History
The island is within the traditional territories of the
Tsawout First Nation. Hereditary chief Louie Pelkey of the Tsawout was born on the island in 1860.
[4]Although it is east of the North Saanich
Douglas Treaty area and south of the Hul'q'umin'um Treaty area, it is not within a Douglas Treaty area.
[5] In the early 1900s, the island was used as a private hunting ground for Victoria sportsmen including then British Columbia Premier
Richard McBride, who served between 1903 and 1915. In 1913 a
dynamite plant was established on the island. The plant was owned by a company that merged into Canadian Explosives Ltd, which in turn changed its name to
Canadian Industries Limited (CIL) in 1927. From the outset of
World War II, the plant was operated by Defence Industries Ltd, a subsidiary of CIL. The plant, and many of its workers' cottages, had been moved to the island from
Nanaimo. At its peak, the plant employed 800 people, most of whom lived in a small, traffic-free village on the opposite end of the island. During
World War II, the plant produced 900 tonnes of
TNT per month. The TNT plant closed in 1977, and it and the village were disassembled and removed from the island in 1979.
James Island was purchased by
Craig McCaw in 1994 for $19 million. Since then there was repeated legal action taken against ICI (formerly CIL) as the new owner was unable to turn over the property to residential use as per his intention due to its industrial history, a status which had been well-documented as of the sale.
[6] Recent luxury resort development on the island includes a golf course, yacht moorage, seaplane ramp, and an airstrip.
McCaw has reportedly established an environmental regime on James Island where
insecticides are not allowed,
power lines are underground and
electric cars and
golf carts are used for transportation. The island was the property with the highest assessed value in the
Capital Regional District in 2009, at almost $76 million.
[7] In June, 2012, the island was put on the market with an asking price of $75 million. The Island is no longer listed and reportedly no longer for sale.