{{Short description|Island group in British Columbia, Canada}} {{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}} The '''Defence Islands''' are two small islands in Howe Sound, British Columbia, Canada, northeast of Anvil Island<ref>{{BCGNIS|13758|Defence Islands}}</ref> and in the northern reaches of that sound near Porteau Cove. The easterly and smaller of the two comprises '''Defence Island Indian Reserve No. 28''' (1.7 hectares);<ref>{{BCGNIS|32105|Defence Island Indian Reserve 28}}</ref> the westerly comprises the '''Kwum Kwum Indian Reserve''' (unnumbered, 6.20 hectares),<ref>{{BCGNIS|39420|Kwum Kwum Indian Reserve}}</ref> both under the administration of the Squamish Nation.

==Name origin== <blockquote> "Named c1860 by Captain Richards, RN, after HMS ''Defence'', 74 guns, under Captain James Gambier, engaged in Earl Howe's victory of "the Glorious First of June" 1794, when the ''Defence'' had the distinguished honour of first passing through the enemy's line... After serving at the Nile, at Trafalgar and in the Baltic she was driven ashore on the coast of Jutland by a terrific gale, 23 December 1811, and all of her 600 men perished but five."<ref>Walbran, John T; ''British Columbia Coast Names, 1592-1906: their origin and history''; Ottawa, 1909 (republished for the Vancouver Public Library by J.J. Douglas Ltd, Vancouver, 1971)</ref></blockquote>

==References== {{reflist}}

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Category:Islands of British Columbia Category:South Coast of British Columbia Category:Squamish people