Vancouver is a city in southwest British Columbia on the west
coast of Canada. It lies between the Georgia Strait and the
Coast Mountains, about 45 kilometers northwest of the US border.
The city is part of the Metro Vancouver regional district,
which, with 2,642,825 inhabitants, is the largest metropolitan
area in western Canada and the third largest in the country
after Toronto and Montreal. The population of the city of
Vancouver proper is 662,248. The city is named after the British
captain George Vancouver, who explored and surveyed the region
at the end of the 18th century. The name Vancouver itself comes
from the Dutch "van Coevorden", derived from the town of
Coevorden.
The city emerged in the 1860s as a result of
immigration during the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush and grew from a
small lumber mill town to a metropolis within a few decades
after the opening of the transcontinental railroad in 1887. The
economy was initially based on the exploitation of British
Columbia's natural resources: forestry, mining, fishing and
agriculture. The port of Vancouver gained international
importance after the opening of the Panama Canal. Today it is
the largest in Canada and exports more goods than any other port
in North America.
Over time, Vancouver was transformed
into a service center and (particularly after the Expo 86
World's Fair) a tourist destination. The city is also the third
most important location for the North American film industry
after Los Angeles and New York and is therefore also referred to
as "Hollywood North". The financial sector also plays an
important role. In a ranking of the most important financial
centers worldwide, Vancouver ranks 15th (as of 2018). In the
2018 city ranking by the consulting firm Mercer, Vancouver
ranked fifth out of 231 major cities worldwide in terms of
quality of life.
Vancouver hosted the XXI from February
12th to 28th, 2010. Olympic Winter Games. Some competitions of
the Games took place in Whistler, 125 kilometers from Vancouver.
After Montreal in 1976 (Summer Games) and Calgary in 1988,
Vancouver was the third Canadian city to host the Olympic Games.
From a structural point of view, Vancouver is a very young city,
which is why modern buildings characterize the cityscape throughout.
Some are outstanding in terms of architecture, such as the main building
of the Vancouver Public Library, reminiscent of the Colosseum, or the
tent-like building Canada Place, the former Canadian Pavilion at the
1986 World's Fair.
Some striking buildings have been preserved
from the first decades of the 20th century. These include the
neoclassical Vancouver Art Gallery (a former courthouse) and the
terracotta-clad Dominion Building. The latter was the tallest building
in the British Empire from 1908 to 1910; this role was then occupied by
the Beaux-Arts-style Sun Tower with its striking green dome until 1912.
A landmark of the city is the Marine Building, built in 1930 in Art Deco
style and modeled on New York's Empire State Building. For more than
three decades, from 1939 to 1972, the Hotel Vancouver was the tallest
building in the city. The Qube was born in 1970.
The Living
Shangri-La, completed in January 2009, leads the list of tallest
buildings in Vancouver with a height of 201 m (as of 2010). In 1989 the
City Council approved "view protection guidelines" which were expanded
in 1990. These define several corridors in the city center in which the
buildings must not exceed a certain height in order to guarantee the
unrestricted view of the North Shore Mountains. The guidelines proved to
be a successful urban development, but many found Vancouver's skyline to
be flat and visually uninteresting.
In 1997, the city council
commissioned a study to determine whether taller buildings could be
constructed to accentuate the skyline without disrupting the mountain
views. As a result, five locations were identified where buildings may
exceed the 137 m limit and two additional locations in the northwest of
the central business district where buildings may be up to 122 m tall
(31 m higher than the local limit). . Eight years later, five of these
seven locations were developed or in the approval phase. The tallest of
these new buildings was the Living Shangri-La, surpassing the previous
tallest building, the One Wall Centre, by 51 metres.
The numerous
parks and gardens in Vancouver cover a total of 1298 hectares, which
corresponds to around eleven percent of the city's area. The largest is
the 404 hectare Stanley Park with the Vancouver Aquarium. Also of note
is Queen Elizabeth Park. In Chinatown is the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical
Chinese Garden. Vancouver has two botanical gardens, the VanDusen
Botanical Garden in the Shaughnessy Borough and the UBC Botanical Garden
(including the Nitobe Memorial Garden) on the University of British
Columbia campus.
