Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako

Bulkley–Nechako
Regional district
Regional District of Bulkley–Nechako
Summer clouds over Vanderhoof
Official logo of Bulkley–Nechako Seal
Location in British Columbia
Country	Canada
Province	British Columbia
Administrative office location	Burns Lake
Government
• Body	Board of directors
• Chair	Gerry Thiessen (Vanderhoof)
• Vice chair	Mark Parker (D)
• Electoral areas	A - Smithers B - Burns Lake C - Fort St. James D - Fraser Lake E - Francois/Ootsa F - Vanderhoof G - Houston
Area
• Land	73,361.00 km2 (28,324.84 sq mi)
Population  (2016)
• Total	37,896
• Density	0.52/km2 (1.3/sq mi)

The Regional District of Bulkley–Nechako (RDBN) is a regional district in the Canadian province of British Columbia, Canada. As of the 2016 census, the population was 37,896. The area is 73,419.01 square kilometres. The regional district offices are in Burns Lake.

Its geographical components are the Bulkley Valley, the northern part of the Nechako Country, and the Omineca Country, including portions of the Hazelton Mountains and Omineca Mountains in the west and north of the regional district, respectively. The dominant landform is the Nechako Plateau. Neighbouring regional districts are the Kitimat-Stikine, Central Coast, Cariboo, Fraser-Fort George, and Peace River Regional Districts; on its north the boundary with the southern edge of the remote Stikine Region is separated from the Bulkley–Nechako Regional District by the 56th parallel north. The boundaries of the regional district near-entirely coincide with the territory of the Dakelh or Carrier peoples, and also some of that of the Dunneza (Beaver), but their reserves and governments lie outside the regional district system. Roughly identical in area to the old New Caledonia fur district in the days of the North West Company, it is still sometimes referenced as New Caledonia, but while trapping continues in some area, its economy is now based in forestry, mining, tourism (mostly ranching in southern areas).

Municipalities

Municipality	Government Type	Population
Smithers	town	5,401
Vanderhoof	district municipality	4,439
Houston	district municipality	2,993
Burns Lake	village	1,779
Fort St. James	district municipality	1,598
Telkwa	village	1,295
Fraser Lake	village	988
Granisle	village	303

Demographics

As a census division in the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako had a population of 37,737 living in 15,399 of its 17,618 total private dwellings, a change of -0.4% from its 2016 population of 37,896. With a land area of 73,203.22 km² (28,263.92 sq mi), it had a population density of 0.5/km² (1.3/sq mi) in 2021.

Ethnic groups in Bulkley–Nechako RD (2016) Source: [1]		Population	%
Ethnic group	European	27,760	74.1%
	Aboriginal	7,475	20%
	Filipino	290	0.8%
	South Asian	235	0.6%
	Black	190	0.5%
	Chinese	145	0.4%
	Southeast Asian	95	0.3%
	Latin American	90	0.2%
	Japanese	65	0.2%
	Korean	50	0.1%
	Arab	25	0.1%
	West Asian	0	0%
	Multiple minorities	40	0.1%
	Visible minority, n.i.e.	35	0.1%
Total population		37,896	100%

References

• Statistics Canada 2016 Community Profile: Bulkley–Nechako (Regional district)