It is the second time that the tournament will take place in the Western province of British Columbia.

In 2006, Vancouver co-hosted the tournament along with Kelowna and Kamloops while Victoria, the provincial capital, played host to two exhibition games at the Bear Mountain Arena.

Canada has hosted four of the past eight World Junior Championships and will also stage the 2017 edition, due to be held in Montreal and Toronto - hosts of the 2015 event - from December 26 to January 5. 

Buffalo in the United States is scheduled to host the 2018 edition of the Championship.

The announcement about 2019 came at the Rogers Arena, the site of the 2010 Winter Olympic ice hockey tournament.

Also the home of the Vancouver Canucks, it is due to host 19 games during the tournament.

The Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, with a capacity of 7,400 and home to the Western Hockey League’s Victoria Royals, will host the other 14 games.

"This is symbolic of what the game should really be at the end of the day, the experience of a lifetime," said Hockey Canada chief executive Tom Renney.

"We want to make it an athletic experience like none other, so that children continue to want to try to play hockey.

"That is the bigger game we play."

Vancouver and Victoria were winners in a four-way race to hold the event.

Unsuccessful bids came from Edmonton and Calgary, London and Windsor and Winnipeg and Saskatoon.

"It was just an automatic to go to Victoria," said Barry Petrachenko, chief executive of British Columbia Hockey and co-chairman of the tournament's Organising Committee. 

"I think it’s going to mean a lot to the city.

"Victoria is a hockey town, and it’ll be great to bring this event to our city."

Canada claimed their second straight gold medal in the 2006 tournament, the last time it was held in Vancouver, under head coach Brent Sutter.

The 2006 tournament enjoyed a then-record attendance of 325,138.

The current record is now 455,342 from the 2012 edition of the tournament which was held in both Edmonton and Calgary.

British Columbia Deputy Premier Rich Coleman said the Provincial government would provide CAD$2.3 million (£1.35 million/$1.73 million/€1.62 million) to the tournament, with CAD$300,000 (£177,000/$225,000/€211,000) allocated for legacy programmes for youth hockey in the area.

The forthcoming in Montreal and Toronto is due to begin on December 26 and last until January 5 while next year's event will take place in the United States, with a preliminary round game between the hosts and Canada set to be the first IIHF match to be held outdoors.

The 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship will also take place in Canada and possible sites are due to be announced at a future date.

Finland are defending champions, having won the gold medal at the 2016 event, staged in Helsinki.