The District of Saanich (/sænɪtʃ/) is a district municipality on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, within the Greater Victoria area. The population was 109,752 at the 2011 census, making it the most populous municipality in the Capital Regional District and Vancouver Island, and the eighth-most populous in the province. The district adopted its name after the Saanich First Nation, meaning "emerging land" or "emerging people".