Vancouver has several museums and galleries. Housed in a former courthouse, the Vancouver Art Gallery is the largest art museum in western Canada with around 8,000 works of art (including 200 important works by Emily Carr and illustrations by Marc Chagall). The Vancouver Maritime Museum, a maritime museum, exhibits, among other things, the schooner St. Roch, the first ship ever to complete the Northwest Passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic. The Museum of Anthropology, on the campus of the University of British Columbia, is one of the Pacific Northwest's premier museums of First Nations culture, while the Museum of Vancouver is the nation's largest municipal museum. Science World explores the world of science in a fun way, while the Vancouver Police Centennial Museum introduces visitors to the history of the Vancouver police force.
A sculpture park with 14 bronze sculptures entitled A-maze-ing
Laughter was created by the Chinese artist Yue Minjun and exhibited as
part of the "Vancouver International Biennale" (2009-2011). The Laughing
Men sculptures - each about 8 feet tall - are located near Morton Park.
The Trans Am Totem installation is located at the intersection of
Quebec Street and Milross Avenue.
In 1986, the Greater Vancouver
cultural community formed an alliance to promote and develop cultural
diversity in the region. The alliance now serves as a mouthpiece for
around 320 groups and artists. Its goal is to create greater acceptance
of art in the city and to clarify the contribution of art to social
life.
A special feature of Gastown is the steam clock, a
steam-powered public clock that whistles every 15 minutes.
Major theaters in Vancouver include the Arts Club Theater Company,
Vancouver Playhouse Theater Company, Touchstone Theatre, Studio 58,
Carousel Theater and United Players of Vancouver. Outdoor performances
are hosted by Bard on the Beach and Theater Under the Stars during the
summer. In addition, the Fringe Festival and the International Film
Festival take place every year.
Vancouver has played an important
role in the development of Canadian music, particularly in the
classical, folk and pop genres. The city was a leader in the development
of punk with bands such as D.O.A. and No Means No, but also in the
post-industrial sector, with Skinny Puppy, Delerium and Front Line
Assembly being particularly noteworthy. More mainstream are Bryan Adams,
Nickelback, Diana Krall, Sarah McLachlan, Michael Bublé and Loverboy.
The most well-known hip-hop formation is the Swollen Members.
Bigger rock and pop concerts take place at Rogers Arena, BC Place
Stadium and the Pacific Coliseum, while lesser-known artists perform at
the Plaza of Nations, the Commodore Ballroom, the Orpheum Theater or the
Vogue Theatre. Two major music festivals are held in Vancouver each
year, the Vancouver Folk Music Festival and the Vancouver International
Jazz Festival. Vancouver also has two professional orchestras, the CBC
Radio Orchestra and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Vancouver Opera
performs at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.
One of the most well-known events is the Celebration of Light, a
musical fireworks competition on the beaches of English Bay, which is
watched by over 1.5 million spectators in late July and early August.
The city's ethnic minorities also contribute to the cultural scene,
particularly the Chinese. They celebrate the Chinese New Year with a big
parade and hold an international dragon boat race on False Creek in
June.
Vancouver has an influential lesbian and gay movement. In
July 2003, British Columbia became the second Canadian province to
recognize same-sex marriage as a constitutional right, a few weeks after
Ontario. The gay and lesbian scene is concentrated around Davie Street
in the city center; this area is also known as Davie Village. One of the
largest gay pride parades in the country takes place in Vancouver every
year.
Nightlife in Vancouver has historically been more limited
than in other cities. Reasons for this were the early night rest for
bars and nightclubs and the reluctance of the city authorities to
encourage further development. This changed in 2003 when opening hours
were extended and regulations relaxed. The city made efforts to
establish the Downtown area (particularly the area around Granville
Street) as an entertainment center.
The most popular sport among the residents is ice hockey; there are
two professional teams, the Vancouver Canucks in the NHL and the
Vancouver Giants in the junior league WHL. The dominant team at the
beginning of the 20th century was the Vancouver Millionaires, who won
the 1915 Stanley Cup. From 1973 to 1975 there was another professional
team, the Vancouver Blazers, which belonged to the World Hockey
Association.
Canadian football, the Canadian variant of American
football, is practiced by the professional team British Columbia Lions
in the CFL. The Vancouver Canadians play in the Northwest League, one of
the leagues in minor league baseball. The Vancouver Whitecaps have a
men's and women's professional soccer team represented in Major League
Soccer and the W-League, respectively. Professional basketball failed to
catch on, and the NBA team Vancouver Grizzlies moved to Memphis
(Tennessee) in 2001.
