Sointula is an isolated village on Malcolm Island in

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Lying between

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest ...

and the British Columbia mainland, northeast of

Port McNeill Port McNeill is a town in the North Island region of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada on Vancouver Island's northeast shore, on Queen Charlotte Strait. Originally a base camp for loggers, it became a settlement in 1936. It was named ...

and not far from Alert Bay, the island is part of the historic and present territory of the ‘Namgis First Nation. At the 2011 census, the village had a population of 576, down 3.0% from the 2006 census.

History

The name ''Sointula'' means "Place of Harmony" (literally 'the place of chord') in the

Finnish language Finnish (endonym: or ) is a Finnic languages, Finnic language of the Uralic languages, Uralic language family, spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. Finnish is one of the two official langu ...

. A group of Finnish settlers founded the village in 1901 after rowing north from

Nanaimo Nanaimo ( ) is a city of about 100,000 on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. "The Harbour City" was previously known as the "Hub City", which was attributed to its original layout design with streets radiating fr ...

. They planned to set up a utopian socialist society known as the ''Kalevan Kansa'', based on cooperative principles. and wrote to visionary Matti Kurikka in Finland to lead the new community. They were looking for a way out of the mines operated by the Dunsmuir family on

. It was a physically hard life, and a devastating fire in the Sointula community hall in 1903 killed three adults and eight children almost bringing the fledgling community to its knees. Kalervo Oberg, a Finnish-Canadian anthropologist born in 1901, came with his family to Sointula in 1902, and they were caught in the fire of 1903. Two of his sisters died in the fire. Financial difficulties continued to plague the group. They worked for free for two years on the Capilano Bridge project, and after that the Kalevan Kansa was disbanded as a utopian colony in 1905, but many of the community members remained on the island, as have their descendants. The town remained and eventually prospered well into the 1970s as an unusually vibrant resource-based settlement. Fishing and logging activities have been the mainstay for the community. The early cooperative ventures led to other businesses that are still operating, planting seeds that are also alive today. The Sointula Cooperative Store, the oldest co-op shop in the province, still handles dry goods, groceries and fuel for the islanders. The shellfish cooperative, Malcolm Island Shellfish Coop (MISC), was involved in research on the feasibility of raising and selling

abalone Abalone ( or ; via Spanish , from Rumsen language, Rumsen ''aulón'') is a common name for any small to very large marine life, marine gastropod mollusc in the family (biology), family Haliotidae, which once contained six genera but now cont ...

, but closed for financial reasons in 2006. It relocated the abalone to an area near Port McNeill donated by Orca Sand and Gravel. In the 21st century, declining forestry and fishing industries have hit Sointula hard. Its school-age population has shrunk, although housing prices have risen, as owners from as far as

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

have bought homes as summer retreats. Sointula is home to the Sointula Museum, and produces an online newsletter, the ''Sointula Ripple''. It is easy to reach by car ferry, operated by

BC Ferries British Columbia Ferry Services Inc., Trade name, operating as BC Ferries (BCF), is a former provincial Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation, now operating as an independently managed, State-owned enterprise, publicly owned Canadian c ...

from Port McNeill and Alert Bay.

Wildlife

Wildlife on the island and in the waters around it is abundant.

Orcas The orca (''Orcinus orca''), or killer whale, is a toothed whale and the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family. The only extant species in the genus '' Orcinus'', it is recognizable by its black-and-white-patterned body. A cosmopoli ...

return to the so-called "rubbing beaches" on Malcolm Island's northern edge near Bere Point Regional Park every summer and fall. Seals and

porpoise Porpoises () are small Oceanic dolphin, dolphin-like cetaceans classified under the family Phocoenidae. Although similar in appearance to dolphins, they are more closely related to narwhals and Beluga whale, belugas than to the Oceanic dolphi ...

s can be viewed from the beaches. Birds,

mink Mink are dark-colored, semiaquatic, carnivorous mammals of the genera ''Neogale'' and '' Mustela'' and part of the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, otters, and ferrets. There are two extant species referred to as "mink": the A ...

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which includes weasels, badgers, mink, and wolverines, among ...

beaver Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-large ...

, and

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

live all over the island. The

temperate rainforest Temperate rainforests are rainforests with coniferous or Broad-leaved tree, broadleaf forests that occur in the temperate zone and receive heavy rain. Temperate rainforests occur in oceanic moist regions around the world: the Pacific temperate ...

vegetation helps to sustain the mood of an uncluttered and peaceful haven. Sointula is the location of Living Oceans Society's head office, although it also has an office in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. Living Oceans Society, founded in 1998, is a non-profit research and public education organization committed to conserving marine

biological diversity Biodiversity is the variability of life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distributed evenly on Eart ...

in order to ensure a healthy ocean and healthy coastal communities. It is Canada's largest

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

focused on

marine conservation Marine conservation, also known as ocean conservation, is the protection and preservation of ecosystems in oceans and seas through planned management in order to prevent the over-exploitation of these marine resources. Marine conservation is i ...

issues. In addition, a seasonal Canadian Coast Guard Inshore Rescue Boat Station is located in Sointula during the summer. The station is staffed by a coxswain and two crewmembers, using a Rigid Hull Inflatable Fast Rescue Craft.

Legacy

Bill Gaston's novel ''Sointula'' (2004) is named for the community and has a plot that revolves in part around it. Rachel Lebowitz's book ''Hannus'' (2006) is also partly about the early days of the commune. Paula Wild's book ''Sointula'' gives a good overview of the island's ways and history. More recently, Sointula Museum, collaborating with the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...

, has published ''Practical Dreamers'', a history of the island's cooperatives complete with many historical pictures. Sointula, and its original Finnish settlers, are the subject of a Finnish musical also named "Sointula", by ; a Finnish theater company visited Sointula to perform it in 2013.

References

External links

Sointula
at Vancouver Island North
Sointula Info Centre
- community information website {{authority control Unincorporated settlements in British Columbia Finnish diaspora in Canada Central Coast of British Columbia Utopian communities in Canada Populated places in the Regional District of Mount Waddington Designated places in British Columbia Populated places established in 1901

History

Wildlife

Legacy

See also

References

External links