I want to add a bit more to the History section of the article as I have quite a lot of experience in archaeology of the area. There is literally only one sentence about the prehistory of the area. Ill add about the archaeology and some of the historic events that happened in Sechelt. I can also make corrections about references to the Sechelt language.
Some of the books/sources I'll use are
- Encyclopedia of British Columbia
- Sechelt Dictionary
- Early Indian Village Churches
The original inhabitants of Sechelt are the Sechelt Nation, a British Columbian First Nations band who call themselves shishalh (or shishalh Nation).[1] Before English was spoken, the town of Sechelt was called ch'atlich in she shashishalhem (the Sechelt language).[1] For thousands of years, the Sechelt people practiced a hunting and gathering subsistence strategy, making extensive use of the natural food resources located around Sechelt, and its strategic location for access into the Sechelt Inlet.
Europeans began settling in Sechelt in the 1860's and by the 1880s, it had become an active centre of the logging and fishing industries with the construction of sawmills and wharves. With sustained contact with European settlers, the Sechelt people's semi-nomadic way of life began to be substituted for a more sedentary life in Sechelt, a change heavily influenced by the establishment of a Roman Catholic Church by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.[1] Our Lady of the Rosary was completed in 1890 and costed the Sechelt people a sum of $8,000 to construct.[2] In 1906, this church was destroyed in a fire, and a year later another church was erected in its place called Our Lady of Lourdes but this too was also destroyed by fire in October, 1970.[3]
The natural beauty of the Sunshine Coast soon attracted tourists, who arrived at the wharves at Trail Bay via steamship. The construction of the original provincial highway in 1952, Highway 101, now also known as Sunshine Coast Highway, and the concomitant commencement of ferry service to Horseshoe Bay (near Vancouver) and Powell River (hence to Vancouver Island) accelerated tourism and residential growth, which continues today.