Its name was given in 1862 by George Henry Richards, captain of HMS Hecate, in honor of John Meares.

Meares Island became historically significant shortly after 1984, when the Nuu-chah-nulth and environmentalist groups such as Greenpeace and Friends of Clayoquot Sound began protesting forestry giant MacMillan Bloedel's potential harvesting activities.

The Nuu-chah-nulth, with significant cooperation from environmental groups, eventually erected a blockade, preventing MacMillan Bloedel from logging the island.

This essentially granted an injunction in favour of the Nuu-chah-nulth, which was the first time in British Columbia's history that the province had been overruled on a land claims issue.

[citation needed] According to Ecodefense, opponents of logging have spiked thousands of trees on Meares Island.