District of Sooke Capital Regional District, British Columbia

District Municipality (1) - A populated place with legally defined boundaries, incorporated as a district municipality under the provincial Municipal Act. W side of Sooke Harbour, SW end of Vancouver Island, Sooke Land District

Mapped Location

District of Sooke: The mapped location is an approximation and should not be used for navigation or wayfinding.

 

Information

General information on District of Sooke

  • Feature Type: Incorporated

 

Official, historical, colloquial and alternative toponyms for District of Sooke

A brief list of names that this geographic feature has been named

Name Description
District of Sooke Official

 

Origin Notes and History of District of Sooke

References to District of Sooke that document the origin of its place name

Sooke (Post Office) adopted 6 November 1934 on 92B/5, as identified in the 1909 BC Gazetteer, and as labelled on BC map 2A, 1913, and as identified in the 1930 BC Gazetteer. Form of name changed to Sooke (Community) 28 February 1983 on 92B/5. Incorporated as a District Municipality, to be known as District of Sooke, per Letters Patent: Order in Council 1159, 2 September 1999, effective 7 December 1999. Boundary extension per OIC 1155, 2 December 2004, to include the Silver Spray development area on the east side of Sooke Inlet.

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office  |  Province of British Columbia

Sooke Post Office was established 8 August 1864; closed in 1866; re-opened 1 August 1872.

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office  |  Province of British Columbia

Named in association with inlet and river, in turn named after the Indigenous poeple of Sooke living around the inlet and basin here. "Their name is said to originate from the stickleback fish once found at the river mouth, a name by which the First Peoples became known." (Sooke Region Museum, 1992). According to Robert Brown, whose Vancouver Island Exploration Expedition visited this area in 1864, the name of the Indians (and the name of the inlet and river) should be pronounced "soak", corroborated by early pioneers, who used the spelling "Soke" and "Soake".

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office  |  Province of British Columbia

"A Salish tribe speaking the Songish dialect....spelled variously Sâ'ok, Sock, Sok, Sokes, Sooke, Tsohke, etc. Population 30 in 1911." (Handbook of Indians of Canada, 1913; first published as Bulletin 30, Bureau of American Ethnology, 1910). The preferred modern spelling is T'Sou-ke.

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
included with note  |  Province of British Columbia

 

Related Catalog Titles

A Bibliography for District of Sooke, Capital Regional District, British Columbia

The Sooke story the history and the heartbeat by Elida Peers , Sooke Region Museum

Title Cover Image

This history tells of the native people and of the first settlers - and with some anecdotal quotes, condenses the years of development of community, industry and culture into these pages. Anyone who has lived for any length of time in the Sooke area or whose family were participants in the early years of its growth will find this book of great interest." - Introduction

433 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

CIRC [ 1 ]
History · Limited 1st Edition · Sooke Region Museum, Sooke, B.C., 1999
Related Catalog Items: District of Sooke · Capital Regional District

 


 

Capital Regional District

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Last updated: 2025-09-23