village, and in 2009, Cowichan Bay became North America’s first Cittaslow community.

Cittaslow is a movement that began in Italy in 1999 and promotes slow food as opposed to fast food. This has come to mean respect for the eco system, using high-quality, locally grown, sustainable food prepared with care. It encourages the interaction of local small businesses that subscribe to this philosophy as illustrated by True Grain Bread. It’s against the globalization of agricultural products where profit often overrides quality. It’s a whole cultural trend of slowing down the pace of life through a community’s use of space. It encourages the pleasure of walking through an area full of art, shops, theatres, restaurants in a beautiful, natural setting. Indeed, this is the only way to appreciate Cowichan Bay. You need to walk down alleys to find shops and that lead to wharfs with marine buildings, views of boathouses and beautiful Cowichan Bay which faces Mount Tzouhalem. An incredible maritime museum is built on one wharf that has 3 open buildings to walk through and a 2-story building at the end, all illustrating various aspects of the maritime history of the area.

Cowichan Bay is part of Cowichan Valley which is centrally located between the cities of Victoria and Nanaimo. There are many farm areas, including wineries and food establishments, which practice the same slow philosophy.

Before European contact, this sustainable approach to life was much the manner in which the Cowichan First Nations people lived in this area for thousands of years. In the mid-1800’s European settlement began to change all this. With the rapid development of farming, logging and fishing, the Cowichans were relocated to reserves. Their traditional way of life was inhibited and they were subject to diseases such as smallpox, scarlet fever and tuberculosis. All these factors combined to reduce their population from around 5000 to 500 by the early 1900’s.

Meanwhile the Europeans thrived. Cowichan Bay became famous for boat building, fishing and log harvesting. For a while it was the salmon capital of the world, attracting sportsmen from the whole of the British Empire. It was popular for sailing and aside from Wimbledon still has one of the oldest grass tennis courts in the world. Of course, industry finally took its toll on the ecology of the area in a relatively short time, especially compared to the stewardship of the Cowichans over thousands of years. The result was the subsequent decline of logging and fishing. Today, there is still logging, fishing and boat building but the protection of the ecosystem is in the forefront.

Things will probably never be the same as they were before European contact. The Cowichan First Nations people are still struggling from the effects of residential schools and still suffer from racism, discrimination, unemployment and lack of adequate housing. But they have also come a long way. They now have an economic development company, providing job and training opportunities. More young people are staying in school and healthier lifestyles are being adopted. Traditional food, art, rites and ceremonies are strong and the population has now grown to over 4000.

When you travel through the Cowichan Valley, its arresting beauty and peacefulness give you hope that life can be better, sustainability can be a reality and living in harmony with nature and each other can be achieved.