| qathet | |
| Official Name: | qathet Regional District |
| Other Name: | Powell River (1967–2018) |
| Settlement Type: | Regional district |
| Image Blank Emblem: | Qathet_BC_logo.png |
| Blank Emblem Type: | Logo |
| Map Alt: | A map of British Columbia depicting its 29 regional districts and equivalent municipalities. One is highlighted in red. |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Canada |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | British Columbia |
| Seat Type: | Administrative office location |
| Seat: | Powell River |
| Government Footnotes: | [1] |
| Government Type: | Regional district |
| Governing Body: | Board of Directors |
| Leader Title: | Chair |
| Leader Name: | Clay Brander, Electoral Area C |
| Leader Title1: | Vice Chair |
| Leader Title2: | Electoral Areas |
| Unit Pref: | Metric |
| Area Land Km2: | 5075.33 |
| Dimensions Footnotes: | [2] |
| Population As Of: | 2016 |
| Population Total: | 20070 |
| Population Density Km2: | 3.95 |
The qathet Regional District (qRD) is a regional district in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Its only incorporated municipality is the City of Powell River, although it includes a number of unincorporated areas. The district encompasses a land area of 5075.33km2. The district was formerly known as the Powell River Regional District. Because of frequent confusion between the identical names of Powell River district and city, the district's name was changed in 2018 to qathet, from q̓at̓ᶿɛt, meaning "working together, bringing together" in the ʔayʔaǰuθəm language of the ɬəʔamɩn, k̓ómoks, χʷɛmaɬkʷu, & ƛohos Nations.[3]
The district is bounded by the mainland portion of the Strathcona Regional District to the north, and to the east by the Squamish-Lillooet and Sunshine Coast Regional Districts. On the mainland, this includes the area southeast of Powell River to the ferry terminal at Saltery Bay and from Wildwood, northwest of Powell River to Desolation Sound and the terminus of Highway 101 in Lund. Lasqueti Island and Texada Island, along with the southernmost Discovery Islands (including Hernando and Savary), are included, as are the largely uninhabited lands to the north and west of this area.
Its head offices are located in Powell River. The district is governed by a board of seven directors: five electoral area directors who are elected for a four-year term by voters in the electoral areas, and two municipal directors who are first elected to the City of Powell River’s council and then appointed by council to the regional board. The board chair is elected annually by all directors.
As a census division in the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the qathet Regional District had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of 5067.89km2, it had a population density of in 2021.[4] As of the 2006 census, 19,599 people lived in the district.
| 2021[5] | 2016[6] | 2011[7] | 2006[8] | 2001[9] | 1996[10] | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| European | 18,200 | 17,440 | 17,580 | 17,700 | 18,085 | 18,480 | |||||||
| Indigenous | 1,805 | 1,575 | 1,565 | 1,105 | 1,160 | 845 | |||||||
| East Asian | 425 | 210 | 125 | 250 | 85 | 215 | |||||||
| Southeast Asian | 205 | 150 | 80 | 125 | 75 | 30 | |||||||
| South Asian | 155 | 60 | 85 | 60 | 95 | 80 | |||||||
| Latin American | 105 | 30 | 0 | 15 | 35 | 10 | |||||||
| African | 80 | 85 | 60 | 65 | 25 | 40 | |||||||
| Middle Eastern | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | |||||||
| Other | 45 | 60 | 40 | 20 | 0 | 60 | |||||||
| Total responses | 21,060 | 19,615 | 19,545 | 19,330 | 19,570 | 19,755 | |||||||
| Total population | 21,496 | 20,070 | 19,906 | 19,599 | 19,765 | 19,936 | |||||||