Tofino

History

Tofino lies within the traditional territory of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations, one of the Nuu-chah-nulth peoples who have occupied Clayoquot Sound for thousands of years. The Tla-o-qui-aht formed through the amalgamation of smaller groups originally based around Kennedy Lake, and their territory came to encompass Tofino Inlet, the Esowista Peninsula, and Meares Island. British trader John Meares reported visiting Chief Wickaninnish at Echachis in Clayoquot Sound in 1788 and seeing some 800 people gathered in a single longhouse. Spanish captain Juan Josef Pérez Hernández explored the area in 1774, and British captain James Cook arrived at Nootka Island in 1778, initiating a trade in sea otter pelts between the Nuu-chah-nulth and visiting European and American vessels. In 1792, Galiano and Valdés named nearby Tofino Inlet after Vicente Tofiño de San Miguel. Settler John Grice, who had pre-empted land at the tip of the peninsula in 1893, had his property surveyed and subdivided for a future townsite in 1900, initially naming it "Clayoquot" after the older settlement across the harbour. A residency requirement imposed by the federal Department of Fisheries in 1923 led around ninety Japanese Canadian fishermen and their families to settle permanently in the Tofino area, including clusters of homes on Stubbs Island, in Storm Bay, and on land near what is now known as the Eik Tree. On March 15, 1942, ninety-five Japanese Canadian residents of Tofino and Clayoquot were evacuated from the government wharf aboard the coastal steamer Princess Maquinna. In 2019, Tofino's mayor issued a formal apology on behalf of the community for the town's treatment of Japanese Canadians during the war. The new road transformed the local economy, allowing fish and freight to be trucked to…