page_title: Colony of Vancouver Island
section_title: Union of Vancouver Island and British Columbia
hierarchical_section_title: Colony of Vancouver Island / Union of Vancouver Island and British Columbia
caption_attribution_description: This is an image of Arthur Edward Kennedy (5 April 1809 – 3 June 1883).
context_page_description: The Colony of Vancouver Island, officially known as the Island of Vancouver and its Dependencies, was a Crown colony of British North America from 1849 to 1866, after which it was united with the mainland to form the Colony of British Columbia. The united colony joined Canadian Confederation, thus becoming part of Canada, in 1871. The colony comprised Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands of the Strait of Georgia.
context_section_description: Douglas was succeeded as governor in 1864 by Sir Arthur Edward Kennedy, a career colonial administrator who had previously served as governor of Sierra Leone and Western Australia. There was popular acclaim for the appointment of a governor free from ties with the HBC. The Company had leased the island from Britain during 1849-1859 and still exerted a great deal of influence because the previous Governor, James Douglas was the executive officer of HBC.
  After Arthur Kennedy was appointed Governor, his rule was initially met with suspicion and opposition by the colonial assembly, which feared the loss of Vancouver Island's status vis-à-vis the growing power of the mainland colony.  It resisted the colonial office's request for the permanent appropriation for the civil list in return for control of the extensive Crown lands of the colony, and temporarily withheld salary and housing to Kennedy until they had achieved their aim.  Kennedy met with further opposition by some in the assembly over the plan for the colony to unite with British Columbia.  It was only when opponents were persuaded that such union would boost the colony's ailing economy that passage of the proposal was assured by the assembly.
  Kennedy achieved some progress in breaking down the longstanding social barriers established over years of HBC hegemony. In 1865, the Common Schools Act funded public education. Kennedy also reformed the civil service, introduced auditing of the colonial budget, and improved revenue collection.  Nonetheless, he continued to fail in his efforts to persuade the assembly to introduce the vote of a civil list, as well as enforcing various measures to protect the rights and well-being of the increasingly pressured aboriginal population.  Despite his sympathy for the plight of neighbouring Indian peoples, Kennedy authorised naval bombardment of the Ahousahts of Clayoquot Sound in 1864 in reprisal for the murder of the crew of a trading vessel.  Nine Ahousaht villages were destroyed, and thirteen people killed.
  Fort Victoria became the City of Victoria in 1862 with Thomas Harris elected Mayor. With the colony's budget collapsing by 1865, and the assembly unwilling and unable to introduce proposals for raising revenue, Kennedy was barely able to keep the administration afloat. Pressure grew for amalgamation with the mainland Colony of British Columbia (which had been established in 1858).
  The two colonies were merged in 1866 into the United Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia by the Act for the Union of the colonies, passed by the Imperial Parliament. Kennedy was appointed governor of the united entity. (He would leave office in 1866 and later became Governor of the West African Settlements, British West Africa.) Victoria became the capital but the legislative assembly was located in New Westminster on the Lower Mainland. The capital was moved to Victoria in 1868.
caption: Sir Arthur Kennedy, third and last Governor of Vancouver Island
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