About VanIsleNet
One person, one Island, one honest directory.
VanIsleNet is Vancouver Island's business directory and community events calendar — independently owned and operated on the Island. I'm Michael Perks, I live in Duncan in the Cowichan Valley, and I built my first websites back in the 1990s. These days I build and care for sites for Island small businesses through my studio, Design Menu; VanIsleNet is the community project that grew out of that work.
Why this exists
The big platforms treat Vancouver Island as an afterthought: scraped listings, closed businesses that never left the internet, call centres masquerading as locals. The Island deserved a directory where somebody actually checks. So every listing here is verified against the business's own website before it's published, every description is written fresh, and every event is confirmed with its organizer. When a business closes, its listing comes down. Slower than scraping ten thousand names — and the entire point.
How it stays independent
Basic listings are free, forever, so every Island business can be found here regardless of budget. The site is funded by affordable visibility upgrades ($3 or $8 a month) and a handful of clearly-labelled local sponsor spots — no ad networks, no selling data, no outside investors to please. It's the model that keeps the directory answering to the Island rather than to an algorithm.
Get in touch
Corrections, suggestions, or a business that should be listed? Write to me — I answer my own messages, usually within a day. And if you run an Island business, your free listing is waiting.