Tofino a place on the west coast Vancouver Island
Tofino owes its name to the Spanish cartographer, mathematician and naval officer Vicente Tofiño.
The population increases tenfold in summer and there are always bottlenecks in the drinking water supply.

The first contact between the First Nation and Europeans took place during an expedition in 1774.

In 1778 the next contact of the First Nation with Europeans, the English explorer James Cook on his third voyage to the South Seas sailed along the coast of Vancouver Island.

The present community developed from about 1890 onwards, and from 1909 onwards more European settlers and farmers, mostly of Norwegian, English and Scottish descent, moved into the nascent community.


Beginning in 1920, the residential school system was introduced when school attendance became compulsory throughout Canada. All Tla-o-qui-aht children between the ages of 7 and 15 were now required to attend these schools. This system was to become one of the mainstays of integration policy, but the violent conditions in these schools led to a wave of lawsuits. There were thousands of assaults on students and high mortality rates in these schools, which were mostly run by faith-based organizations, for which the Canadian government apologized in 2008 In 1983, the school in Tofino was one of the last of these schools in Canada to be closed.


PIP3: Tofino has been connected to the east coast of the island via a road link to Nanaimo since 1959. Regular buses run from Nanaimo and Victoria to Tofino and provide the town with mail. The mainland, around Vancouver, can be reached by ferries via Nanaimo, and the Seattle area by ferries via Victoria.
About 11 kilometers southeast of the is the Tofino/Long Beach Airport. The community's seaplane port is located in Tofino Harbor, protected by offshore islands.

The economic focus is on tourism
In summer, Tofino attracts surfers, hikers, campers and "whale watchers". Bear-watching" is also offered.

Worth mentioning for whale watchers is the annual Whale Festival in early March. This festival celebrates the arrival of the gray whales, which make a stop in Tofino on their way from Mexico to Alaska.