Surrey, British Columbia

Surrey is a Canadian city in the province of British Columbia that is within the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD), and geographically at the centre of the larger region known as the Lower Mainland of BC. It is the province's second-largest city by population, surpassed only by Vancouver. It is the largest city by area, in Canada.^[1]

Six town centres make up Surrey: Fleetwood, Whalley/City Centre, Guildford, Newton, Cloverdale, and South Surrey.

History

Surrey was incorporated in 1879. When Englishman H.J. Brewer looked across the Fraser River from New Westminster and saw a land reminiscent of his native County of Surrey in England, the modern city of Surrey was born. The area then comprised forests of Douglas-fir, fir, redcedar, hemlock, blackberry bushes, and cranberry bogs. A portion of present-day Whalley (named after Harry Whalley, who owned and operated a gas bar at the bend in King George Highway at 108th, "Whalley's Corner") was used as a burial ground by the Kwantlen (or Qw’ontl’en) Nation.

Settlers arrived first in Cloverdale and parts of South Surrey, mostly to farm, fish, harvest oysters, or set up small stores. Once the Pattullo Bridge was erected in 1937, the way was open for Surrey to expand. In the post-war fifties, North Surrey's neighbourhoods filled with single family homes and Surrey (not yet a city) became a true bedroom community, absorbing commuters who worked in Burnaby or Vancouver.

On April 15, 1957, the City of White Rock seceded from the District of Surrey. White Rock is a 24 by 8 city-block area facing Semiahmoo Bay, at the extreme south of Surrey, right at the United States border. White Rock was created by special warrant of the Province of British Columbia because of local complaints that the southern portion of Surrey was being ignored.

Government and politics

Surrey is governed by an eight-member city council and a seven-member school board. The current mayor of Surrey is Dianne Watts. The last elections were held in November 2005.

In the recent 2005 provincial elections, the New Democratic Party of British Columbia won four of Surrey's seats, all of them in the more urbanized north and centre of the city, while the BC Liberal Party won three seats in the more rural east and south.

In the Canadian House of Commons (2006 elections), the Conservative Party of Canada holds two of Surrey's four seats, while the remaining two were split by the Liberal Party of Canada and the New Democratic Party (NDP). The NDP won the Surrey North riding previously held by the late independent Chuck Cadman. In May 2005, Cadman drew national attention to himself and his riding by casting the one vote that saved Prime Minister Paul Martin's Liberal minority government in a motion of confidence. Cadman's political involvement began with his wish to see reforms enacted on the Young Offenders Act, following the 1992 stabbing death of his 16-year-old son, Jesse Cadman, by another 16-year-old.

Transportation

Transportation overall has played a major role in the development of Surrey. The Semiahmoo Trail, which stretched from White Rock to North Surrey, was one of the first overland trails borrowed by settlers. The first regular ferry service across the Fraser River was started in 1882 on the steam ferry K de K with the point of departure at Brownsville. The ferry landed on the Surrey side at the start of the Old Yale Road, which connected directly inland to Yale, and was a major Gold Rush trail.

The Canadian National Railway, BNSF Railway, and Southern Railway of British Columbia systems are still active and stretch across Surrey to eastern provinces and southward into the United States.

The Fraser Surrey Docks on the Fraser River service more than 400 deep sea vessels annually, over 2 million tons of cargo from around the world pass through the terminal. It is the largest facility of its kind on the west coast of North America.

Public transport, provided by TransLink, connects Surrey's centres to each other as well as to other Lower Mainland cities and municipalities. Surrey is also served by four stations of the Skytrain Expo Line, which operates at less than 5 minute intervals during most of the day and reaches downtown Vancouver within 35 minutes.

With numerous easy access and exit routes, Surrey, once branded the car theft capital of North America, saw a 20 per cent drop in 2004 in car theft thanks to the Bait Car Program.

