Heals Rifle Range - Saanich, British Columbia, Canada
Posted by: 
The A-Team
N 48° 32.684 W 123° 26.734
10U E 467114 N 5376943
The Heals Rifle Range is a Canadian Department of National Defence gun range that contains six active contaminated sites. It's located west of Wallace Drive and north of Willis Point Road in Saanich, British Columbia, Canada.
Waymark Code: WM16EN4
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 07/15/2022
Views: 1
In 1860, brothers Fred and Charlie Heal purchased a large portion of this valley, which was once a seasonal marsh. In 1916, a portion of their property was leased to become a military range for the army, and the Heals Rifle Range was created.
The range has been used by the military for nearly a century, both as a rifle and gun range, and also for grenade training. It was used in the 1960s by local gun clubs and in 1994 when the Commonwealth Games held events there, but otherwise has been strictly for the use of the Canadian armed forces.
As a result of the large amounts of spent ammunition and other contaminants that have been deposited on the site, at least 9 individual areas have been documented as federal contaminated sites. Six of these sites have not yet been remediated and remain active.
The primary site is HRR-1 Heals Rifle Range Active Ranges (
site 00008363), which encompasses the actively-used portion of the main range. Detailed testing has been completed, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) has been found in the sediment, as well as metal contaminants in the soil and groundwater. This site is classified as a medium priority for action, and a remediation plan is under development.
In addition to site HRR-1, the following other sites at Heals Rifle Range are also in various stages of the remediation process:
- HRR-2 Heals Rifle Range Former Grenade Range (site 17178003)
- High priority for action
- Sampling completed, and long-term monitoring is underway
- PAH in sediment and soil
- Metal in surface water, groundwater, sediment and soil
- Energetics in groundwater
- HRR-5 Heals Rifle Range Main Compound Training Area (site 00025012)
- Initial testing completed, detailed testing underway
- PAH in groundwater
- Metals in surface water, groundwater and soil
- HRR-7 Heals Rifle Range Soil Storage Near Pistol Range (site 00025029)
- Medium priority for action
- Detailed testing completed, remediation plan under development
- Metals in groundwater and soil
- HRR-8 Heals Rifle Range Former 400-1000 yrd Range (site 00025014)
- Medium priority for action
- Detailed testing completed, remediation plan under development
- PAH in sediment
- Metals in sediment and soil
- HRR-9 HEALS RIFLE RANGE 100 yd PISTOL RANGE & Beyond (site 00025079)
- Medium priority for action
- Detailed testing completed, remediation plan under development
- Metals in groundwater and surface soil
As a restricted military facility, no public access is possible. Parts of the range property can be viewed from various spots along Wallace Drive and Willis Point Road, though a view to the range itself is no longer possible due to tree growth. The Waymark coordinates point to the main entrance off of Wallace Drive, where several of the facility's historic buildings reside (some of which date back to 1917).