Nanaimo enjoys the best climate in Canada. Our temperate climate is characteristic of the southern coastal region of British Columbia. We’re sorry to disappoint the stereotype but this isn’t the ‘Frozen North’. The best climate in Canada tends to be neither cold in winter nor hot in summer (the unpredictability of climate change notwithstanding). Let’s put it this way, snow tire sales are not a high volume business in Nanaimo.

About 110,000 people live in Nanaimo. The service area population (Regional District of Nanaimo) is about 170,000 people. Our tertiary hospital (Nanaimo Regional General Hospital) serves half the population of Vancouver Island – about 450,000 people. Nanaimo, by population, is actually the largest municipality on Vancouver Island. Greater Victoria, with about half of the Island’s population, is a network of thirteen municipalities.

Did you know that Vancouver Island has a population of nearly 1 million people and is the size of Taiwan? A North American comparison, the State of Massachusetts in the United States is 10,555 square miles (27,340 square kilometers). Vancouver Island is 12,079 square miles (31,285 square kilometers).