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Sooke /suːk/ is a district municipality on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, Canada, 38 kilometres (24 mi) by road from Victoria, the capital of British Columbia. Sooke, the westernmost of Greater Victoria's Western Communities, is to the north and west of the Sooke Basin.

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SooKe
District municipality
District of Sooke[1]
Sooke Sooke (Capital Regional District) Location of Sooke within the Capital Regional District
SooKe Location of Sooke within British Columbia
Coordinates: 48°22′34″N 123°44′16″W
Country	Canada
Province	British Columbia
Regional district	Capital
Incorporated	December 7, 1999
Government
• Mayor	Maja Tait
• Councillors	Jeff Bateman, Al Beddows, Ebony Logins, Megan McMath; Tony St-Pierre; Dana Lajeunesse;
• By Election September 28, 2019	Dana Lajeunesse won the By-Election replacing Councillor Brenda Parkinson (deceased June 2019)
Area [2]
• Total	56.62 km2 (21.86 sq mi)
Elevation	50 m (160 ft)
Population  (2016)[2]
• Total	13,001
• Density	229.6/km2 (595/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC−8 (PST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−7 (PDT)
Forward sortation area	V9Z
Highways	14
Waterways	Strait of Juan de Fuca
Website	sooke.ca

Tourism and recreation

Sooke's popularity as a scenic tourist destination has existed for generations. Well-known destinations in Sooke, such as Whiffin Spit Park, the Sooke Potholes Regional Park and adjacent Sooke Potholes Provincial Park attract visitors both locally and from around the world. Sooke is also home to the Sooke Region Museum and Visitor Centre; where visitors and locals are able to get information on regional attractions and history. The area's popularity has increased as a base for visiting the wilderness parks of Vancouver Island's southwest coast — the West Coast Trail and the Juan de Fuca Provincial Park which includes the now highly popular Juan de Fuca Marine Trail. Sooke, BC is also famous for its beaches just on the outskirts of its neighbouring communities such as Shirley and Jordan River. These beaches include Sandcut, French beach, Fishboat bay, China beach, Mystic beach and more.

Mountain biking is growing in popularity in British Columbia, and Sooke is establishing itself as a destination for the sport. Local advocacy groups such as the Sooke Bike Club are working to have areas such as Broom Hill set aside as parkland.

The Galloping Goose Regional Trail, part of the Trans-Canada Trail, runs through Sooke and is a popular cycling route to Victoria.

Arts community

The vibrant arts community of Sooke enjoys the annual Sooke Fine Arts Festival (established in 1987) which brings hundreds of tourists to Sooke each summer by featuring the adjudicated art of local and regional artists. Sooke is known for its wealth of painters, writers, sculptors, potters, fabric artists, jewellery crafters and more. The Sooke Community Arts Council plays a large role in fostering art in the region. The Sooke Harbour House art gallery is a main display opportunity for many local artisans.

Real estate

In April of 2022, an average single-family home in Sooke costs $887,500 based on the home price index, drawing from data from the Victoria Real Estate Board (VREB).[3] By June of 2022, that number (directly from VREB) increased to $938,000.[4]

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Sooke had a population of 15,086 living in 6,129 of its 6,431 total private dwellings, a change of 16% from its 2016 population of 13,001. With a land area of 56.6 km² (21.9 sq mi), it had a population density of 266.5/km² (690.3/sq mi) in 2021.[5]

Canada 2016 Census		Population	% of Total Population
Visible minority group Source:[6]	Chinese	140	0.9%
	South Asian	65	1.2%
	Black	35	0.8%
	Filipino	75	0.3%
	Latin American	20	0.2%
	Southeast Asian	25	0.2%
	Arab	10	0%
	West Asian	0	0.2%
	Korean	0	0.2%
	Japanese	50	0.2%
	Other visible minority	30	0.2%
	Mixed visible minority	15	0.3%
Total visible minority population		465	4.6%
Aboriginal group Source:[7]	First Nations	805	4%
	Métis	410	0%
	Inuit	0	0%
Total Aboriginal population		1,120	4%
White		12,430	91.3%
Total population		13,001	100%

Politics

The District of Sooke is its own independent municipality, part of the Capital Regional District.

Municipal

Sooke is governed by a mayor and six councilors, who are elected every four years.

Mayor Maja Tait[8]

Councillor Al Beddows

Councillor Dana Lajeunesse

Councillor Ebony Logins

Councillor Jeff Bateman

Councillor Megan McMath

Councillor Tony St-Pierre

Provincial

Sooke in part of the riding of Langford-Juan de Fuca represented by John Horgan of the BC NDP, who first won in 2009.

Federal

Federally the town is in the riding of Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke, represented by Randall Garrison of the New Democratic Party. He was first elected in 2011.

Climate

Sooke has a Mediterranean climate, with warm summers and mild winters, defined by the Köppen climate classification as Csb. Although its precipitation is more like dry summer climates, its temperatures resemble oceanic climates as found in Ireland, for example.[9]

Education

Sooke is a part of the School District 62 Sooke. There is one high school, Edward Milne Community School, and one junior high school, Journey Middle School. The four elementary schools in the area are John Muir (in the town's west end), Sooke Elementary (town centre), the French immersion Ecole Poirier (town centre), and Saseenos Elementary (east end). In 2018, SD62 announced it would be building Sooke River Elementary in the Sunriver neighbourhood. Continuing adult education programs are offered by the Edward Milne Community School (EMCS) Society, which also operates with day, evening and weekend programs. The closest post-secondary institutions are Royal Roads University and Camosun College's Interurban campus.

Neighbourhoods

(in order from east to west)

• North Sooke
• Saseenos
• Milne's Landing
• Sunriver Estates
• Sooke Town Centre or "Upsooke"
• Broom Hill
• Whiffin Spit
• Otter Point
• Kemp Lake

Neighbouring communities

• Metchosin - East of Sooke
• East Sooke - South of Sooke
• Otter Point - West of Sooke

Publications

• The long-established weekly newspaper is the Sooke News Mirror, edited by Kevin Laird and one of more than 70 Black Press Media community papers in B.C.

Notable residents

• Canadian poet, novelist and playwright Marilyn Bowering lives in the Sooke area.
• Bryce Soderberg, bassist and vocalist for American rock band Lifehouse.
• J. Lee Thompson (1914-2002), British film director (Cape Fear, The Guns of Navarone), died in Sooke.
• Kevin Wenstob, Canadian logger and subject of the reality TV series Big Timber.

References

External links

• Official website
• Sooke travel guide from Wikivoyage

На других языках

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[de] Sooke

Sooke [.mw-parser-output .IPA a{text-decoration:none}suːk] ist eine kanadische Kleinstadt. Sie liegt ca. 20 km entfernt von Victoria, der Hauptstadt British Columbias, auf Vancouver Island. Sie liegt am Sooke Basin, einer Meeresbucht, die mit der Juan-de-Fuca-Straße nur über eine schmale Öffnung verbunden ist. Sie gehört ist Teil der Metropolregion Greater Victoria, im Capital Regional District und der Highway 14 durchquert sie. East-Sooke, ca. 10 Minuten von Sooke entfernt, ist ein reines Wohngebiet inmitten eines dichten Waldgebiets.

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- [en] Sooke

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