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Vancouver Island
I can't claim to have even scratched the surface of British Columbia. But I can claim to have spent 3 nights on Vancouver Island in late May 2006, primarily to try to see a Grey (or Gray in the local vernacular) Whale. Grey Whale's aside, Vancouver Island has some good mammal watching, and Kim Goldberg's book Where to see Wildlife on Vancouver Island (Harbour Publishing) has lots of good information on what you can see and where to see it.

Nanaimo
Nanaimo is quite a good base for checking out some of the better sites in south VI. It is near Green Mountain, which until recently was the last known home of the Vancouver Island Marmot (now thought to be extinct in the wild) and is also a good spot to go looking for Cougars. Unfortunately, Timber West, the forestry company that owns the logging roads that lead to Green Mountain don't allow the public access to the site during the week, so I didn't get up the mountain. But I did see a Red Squirrel and some Black-tailed Deer along the bit of the road that was open to the public.

Buttertubs Marsh, just a couple of kilometres from downtown Nanaimo, is a popular spot for local birdwatchers, and is an excellent place to see Muskrats, Beavers and River Otters (I went there twice and saw all three species both times in the late evening). There are also some feral (introduced) Eastern Cottontails running around. Mink are regular here, though I didn't see any.

Newcastle Island is a few hundred metres off of Nanaimo harbour, and a good spot for a few hours walk. There's a coastal trail the runs around the island, and in 4 hours one afternoon I saw a River Otter and lots of Raccoons on the beach, and Harbor Seals offshore.

River Otter and Racoon, Newcastle Island, Nanaimo

Tofino
Grey Whales pass by Vancouver Island each spring (late February through May) and December and January on their northwards and southwards journeys between the Sea of Cortez and Alaska. A few individuals can't be bothered to go further north and spend the summer off the west coast of VI, around Tofino.

Tofino is a top spot. It reminded me a lot of Australia: the scenery, the coastal rainforest, the surfers, the laid back people, even the menu at the sandwich bar, were all very reminiscent of a small Australian coastal resort. Grey Whales are pretty easy to find in the summer if you take one of the whale watching charters. We saw three individuals, though none particularly well. All three animals were less than 100m from shore.

Grey Whale and California & Northern (Steller) Sealions

We also saw a mixed group of California and Northern (Steller) Sealions, and some Harbour Seals. Dall's Porpoise, Humpbacks and Orcas are also around though we didn't see any the day I went out on the ocean.

Long Beach, near Tofino and a Keen's Mouse

I set a few elliott traps just outside the Pacific Rim National Park (near the Tofino cemetery) in the rainforest and caught four Deer Mice species. All four looked similar, and were almost exactly the same body size, but one, with its much longer tail and larger hind foot, was a Keen's Mouse (Northwest Deer Mouse) .

The drive from Nanaimo to Tofino is a pretty one, and I saw a couple of Black Bears along the road in the early evening including this youngster.

Black Bear

Victoria
I flew into Victoria when I got to Vancouver Island, hired a car and headed straight to the ferry to Sydney Spit, which is a good spot for River Otters. Twenty minutes after reaching the island I was looking at a group of Otters lolling around on a sand dune, near the old pier at low tide (the pier that's a few hundred metres from the jetty that the ferry pulls into). Feral Fallow Deer are common on the island. There were Harbour Seals in the ocean on the way to the island and Killer Whales (Orcas) (and the tour boats to see them) are in the area too.

Other People's Trip Reports
British Columbia 2008: Michal Polanski, 3 weeks & 16 mammals including a Marten.

Pacific Northwest 2006: Mark Hows, 2 weeks & 27 species of mammals including a Marten.