The most popular team sports at amateur
level are Gaelic football and indoor lacrosse. Vancouver has been the
venue for the Slam City Jam, the North American skateboard championship,
since 1994. The Vancouver Marathon takes place in May and the
10-kilometer Vancouver Sun Run in April. From 1990 to 2004, Champ Car
races were held on a street circuit.
Sports for all are common
among Vancouverites, with joggers in the parks and waterfront, canoeists
on False Creek and boaters on English Bay. There is also a
well-developed network of cycle paths, beach volleyball courts, kayak
rental stations, swimming pools and artificial ice rinks.
There
are numerous beaches along the coast. These extend on the one hand on
the western edge of downtown from Stanley Park to False Creek, on the
other hand along the entire south coast of English Bay. The total of 18
kilometers of beaches include First Beach, Jericho Beach, Kitsilano
Beach, Locarno Beach, Second Beach, Spanish Bank, Sunset Beach and Third
Beach.
The nearby North Shore Mountains are home to three ski
resorts, Cypress Mountain, Grouse Mountain and Mount Seymour. These can
be reached within half an hour from the city center, the winter season
usually lasts from early December to late April. Whistler, with more
winter sports facilities, is about a two-hour drive away. An extensive
network of hiking trails and mountain bike routes runs through the
mountains, the latter known as the North Shore Trails. Canoeing and
rafting are practiced on the Capilano River, Lynn Creek and Seymour
River. The North Shore Mountains also offer numerous opportunities for
sport climbing.
The 1954 Commonwealth Games were held in
Vancouver. The city hosted the 2009 World Police and Fire Games and the
2010 Winter Olympics.
Vancouver is located on the Strait of Georgia, an estuary shielded
from the Pacific Ocean by Vancouver Island. The 114.67 km² large urban
area extends on the Burrard Peninsula, between the approximately 25 km
long Burrard Inlet in the north and the Fraser River in the south. On
the west side of the peninsula is English Bay. On its north coast, the
Burrard Peninsula is divided again by another arm of the sea, the False
Creek, which is around two kilometers long. This smaller peninsula is
home to Downtown and Stanley Park, one of the largest urban parks in
North America. Towering on the west side of the park is Siwash Rock, a
prominent volcanic rock. The metropolitan area of Vancouver includes
flat and hilly terrain, the highest point is 167 m above sea level. NN,
on Little Mountain in Queen Elizabeth Park.
The city is known for
its scenic location. Towering mountains characterize the cityscape;
these belong to the North Shore Mountains, the southernmost range of the
Coast Mountains. The three local mountains Grouse Mountain (1231 m),
Mount Seymour (1449 m) and Mount Strachan (1454 m) are on the north
shore of Burrard Inlet directly opposite the city. On a clear day, the
Mount Baker volcano, located in Washington state, can be seen to the
southeast. The mountains on the Sunshine Coast to the northwest and
Vancouver Island to the west and southwest complete the scenery.
Vancouver's neighboring communities are West Vancouver to the northwest,
North Vancouver to the north, North Vancouver District to the northeast,
Burnaby to the east and Richmond to the south. The University Endowment
Lands to the West is an unincorporated area and forms part of Greater
Vancouver Electoral Area A.
vegetation
The original vegetation
of Vancouver and its suburbs was temperate rainforest, composed of
conifers and scattered maples and alders, interspersed with swamps (due
to poor drainage even at higher elevations). The conifers were a coastal
British Columbia hybrid of Sitka spruce, cedar cedar, western hemlock,
Douglas fir, and Pacific yew. Only at Elliott Bay in Seattle the
mightiest trees of these species are said to have been larger than at
Burrard Inlet and English Bay. The tallest trees in Vancouver's primary
forest were in the Gastown area, where forestry activity first took
place, and on the south shores of False Creek and English Bay
(particularly at Jericho Beach). Most of the tree population in Stanley
Park is secondary forest, but there are also some protected and marked
trees that were processed by Native Americans in pre-European times
(Culturally Modified Trees).
Numerous species of plants and trees
that grow in Vancouver and the rest of the Lower Mainland were imported
here from other parts of North America and other continents. Various
types of palm trees are common, but also a large number of other exotic
trees such as araucaria and Japanese maple as well as magnolias, azaleas
and rhododendrons. Numerous rhododendrons have grown to enormous sizes,
as have other species native to the colder climates of eastern Canada
and Europe. Japanese cherry trees donated by Japan have lined many of
the city's streets since the 1930s.
