Sidney (SENĆOŦEN: SET,TINES) is a town located at the northern end of the Saanich Peninsula, on Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It's 1 of the 13 Greater Victoria municipalities. It has a population of approximately 11,583. Sidney is located just east of Victoria International Airport, and about south of BC Ferries' Swartz Bay Terminal. The town is also the only Canadian port-of-call in the Washington State Ferries system, with ferries running from Sidney to the San Juan Islands and Anacortes. Sidney is located along Highway 17, which bisects the town from north to south. It is generally considered part of the Victoria metropolitan area. The town west of Highway 17 (also called Patricia Bay Highway, locally abbreviated as the Pat Bay Highway) has a mixture of single-family residences and light industry. The majority of the town is located east of Highway 17. Single-family units are also present east of the highway, but the eastern sector also has many condominium-type buildings, plus most of the service and retail outlets. The island-studded Haro Strait, part of the Salish Sea, forms Sidney's eastern boundary. There is a large boating and marine industry in the area, ranging from marinas to boatbuilders and marine suppliers. Sidney takes its name from nearby Sidney Island. In 1859 Captain Richards named that island for Frederick W. Sidney, who, like Richards served in the survey branch of the Royal Navy. Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Sidney had a population of 12,318 living in 5,981 of its 6,321 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 11,672. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. Sidney has a median age of 60.4 in 2001 as compared with the British Columbia median age of 38.4. Sidney had more than 35% of their population over the age of 65. Ethnicity Religion According to the 2021 census, religious groups in Sidney included: Irreligion (6,150 persons or 52.2%) Christianity (5,330 persons or 45.2%) Judaism (55 persons or 0.5%) Sikhism (55 persons or 0.5%) Buddhism (35 persons or 0.3%) Islam (25 persons or 0.2%) Hinduism (15 persons or 0.1%) Other (105 persons or 0.9%) Labour force Sidney is mainly an industrial town, with most people working in the construction, manufacturing, and warehousing fields (26%). Retail accounts for approximately 10% of the employment. Healthcare and social assistance