Welcome to Sechelt, British Columbia!
Sechelt is a coastal community of 10,200 (2016) on the lower Sunshine Coast in British Columbia, Canada. The District Municipality of Sechelt (Shishalh language: chat'lich) is located on the lower Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. Approximately 50 km northwest of Vancouver, it is accessible from mainland British Columbia by a 40-minute ferry trip between Horseshoe Bay and Langdale, and a 25-minute drive from Langdale along Highway 101, also known as the Sunshine Coast Highway. The name Sechelt is derived from the Sechelt language word, shishalh, the name of the First Nations people who first settled the area thousands of years ago.
The original Village of Sechelt was incorporated on February 15, 1956. Sechelt later expanded its boundaries in 1986 with the inclusion of a number of adjacent unincorporated areas. The District of Sechelt, as it is known today, encompasses some 39.71 km² (15.33 sq mi) at the isthmus of the Sechelt Peninsula, between the southern tip of Sechelt Inlet (Porpoise Bay) and the Strait of Georgia that separates the provincial mainland from Vancouver Island.
Sechelt is a seaside community with approx. 35 kilometers of Pacific Ocean shoreline that extends primarily along the coastline of the Sunshine Coast, and is bounded to the west and east by the unincorporated communities of Halfmoon Bay and Roberts Creek, respectively. The 2016 Canadian census placed its population at 10,200. Sechelt is the seat of the Sunshine Coast Regional District of British Columbia.
Although its population is relatively small for its geographical area, Sechelt has several distinct neighborhoods. From east to west, they are Wilson Creek, Davis Bay, Selma Park, the original Village of Sechelt, and West Sechelt. Several neighborhoods around Sechelt Inlet were also included in Sechelt's 1986 incorporation as a district, these include West Porpoise Bay, East Porpoise Bay, Sandy Hook, Tillicum Bay, and Tuwanek. The municipal government of the Shishalh First Nation, which contains a substantial commercial district, is immediately east of Sechelt's "downtown" village.