The Regimental Band

The Band of The 5th (BC) Field Regiment, is the longest-serving band in Western Canada, tracing its origins to 1864 and the establishment of the Victoria Volunteer Rifle Corps Band.  After the Victoria Volunteer Rifle Corp, which included an artillery company, was disbanded, the band in 1893 became the Band of the British Columbia Battalion of Garrison Artillery, and in 1896, the 5th Regiment Band.

In his book History of Music in British Columbia, author Dale McIntosh notes that "the Fifth Regiment Band was probably the most widely travelled…British Columbia band of the time, or for many years after.  …(T)hey played an engagement at the World's Fair in St. Louis (1904), with a return engagement to the city a few years later, in addition to performances in Denver, Norton (Kansas), Omaha, Spokane, Seattle, Tacoma, Portland and Vancouver.”

Today the band continues to perform public concerts in the Victoria area, as well as on regimental parades.  In addition, band members often augment Regular Force military bands across Canada.