| Bulkley–Nechako | |
| Official Name: | Regional District of Bulkley–Nechako |
| Settlement Type: | Regional district |
| Image Blank Emblem: | Bulkley_Nechako_BC_logo.png |
| Blank Emblem Type: | Seal |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Canada |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | British Columbia |
| Seat Type: | Administrative office location |
| Seat: | Burns Lake |
| Government Footnotes: | [1] |
| Governing Body: | Board of directors |
| Leader Title: | Chair |
| Leader Name: | Mark Parker (D) November 2022/2023 |
| Leader Title1: | Vice chair |
| Leader Name1: | Shane Brienen (G) |
| Leader Title2: | Electoral areas |
| Unit Pref: | Metric |
| Area Land Km2: | 73361.00 |
| Dimensions Footnotes: | [2] |
| Population As Of: | 2021 |
| Population Total: | 37737 |
| Population Density Km2: | 0.52 |
The Regional District of Bulkley–Nechako (RDBN) is a regional district in the Canadian province of British Columbia, Canada. As of the 2021 census, the population was 37,737. The area is 73,419.01 square kilometres. The regional district offices are in Burns Lake.
Its geographical components are the Bulkley Valley, the northern part of the Nechako Country, and the Omineca Country, including portions of the Hazelton Mountains and Omineca Mountains in the west and north of the regional district, respectively. The dominant landform is the Nechako Plateau. Neighbouring regional districts are the Kitimat-Stikine, Central Coast, Cariboo, Fraser-Fort George, and Peace River Regional Districts; on its north the boundary with the southern edge of the remote Stikine Region is separated from the Bulkley–Nechako Regional District by the 56th parallel north. The boundaries of the regional district near-entirely coincide with the territory of the Dakelh or Carrier peoples, and also some of that of the Dunneza (Beaver), but their reserves and governments lie outside the regional district system. Roughly identical in area to the old New Caledonia fur district in the days of the North West Company, it is still sometimes referenced as New Caledonia, but while trapping continues in some area, its economy is now based in forestry, mining, tourism (mostly ranching in southern areas).
| Municipality | Government Type | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smithers | town | 5,378 | |
| Vanderhoof | district municipality | 4,346 | |
| Houston | district municipality | 3,052 | |
| Burns Lake | village | 1,659 | |
| Fort St. James | district municipality | 1,598 | |
| Telkwa | village | 1,295 | |
| Fraser Lake | village | 988 | |
| Granisle | village | 303 |
As a census division in the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of − from its 2016 population of . With a land area of 73203.22km2, it had a population density of in 2021.[3]
| 2021[4] | 2016[5] | 2011[6] | 2006[7] | 2001[8] | 1996[9] | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| European | 28,280 | 28,740 | 30,620 | 29,805 | 33,430 | 34,625 | |||||||
| Indigenous | 7,410 | 7,435 | 7,335 | 7,180 | 6,020 | 5,660 | |||||||
| South Asian | 455 | 235 | 370 | 405 | 615 | 735 | |||||||
| Southeast Asian | 445 | 385 | 260 | 230 | 75 | 205 | |||||||
| East Asian | 250 | 260 | 150 | 260 | 355 | 150 | |||||||
| African | 240 | 190 | 120 | 160 | 140 | 40 | |||||||
| Latin American | 95 | 90 | 65 | 40 | 15 | 40 | |||||||
| Middle Eastern | 50 | 25 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| Other | 70 | 75 | 0 | 25 | 20 | 35 | |||||||
| Total responses | 37,300 | 37,445 | 38,940 | 38,125 | 40,680 | 41,510 | |||||||
| Total population | 37,737 | 37,896 | 39,208 | 38,243 | 40,856 | 41,642 | |||||||