Bamberton is an industrial site located on the Saanich Inlet, just south of Mill Bay, around 45k kilometres north of Victoria on Vancouver Island.
The community of Bamberton was first developed in 1912 when the Associated Cement Company plant was built. Bamberton was owned by the cement company and occupied by the plant, its employees and their families until the plant closed in 1980.
Since the plant closed, ownership of Bamberton has changed hands multiple times and several development plans have been proposed. In 2015 the Malahat First Nation purchased Bamberton and announced a partnership with Steelhead LNG. With them, they have proposed the creation of a Liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility at the Bamberton site.
History
Before the Founding of Bamberton
Aboriginal people began to inhabit Vancouver Island around 2000 BCE. The Malahat, Tseycum, Tsartlip, Tsawout, and Pauquachin came to reside along the Saanich Inlet. The land of the Saanich Inlet is a central part of the culture of First Nations people for both spiritual practice and economic subsistence.
From the late 1700s to the mid 1800s, devastating First Nations' population declines occurred throughout B.C. due to disease outbreak and armed conflict as a result of the arrival of European settlers. In 1852, the Saanich First Nations' communities signed the Douglas Treaties selling their land to the Colony of Vancouver Island. In 1913, the McKenna-McBride Commission established the location of present-day reserves, including Tsawout Village at Saanichton Bay, Tseycum Village at Patricia Bay, Pauquachin Village at Coles Bay, Tsartlip Village at Brentwood Bay, Malahat First Nation south of Mill Bay, the Cowichan Lake First Nations, and the Cowichan tribes near Duncan.
Although the Douglas Treaties stipulated that the First Nations people would be able to continue land based ceremonial and subsistence practices, the creation of Indian Reserves led to the encroachment of non-Natives within traditional resource harvesting locations and ongoing projects of civilization that led to land degradation.
Although Bamberton was, and continues to be, privately owned, neighbouring First Nations groups view the land and resources as part of their traditional territory predating ownership. They have always believed that they have claim to the land and a say in its use, and continue to fight for this right under Malahat ownership.
Cement: 1912-1980
Bamberton is named for H.K.G. Bamber, a cement manufacturer from Gravesend, England, who was the original owner of the land upon which Bamberton is located and was the managing director of British Portland Cement Manufacturers Ltd..[1] The cement works had their origin across the Saanich Inlet at Tod Inlet in 1904 when the Vancouver Portland Cement Company established operations on the site now occupied by the Butchart Gardens. The demand for cement in the building boom outstripped the capacity of the Tod Inlet operation and led the company to construct a further plant at Bamberton, which opened in 1912 under the name Associated Cement Company. Both companies were operated by B.C. Cement Company Ltd. of Victoria. The outbreak of World War I ended the real estate boom leaving both plants idle for seven years. The plant at Bamberton resumed operations in 1921. By 1927, the Bamberton plant was producing 3,000 barrels per day and used 40,000 tons of Vancouver Island coal each year. The company owned the isolated, self-contained settlement that housed 180 employees at its peak. The community was well equipped and included a recreation hall with a dance floor as large as that of The Empress (hotel). Over the final 20 years of operation, production declined, costs increased, and a protracted strike occurred. In October 1982, the owner, then Genstar Cement Company, advertised for sale the abandoned and overgrown site. Demolition of the mill began within weeks.