Compared to the Canadian average, Vancouver's climate is unusually
mild due to the influence of the Kuroshio Current. Winters are the
fourth warmest in Environment Canada tracked cities, after Victoria,
Nanaimo and Duncan (all located on nearby Vancouver Island). The
proximity to the sea creates a microclimate, winter temperatures are
usually 2 to 4 °C warmer and summer temperatures 3 to 8 °C colder than
inland. On an average of 46 days a year, the daily low temperature falls
below the freezing point, on only two days below −10 °C. The average
daily highs in July and August are around 22 °C, but can occasionally
rise to more than 26 °C.
Vancouver is considered a rainy city,
with an average of 166 days of rain per year. Rain can often fall for up
to 20 straight days between November and March when the subtropical wind
current known as the Pineapple Express brings warm and humid air from
Hawaii. As a rule of thumb, around 100 mm more precipitation can be
expected for every 100 meters of altitude. Snow falls far more
frequently in the higher eastern and northern suburbs than in the city
and at sea level. Although the annual amount of snow is just under half
a meter, even light snowfall can lead to the closure of schools and
shops and to large-scale traffic problems. This has to do with the fact
that the snow is very wet due to the proximity to the coast and icy
roads form due to the repeated rise and fall of the temperature above
and below freezing.
There are up to six thunderstorms a year.
These usually occur in late autumn and winter and are sometimes
accompanied by hail. The low number is because the estuary rarely warms
up enough to create ideal conditions for thunderstorms.
Archaeological finds indicate that the First Nations presence in the
Vancouver area dates back approximately 4,500 to 9,000 years. At the
time of the first encounter with Europeans, there were numerous
settlements of the Musqueam, Squamish, Stó:lō, Tsawwassen and
Tsleil'wau-tuth, who count among the Coastal Salish, along the lower
Fraser River and the adjacent Pacific coast. Located between Vancouver
Island and Washington State, these tribes are closely linked through
language and culture, but also through kinship and trade.
Although food procurement was based on gathering and hunting, they
possessed a comparatively highly developed culture with strong social
differentiation. Thus - similar to contemporary Europe - there was a
tripartite division of society into a dominant "nobility", simple
tribesmen and slaves. Their economic system rewarded hard work, the
accumulation of wealth, and the social redistribution of that wealth,
particularly through the ruling families, whose heads Europeans called
chiefs. The winter quarters in the Vancouver area consisted of large
longhouses built from the wood of the giant cedar. The potlatch
ceremonies were an important part of the social and spiritual life of
these tribes.
Spanish captain José María Narváez, in 1791, was the first European
to sail the coasts in the area of present-day Vancouver. A year later,
British Captain George Vancouver explored the Georgia Straits, Burrard
Inlet and Puget Sound. The first European to reach the area by land was
Simon Fraser, a fur trader for the North West Company, who in 1808 and
his companions explored the full length of the Fraser River, which bears
his name.
As a result of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush (1858–1860),
and particularly the Cariboo Gold Rush (1861–1862), some 25,000 men,
many from California, moved to the Fraser River drainage basin. The
first permanent European settlement, McCleery Farm, was established in
1862 on the riverbank, east of the Musqueam winter camps in what is now
Marpole. In 1863 the first sawmill went into operation in Moodyville
(now North Vancouver) and established the traditional forestry industry.
Other sawmills soon sprang up on the south bank of Burrard Inlet, then
owned by Captain Edward Stamp. Stamp, who had been a lumberjack around
Port Alberni, first set up a sawmill at Brockton Point, at the east end
of Stanley Park. But treacherous currents and reefs forced him to
relocate operations in 1865. Stamp's Mill was built near what is now
Gore Street.
The various sawmills in the area were important
manufacturers of wood products for shipping. Many of the masts of the
Royal Navy's numerous windjammers and ever-growing ships were made of
timber from the Vancouver area. Among the numerous orders was one from
the Chinese Emperor, who ordered dozens of huge beams for the Gate of
Heavenly Peace in the Forbidden City in Beijing.
Gastown grew up
next to Stamp's Mill. It was named after John Deighton, nicknamed Gassy
Jack, who opened a pub there in 1867. In 1870 the colonial government of
British Columbia surveyed the settlement and officially named it
Granville on March 1 in honor of Lord Granville, Minister for the
Colonies. However, this designation never caught on and the district is
still called Gastown today.
