An unincorporated community in Electoral Area C located on Holberg Inlet.
Board Representative:

Director Norm Prince

Population (2006): 176 Property Assessment (2009): $ 25,237,000 Folios: 133

Coal Harbour 2006 Census Profile

Coal Harbour Cadastral Map	Coal Harbour Tsumami Hazard Map 1:10,000
Coal Harbour House Numbering Map	Coal Harbour Tsumami Hazard Map 2:20,000

Coal Harbour Local Community Commission

The Coal Harbour Local Community Commission is elected every three years to provide advice to the Regional District Board regarding community services and other local issues. The Commission meets every 2nd Wednesday of the month at the Fire Hall. All are welcome to attend.

Commissioners: Andrew Hory, Dave Schmidt, Gordon Shore, Chair; John Hormoth (Secretary); Norm Prince (RDMW Board Liaison)

Address: John Hormoth, 243 Harbour Road, Coal Harbour BC, V0N 1K0
Phone: 250-949-5980 Fax: 250-949-5980

Coal Harbour Planning Information

Please call the RDMW Planning Department 250-956-3301 if you have any questions regarding planning issues or the following bylaws:

Coal Harbour Official Community Plan Bylaw 657	Coal Harbour OCP Map
Coal Harbour Zoning Bylaw 669 c Bylaw No. 682 Building Bylaw - Consolidated version w 756 and 797 (22-07-2010) .pdf	Coal Harbour Zoning Map Application for Building Permit

Regional Emergency Plan contacts for Coal Harbour Contact Information Section 4.1

Fire Protection

Coal Harbour Volunteer Fire Department
Coal Harbour, BC V0N 1K0

Weekly practice: 7:00 pm Wednesday
New volunteers welcome.

For police, ambulance or fire department EMERGENCIES call 911

Sewer System

A sewage collection and treatment is provided for Coal Harbour and Quatsino First Nation. For emergencies involving the sewer system call the Coal Harbour Sewer Technician @ 250-230-0404 or the Regional District of Mount Waddington Operations Manager Patrick Donaghy @ 250-956-3301

Bylaw No 689 Sewer Connection Form

Street Lighting

If a street light is burned out or for more information about street lighting services, please contact the Regional District Operations Manager Patrick Donaghy @ 250-956-3301.

Water System

The community water system originates at Quatse Lake and supplies the communities of Coal Harbour and Quatsino First Nation. For emergencies involving the water system please call the Coal Harbour Water Technician @ 250-230-0404 or the Regional District of Mount Waddington Opeations Manager Patrick Donaghy @ 250-956-3161

Coal Harbour Water System 2009 Annual Report

Bylaw No. 688 Water Connection Form

Other Information / Links
Journey into Our past...

Coal Harbour's name celebrates the mineral that brought the Northwest Coal Company to the shores of Stephens Bay. Coal seams promised much but failed to deliver, leaving Coal Harbour with little more than a company caretaker to watch over the remains of the mine. But what a caretaker! Was he John Sharp, as he said he was? Or was he a member of the Jesse James gang on the run from the law? Perhaps only the two strangers who arrived in town that day in 1907 to murder him really know for sure...

Coal Harbour is the gateway to Quatsino Sound and beyond to the wild West Coast. The community was an important centre or transportation for much of the early part of this century.

The mail was carried was in from Port Hardy, a trip that was like a modern-day triathlon: One walked, rowed, and then walked some more. By 1927 things were a little easier - the road from Port Hardy to Coal Harbour was completed.

The present settlement of Coal Harbour was visited from time to time by aboriginal habitants for thousands of years but was never a site of an important village until 1896. The Northwest Coal Company tried to develop a coal mine at the site of today's Coal Harbour, however the coal seems failed to deliver and the mine closed but the name remained.

In the early part of the century the community was an important centre of transportation and information. Coal Harbour is the gateway to Quatsino Sound and beyond. In the early 1920's the Coal Harbour Hotel was opened for travelers. A trail from Coal Harbour to Port Hardy was opened and mail delivery began. Mail was carried on foot to Port Hardy, then rowed across the bay and the process was repeated to deliver mail to Coal Harbour residents. By 1927 the delivery system was made easier when the road from Port Hardy to Coal Harbour was completed.

Coal Harbour played a vital part in the Canadian coastal defense during the Second World War. The Royal Canadian Air Force began work as a seabase and reconnaissance station in 1940 and at one point during the war there were over 700 staff stationed in the community. The base crews provided offshore surveillance, using long-range flying boats to patrol up and down the coast. The only intrusion arrived onshore in 1945, when an incendiary balloon landed in the forest near Holberg inlet. Thousands of these balloons had been released by the Japanese to drift across the pacific with hopes of setting forest fires on the West Coast and distracting military troops.

From 1947 to 1967 Coal Harbour was the site of a commercial whaling operation. Several companies operated the station, providing oils and meat for local and export consumption. But by 1967 whale populations were in decline, and the whaling station closed

Mining returned to the Coal Harbour area in the 1970's with opening of the nearby Island Copper Mine. The mine brought money, new residents and new building to the community. And to accommodate the larger community the road to Port Hardy was paved, increasing access and shopping possibilities