Framed by the monumental North Shore Mountains, North Vancouver offers unprecedented access to nature along with urban comforts. The city of North Vancouver is a waterfront municipality on the north shore of Burrard Inlet and is directly across from Vancouver, BC. The North Shore is connected by two bridges, the Lions’ Gate Bridge and the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing and the Seabus passenger ferry. It is surrounded on three sides by the District of North Vancouver. The District is bounded by the Capilano River to the west, Indian Arm to the east, Burrard Inlet to the south and the North Shore Mountains to the north.

For thousands of years, the Indigenous Squamish and their kin Tsleil-Waututh, of the Coast Salish, resided in the land known as North Vancouver. Slightly over 200 years ago, they had their first glimpse of Europeans. The Spanish arrived first, giving their name to Vancouver’s Spanish Banks and in 1792, Captain George Vancouver explored the local shores. But it was not until 1862 that the first attempt was made to harvest the North Shore’s rich stands of timber, leading to fuller settlement of the area that would later become North Vancouver.