The settlement was located at a
natural harbor and was therefore designated in 1885 by the Canadian
Pacific Railway (CPR) as the western terminus of the transcontinental
railway line, in place of Port Moody, 20 km to the east. The
construction of the line was one of the preconditions for British
Columbia's entry into the Canadian Confederation in 1871. CPR President
William Cornelius Van Horne advocated changing the name of the place to
Vancouver because he said people in the east of the country knew where
Vancouver Island was while Gastown or even Granville was completely
unknown.
On April 6, 1886, the city was officially founded with the new name
Vancouver. On June 13 of the same year, a fire that got out of control
due to a violent gust of wind almost completely destroyed the young
town. Within 45 minutes more than 1000 wooden houses were consumed by
the flames, but reconstruction work began the following day. The first
train pulled into Waterfront Station on May 23, 1887, on the banks of
Burrard Inlet. Thanks to the economic boom brought about by the
railroad, Vancouver recovered quickly, growing from 5,000 in 1887 to
15,000 in 1892 and 100,000 in 1900.
In the early decades, large
corporations dominated economic activity because they had the capital to
drive the city's quantitative and qualitative growth. Some industries
developed, but the backbone of the city's economy was the exploitation
of natural resources. Forestry dominated first, and later export traffic
via the port of Vancouver. The port particularly benefited from the
opening of the Panama Canal in 1914, which created a more direct export
route to Europe. During World War I, about a third of the False Creek
inlet was filled in to make room for other railway facilities, most
notably the Canadian Northern Railway's (later Canadian National
Railway) Pacific Central Station.
Corporate dominance often led
to violent labor movements. The first major strike took place in 1903
when CPR railroad workers demonstrated for recognition of their union.
In 1918 Vancouver was the starting point of the first Canadian general
strike. Other social movements such as feminists, moral reformers, and
teetotalers also exerted influence on city politics. In 1906 the city
council tried in vain to close the brothels on Dupont Street. During
World War I and until 1921, an alcohol prohibition law was in effect.
During the 1920s, Vancouver was repeatedly rocked by racial riots,
particularly against the Chinese and Japanese; various newspapers warned
of an "oriental threat".
On January 1, 1929, the City of
Vancouver's area was expanded to its current extent with the
incorporation of Point Gray and South Vancouver. Since then it has
encompassed almost the entire western part of the peninsula between the
Burrard Inlet and the Fraser River. The population on that day was
228,193, making Vancouver the third largest city in the country. The
economic boom of the 1920s ended abruptly with the global economic
crisis. Neighboring communities of North Vancouver and Burnaby went
bankrupt, while Vancouver narrowly averted it. Thousands of young people
traveled across Canada to Vancouver hoping to find work. The communists,
who organized mass strikes several times, were very popular in the
slums. Many members of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion, which fought in
the Spanish Civil War, were from Vancouver.
The outbreak of World
War II helped the region experience rapid economic growth. The shipyards
produced corvettes and minesweepers for the Royal Canadian Navy, and the
Boeing plant in neighboring Richmond produced parts for B-29 bombers. In
1942, a few months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Canadian
government viewed Japanese Canadians as a national security threat, much
like the Germans in World War I. The Canadians of Japanese origin were
dispossessed, rounded up in Hastings Park and then interned in camps
inland. It was not until 1988 that the government officially apologized
and paid compensation.
In December 1953, CBUT, the first television station in western
Canada, began broadcasting. Several new bridges created better transport
connections. The Second Narrows Bridge (1925) and the Lions Gate Bridge
(1938) on the north bank of Burrard Inlet had already been built before
the war. In 1957 the Oak Street Bridge followed over the Fraser River to
Richmond and in 1960 the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing
over Burrard Inlet.
Two new universities were founded in the
suburb of Burnaby, both of which now have branches in Vancouver and
complement the University of British Columbia, founded in 1908: the
British Columbia Institute of Technology was the first in 1960, followed
in 1965 by Simon Fraser University. Residents of the Chinese-influenced
Strathcona neighborhood formed a protest movement in the late 1960s and
prevented the neighborhood from being demolished to make way for a
planned highway. The protests led to a rethinking of traffic policy and
in 1980 to the ban on further motorways in the city area. Greenpeace was
founded in Vancouver in 1971 and is now one of the world's most
important environmental protection organizations. The continued growth
of Vancouver International Airport on Sea Island necessitated the
construction of another bridge over the Fraser River, the Arthur Laing
Bridge was dedicated in 1976.
