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Located on the northern edge of downtown Victoria, Victoria’s Chinatown is the oldest Chinatown in Canada. (See also Toronto Chinatown; Vancouver Chinatown; Montreal Chinatown) Chinese merchants from San Francisco founded it during the Fraser River Gold Rush of 1858. Revitalized in the 1980s by the city and its residents, Chinatown is a popular tourist and cultural destination in Victoria. With gentrification and rising rents, Victoria’s Chinatown is now host to a diverse party of businesses and residents. It remains a historically significant space for people of Chinese descent in Canada.

Victoria Conservatory of Music. Major British Columbia teaching institution, incorporated in 1964 as the Victoria School of Music. It adopted the name 'conservatory' in September of 1968 and was affiliated with the University of Victoria from October of that year until 1978.

GeologyVictoria Island is largely composed of sedimentary rock. There is a belt of Precambrian rock on the west coast and another on the south coast, veined with copper formerly used by the COPPER INUIT.

Victoria Settlement, 15 km south of Smoky Lake, Alta, was first established in 1862 by the Reverend George McDougall as a Methodist mission.

Originally called Demersville for a local businessman, its name was changed in 1861 to honour Queen VICTORIA. In the early days the town was only a small train station on the GRAND TRUNK RAILWAY line between Québec City and Richmond, Qué.

View Royal, BC, incorporated as a town in 1988, population 9381 (2011c), 8768 (2006c). The Town of View Royal is located on the Esquimalt Peninsula, five kilometres west of the city of VICTORIA and bordering on Esquimalt Harbour.

Village Historique de Val-Jalbert, Quebec, 5 km east of Roberval on the shores of Lac Saint-Jean. A ghost town and a very beautiful park, Val-Jalbert since 1960 has become a major attraction in the Saguenay-Lac Saint-Jean region.

Ville-Marie, Catholic utopian colony founded on 17 May 1642 on Île de Montréal by the Société Notre-Dame de Montréal, under the governship of Paul de Chomeday de Maisonneuve, to bring Christianity to the native people; but located in a key region for the development of agriculture and the fur trade.

After 1885 settlement of the land around the lake by families from the older regions of Québec led to the establishment of Ville-Marie. The name dates from 1896 and honours the patron of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, indicating the Oblates' role in the development of the region.

Vinland, see NORSE VOYAGES.

Virden, Manitoba, incorporated as a town in 1904, population 3114 (2011c), 3010 (2006c). The Town of Virden is located 278 km west of Winnipeg on the Trans-Canada Highway.

A portion of the Old Crow Plain (locally called the Old Crow Flats) was set aside, through the settlement of the Vuntut Gwitchin comprehensive land claim in 1993, for Vuntut National Park (established 1995, 4345 km2).

W.H. Hodgins & Co. Turn-of-the-century music store and publishing firm in Toronto's Yonge St Arcade. Over 100 copyright and non-copyright sheet music titles are extant, the earliest (1897-1900) published by Amey & Hodgins, and the remainder (1900-7) by W.H. Hodgins & Co.

Wabana, NL, incorporated as a town in 1950, population 2346 (2011c), 2418 (2006c). The Town of Wabana is located on the north end of BELL ISLAND in Conception Bay and is the principal community on the island.

Wabush, Newfoundland and Labrador, incorporated as a town in 1967, population 1,906 (2016 census), 1,861 (2011 census). The town of Wabush is located in western Labrador, close to the Quebec border, 5 km south of Labrador City. It lies next to Wabush Lake, Little Wabush Lake and Jean Lake.

Wadena, Sask, incorporated as a town in 1912, population 1306 (2011c), 1315 (2006c). The Town of Wadena is located about 200 km east of SASKATOON near the Quill Lakes. In the 18th century this area was the territory of the Saulteaux.

Wainwright, Alta, incorporated as a town in 1910, population 5925 (2011c), 5426 (2006c). The Town of Wainwright is located 200 km southeast of Edmonton. The first settlement, Denwood, established in 1906, was moved in its entirety to a railway divisional point 4 km away in 1908.

Walhachin The turn of the century in British Columbia was a time of economic prosperity. The optimism associated with this prosperity enabled land speculators to attract upper-class Englishmen to purchase land and settle at Walhachin.

Designed by Howard C. Stone of Montréal, the Walker was modelled on the famous Auditorium Theatre in Chicago (erected in 1889; designed by Adler and Sullivan) which is surrounded by a commercial complex.

Walkerton was settled in the mid-1850s and quickly developed as an important mill site and service centre for the surrounding area. In the 1860s it became the seat of the county's government.