10 Things That Are Unique & Cool About BC

10 Things that are unique and cool about BC

BC is a pretty awesome province, we have a beautiful coastline, some very majestic mountains, and this one place where you can get all you can eat poutine. We also have a bunch of fairly interesting things that make this province different, so today we are bringing you a list of 10 of the things that are unique about BC. Enjoy!

1) According to one report BC is the healthiest province in Canada, with a life expectancy of 82.2 years. We have low rates of obesity, drinking, and smoking, and the highest percentage of people who do physical activity in their leisure time. I think that means everyone has to stop making fun of our yoga pants now.

2) BC has had some weird laws. Between 1947 and 1986 you were not allowed to sell stoves within Vancouver city limits on a Wednesday. To be clear, you could sell stoves anywhere you wanted the other six days of the week, and outside city limits anarchy reigned and you could sell a stove on any day of the week.

3) BC has the longest running movie theatre in all of Canada. Powell River’s Patricia Theatre opened in 1913, and has been showing films ever since. It makes sense that film is important here, BC is second only to LA in TV production, so British Columbians are more likely than most to recognize that one place that was in a scene in that show that one time… you know the one.

4) BC is responsible for Botox. The cosmetic treatment involving injections that alter the shape of your face or lips was invented in Vancouver in the year 2000.

5) We are the only province in Canada without needs-based grants for students. In every other Province the provincial government looks at your household income and gives low and middle income students a portion of student loans as a non-repayable grant. We are currently working with other universities on the Grants Now campaign to get a comprehensive system of needs-based grants in BC, and catch up with the rest of the country. If this is the kind of thing you think is important, email campaigns@kusa.ca to find out how to get involved in the campaigns we run.

6) We are the home of the man with the longest beard. The Guiness world record holder is named Sarwan Singh, and he and his 2.33 meter long beard live in Surrey. For reference, Shaquille O'Neal is only 2.2 meters tall.

7) We basically invented speed-writing here (speed writing, it turns out, is a thing). The now international, 3-day novel contest in which writers attempt to complete a novel in 72 hours started in Vancouver in 1977. It started in a bar, so I am gonna go out on a limb and say someone made an overly optimistic wager about their writing skills one night after having a few too many local brews. But it continues to this day. You can find out all about how to sign up here.  

8) BC has been a leading adopter of Open Educational Resources, which are basically freely accessible textbooks, which you can usually find online. BC has the only program where you can get a whole degree without paying for a single textbook! It’s called the Zed Cred program, and was launched right here at KPU.

9) Oak Bay has some very specific laws about pets. Pet parrots must be confined to your property. If your Parrot is found trespassing, they can be impounded by the city, which will cost you $6 a day. You will also be fined if you fail to keep your bees away from your neighbours pond. I am sensing that that last one is the result of a specific incident involving an angry pond owner, but I could be wrong, this might be a common problem in Oak Bay.

10) Last but not least, you might expect California rolls, named after an American state and now a staple in every sushi restaurant, to come from California, but we get to take credit for that one to! California rolls were invented in BC, and kicked off the trend of turning rolls inside out to hide the seaweed from North Americans who weren’t used to eating it yet.