Westholme, British Columbia

North Cowichan (Canada 2021 Census population 31,990) is a district municipality established in 1873 on Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. The municipality is part of the Cowichan Valley Regional District. North Cowichan is noted for a landscape including forests, beaches, rivers, and lakes. The municipality encompasses the communities of Chemainus; Westholme; Crofton; Maple Bay; and "the South End". The latter is an informal name for a built-up area which is essentially a suburb of the City of Duncan, a separate municipality.

Crofton Mill is a pulp mill and paper mill located in the Vancouver Island town of Crofton, British Columbia. The mill has 3 paper machines (only 2 are operational) and 2 pulp machines, which produce 349,000 tonnes of newsprint and directory paper, and 355,000 tonnes of northern bleached softwood kraft. Two operational recovery boilers (#3&4) are supported by one full time hog boiler (#4 power boiler) and one standby natural gas and oil fueled boiler (#5 power boiler). The plant also has a state of the art waste treatment facility and oxygen plant, the oxygen plant supplies oxygen for the waste treatment facility and bleach plants as well as medical and non medical oxygen to praxair. The mill has 578 employees as of 2014.British Columbia Forest Products (BCFP) established the mill in 1957, originally operating only a single-line kraft pulp mill. A newsprint line was installed in 1964. Fletcher Challenge bought BCFP (including the mill) in 1987 through its Canadian operations division Crown Forest Industries, and merged to form Fletcher Challenge Canada. Norske Skog bought the latter in 2000, to operate within its Canadian division, which became Catalyst Paper in 2005. Paper Excellence Canada completed its acquisition of Catalyst Paper in 2019.

Crofton is a small west coast town within the District of North Cowichan of southern Vancouver Island in British Columbia, east of BC Highway 1 about 74 kilometres (46 mi) north of Victoria.

Chemainus is a community within the municipality of North Cowichan in the Chemainus Valley on the east coast of southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Founded as an unincorporated logging town in 1858, Chemainus is now famous for its 53 outdoor murals. This outdoor gallery has given birth to many businesses, including a theatre, antiques dealers, and eateries. The tourist industry stemming from the murals helped rejuvenate the town after its large sawmill closed in the early 1980s and was replaced by a smaller, more efficient, mill. The name Chemainus comes from the native shaman and prophet "Tsa-meeun-is" meaning broken chest. Legend says that the man survived a massive wound in his chest from an arrow in battle to become a powerful chief. His people took his name to identify their community, the Stz'uminus First Nation, formerly the Chemainus Indian Band. The railway arrived in the 1880s and by the early 1920s the town's population had ballooned to 600 persons. Chemainus was eventually designated a census populated area by Statistics Canada comprising the more built-up residential and commercial neighbourhoods. Its population had further grown to 3,035 residents by 2011. A larger more inclusive Chemainus area is customarily regarded as comprising part of the District of North Cowichan that lies north of the Chemainus River. This is the area covered by the Chemainus Advisory Committee set up as a consultation body by North Cowichan. Chemainus Secondary School is located in the town, and serves as a secondary school for students living in Chemainus, Crofton, and Saltair. A BC Ferry terminal is located in Chemainus, which provides service to Thetis Island and Penelakut Island (previously Kuper). On 13 January 2006, a Boeing 737 aircraft was sunk off the coast in order to build an artificial reef. The sinking was documented in "Sinking Wings", an episode of the Discovery Channel series, Mega Builders.

CJSU-FM is a Canadian radio station that broadcasts at 89.7 FM in Duncan, British Columbia. The station is owned by Vista Broadcast Group and broadcasts an adult hits format branded as 89.7 Sun FM. The station originally began broadcasting in 1964 as CKAY at 1500 AM, until the switch to the FM dial was made on August 1, 2000, and the station recalled.

Mount Sicker is in southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The twin summits of Big Sicker Mountain, at 716 metres (2,349 ft), and Little Sicker Mountain, at 660 metres (2,170 ft), are near Crofton, Chemainus and Duncan.The name honours John J. Sicker, a homesteader in the area.: 243 

The Chemainus station is located in Chemainus, British Columbia. The station was a flag stop on Via Rail's Dayliner service. The station closed in 2011 due to poor track conditions.

St. Clare's Monastery is a monastery of the Order of St. Clare in Duncan, British Columbia, Canada. The nuns of the order also go by the name "Poor Clares". They are a contemplative community of women who live the charism of Saint Clare of Assisi and form the Second Order in the movement started by Saint Francis of Assisi.

Somenos Lake is a small shallow water body located in the Municipality of North Cowichan on Southeast Vancouver Island. Somenos Lake has a maximum area of approximately 247 ac, 100 ha at 15.3 feet (4.7 m) above geodetic datum. The Lake is relatively shallow with a maximum depth of 22.2 feet (6.8 m). Somenos Lake is fed by three major tributary streams: Richards Creek from the North and Northeast, Averill Creek from the Northwest and Bings Creek from the West. The lake is drained near its southern extremity by Somenos Creek which flows southeast approximately 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) to the Cowichan River. Somenos Lake and its tributary streams support resident populations of Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and Cutthroat Trout (O. clarkii). Anadromous populations of Coho Salmon (O. kisutch) and Chum Salmon (O. keta) spawn in the tributary streams. The Lake also contains populations of native Brown Bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus), Three-Spined Stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), and Peamouth Chub (Mylocheilus caurinus). The Invasive species Pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus) has been in the lake since the 1970s. and is now the most abundant fish species.In addition to these fish species, Somenos Lake and associated marsh habitats are an important winter refuge for numerous species of ducks, geese and swans. Of particular interest to conservation is the large number of Trumpeter Swans (Cygnus buccinator) that arrive at Somenos Lake in October and remain until early April.During the past two decades Somenos Lake has been subject to persistent cyanobacteria blooms during the summers. These blooms render the lake unsuitable for human uses like swimming, canoeing and birding. The decay of the highly productive cyanobacteria also generates anoxic conditions in the water column which severely limits habitat for trout and salmon. These blooms are the result of excessive phosphorus in the lake due to deforestation and excessive use of phosphate fertilizers in surrounding agricultural and urban lands.

The BC Forest Discovery Centre, located in Duncan, chronicles the history of logging in British Columbia, Canada. It is a 100-acre (40 ha) site with 2.5 km (1.6 miles) of operational 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge railway.

Chemainus Secondary is a public high school in Chemainus, British Columbia part of School District 79 Cowichan Valley. It was founded in 1953 and serves students from the area around Chemainus, Crofton, Thetis Island and southern Saltair, British Columbia. There are approximately 360 students at the school, the majority of whom are Caucasian, but with many nearby Aboriginal Reserves there is a sizeable First Nations minority. Also, about 30-35 students from Asia, mainly Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong are enrolled. From 2003 until 2005 the school went through a major renovation, updating many facilities. The library has been twice received Times Colonist Raise a Reader Grants. The first in 2008–9, for $1,400, was directed to Science reading materials. In 2009–10, the school received $1,200 for audio books and the companion novels.

The Hayward station is located in Hayward, North Cowichan, British Columbia. The station was a stop on Via Rail's Dayliner service, which ended in 2011. It is located at the crossing of Drinkwater Road, about 600 metres west of the BC Forest Discovery Centre.