Demographics

As of 2001, the population of Surrey was approximately 340,825 (up from 304,477 in 1996), a 14.2% increase. In 2004, the City of Surrey estimated that the city's population officially reached approximately 400,000. 127,015 people are members of visible minorities, with around 184,000 of these being immigrants. Census Canada estimated Surrey's June 2006 population to be 455,900.[2]

Surrey is one of Canada's fastest growing major cities, and is the second largest city in British Columbia. Approximately 1,800 people move to Surrey each month. Surrey is also fully representative of the multicultural mix of Canada, and is particularly notable for one of the most highly concentrated South Asian communities in Canada.^{[citation needed]}

Ethnic profile (from 2001 census)

• 51.27% - Did not report being a visible minority.
• 35.89% - South Asian
• 4.77% - Chinese
• 2.96% - Filipino
• 1.79% - Southeast Asian
• 1.50% - Korean
• 1.10% - Black
• 0.96% - Latin American
• 0.56% - Japanese
• 0.38% - Multiple Visible Minority (mixed)
• 0.34% - West Asian
• 0.32% - Arab
• 0.16% - Other Visible Minority

Religious profile

• 11.0% Protestant
• 16.2% Roman Catholic
• 19.2% Sikh
• 6.4% Other Christian
• 2.9% Muslim
• 2.8% Hindu
• 1.9% Buddhist
• 1.5% Jewish
• 0.1% Other Eastern Religion
• 0.2% Religion not mentioned above
• 25.8% No religious affiliation

Source: Surrey Community Profile Statistics Canada. 2002. 2001 Community Profiles. Released June 27, 2002. Last modified: 2005-11-30. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 93F0053XIE.

Events

Every summer, Surrey hosts the Canada Cup International Women's Fastpitch Tournament. It began in 1993 as an international women's fastpitch developmental tournament to help teams prepare for the Olympics by facing top calibre competition. Many teams now regard the Canada Cup as one of the premier tournaments in the world, and instrumental as they prepare for World Championship and Olympic competition. The event continues to be a fan favourite with gate attendance reaching over 93,000 for the 2004 nine-day tournament.

Every year on April 13, the Sikh community celebrates Vaisakhi. The local Sikh community holds its annual Vaisakhi celebrations in the April long weekend, which often includes a nagar kirtan, or parade, in which over 70,000 people attend.

Once a year the Surrey town centre of Cloverdale hosts the Cloverdale Rodeo and Country Fair at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds. Beginning in 1888, the event welcomes North America's top cowboys to Canada's third largest rodeo. It has become much more than a rodeo featuring 150 acres of family oriented entertainment including agricultural/horticultural exhibits, a western tradeshow, parade, community stages, and the Pacific Northwest Firefighter Combat Challenge. While many people choose to attend the rodeo, it is frequently criticized by animal welfare activists urging people not to. The activists allege that the animals used in the rodeo are terrorized into action when men and women shove electric prods into them, yank their tails, twist their ears and legs, cinch their genitals, and otherwise batter them.

The Surrey Eagles hockey team plays at the South Surrey Arena in Surrey. They are one of the seventeen teams in the regional British Columbia Junior Hockey League (BCJHL). The Eagles have won the BCJHL championship, Fred Page Cup, in 1997, 1998 and 2005. The Eagles have won the western championship, the Doyle Cup, in 1997 and 1998. The Eagles won the national championship, the Royal Bank Cup, in 1998. The BCJHL is the British Columbia chapter of the Canadian Junior A Hockey League.

Education

Surrey is also home to the Surrey Campus of Simon Fraser University. The Newton town centre of Surrey hosts the main campus of the Kwantlen University College; with an expansion campus currently being built in Cloverdale. Surrey also has five campuses of Surrey College, a certificate- and diploma-granting technical school.

The School District 36 Surrey oversees roughly 120 public elementary and secondary schools. It is the largest school district in all of British Columbia. There are currently 99 public elementary schools and 21 public high schools. There are also private schools such as Holy Cross High School, Pacific Academy, Southridge School, and Surrey Christian. There are no public middle schools in Surrey, so an average elementary school goes from grades kindergarten through 7, and secondary school starts at grade 8 and continues through grade 12. There are currently 63,036 students who are in public and private schools.

Geography and climate

Also known as the City of Parks, Surrey has over 5,400 acres (22 km²) of passive and active parks, 15 golf courses and driving ranges, including the Northview Golf & Country Club, home to the former Air Canada Championship. Approximately 35% of the land is designated as agricultural and still being actively farmed today.

Miscellaneous

Surrey is home to the world's first kabaddi-specific stadium - the sport is very popular in the Punjab and caters to the city's large Sikh population.

Surrey has two Sister Cites. As of April 20, 1989 Kōtō, Japan became the sister city of Surrey. Kōtō is one of the wards of Metropolitan Tokyo. The other is the Special Economic Zone of the City of Zhuhai, bordering The Special Administrative Region of Macao, China.

Surrounding municipalities

Footnotes

Wikipedia information about Surrey, British Columbia This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Surrey, British Columbia". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.