After Vancouver was awarded the
contract to host the 1986 World's Fair, a construction boom began in the
city that, with a few brief interruptions, has continued to this day. In
1983, BC Place Stadium opened, Canada's first indoor stadium. In January
1986, the first line of the SkyTrain followed, an elevated railway that
connects Vancouver with the suburbs. Other striking buildings that were
built with Expo 86 in mind and have shaped the cityscape ever since are
Science World, Canada Place and the Plaza of Nations.
The world
exhibition, which lasted from May to October 1986 and was the last in
North America, proved to be a great success with over 20 million
visitors. The exhibition site on the north bank of False Creek had
previously been an extensive brownfield site and was sold to Hong Kong
entrepreneur Li Ka-shing after the exhibition closed. He implemented one
of the largest urban development projects in North America, and within a
few years False Creek was transformed into a high-density and
attractively located residential area on the edge of downtown. As early
as the 1970s, the Granville Island peninsula in False Creek had been
converted from an industrial zone into a popular shopping and cultural
district. This sustainable urban planning increased the quality of life
in the region.
In 1998, Canada's National Olympic Committee
decided to bid to host the 2010 Winter Olympics. In the intra-Canadian
eliminations, Vancouver received the most votes ahead of Québec and
Calgary. On February 22, 2002, in a (legally non-binding) municipal
referendum, 63.9% of the participating voters approved the candidacy.
Vancouver was awarded the contract on July 2, 2003 at the 115th IOC
session in Prague, beating Pyeongchang and Salzburg.
Since then,
the city has been using the traffic infrastructure, which was improved
for the Olympic Games, for targeted urban development at junctions. The
Canada Line stations, which connect Vancouver's waterfront to Richmond
and the airport, will become centers of high-density development and
local amenities in the city and in Richmond. Although the Organizing
Committee for the Games was able to present a balanced balance sheet,
this did not include the costs for the construction of the new
infrastructure for the Olympic Games, which have since weighed heavily
on the budget of the City of Vancouver. The province's debt also
increased by CA$24 billion over a ten-year period as a result of the
Games.
The immigration policy of the USA, which has prevented
American companies from recruiting employees since Donald Trump was
elected President, means that many of them are switching to Canada and
especially to Vancouver. Microsoft founded its Microsoft Canada
Excellence Center (MCEC) in Vancouver with 750 employees. 50,000 new
technology jobs are expected to be created there by 2020. Vancouver is
now Canada's leading city for start-ups. However, this leads to rapidly
increasing real estate prices and rents. Amazon has been acquiring and
constructing properties since 2015 to house at least 5,000 employees.
People of many ethnic groups and religions live in the city, which
has created a multicultural society here. 47.1 percent of the population
belong to what Statistics Canada calls a "visible minority group" (i.e.
all non-whites or non-Caucasians with the exception of First Nations,
Inuit and Métis). Vancouver has the highest interracial marriage rate in
Canada at 7.2 percent (the national average is 3.2 percent).
From
the early years of European settlement in the second half of the 19th
century, people from the British Isles formed the largest immigrant
group and are still the largest ethnic group in Vancouver. Up until the
1960s, the city was distinctly British, with most British immigrants
moving directly here without having previously lived in the eastern
Canadian provinces. The British influence on cultural life is
particularly noticeable in the districts of South Granville and
Kerrisdale. Before the 1980s, people of German descent formed the second
largest group, followed by those from Ukraine and Scandinavia. Most
European immigrants or their descendants have now been fully
assimilated.
With a share of almost 30 percent, the Chinese are
by far the largest non-European population group. They came to British
Columbia in two major immigration waves, in the second half of the 19th
century during the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush and during the construction
of the transcontinental railroad line, and in the 1980s and 1990s before
Hong Kong's handover to the People's Republic of China. Of the Chinese
languages spoken in Vancouver, Cantonese is the most widely spoken.
Other significant ethnic groups from Asia include Indians (primarily
from the Punjab, commonly referred to as Indo-Canadians), Vietnamese,
Filipinos, Koreans, Khmers and Japanese.
Vancouver is the second
most popular immigrant destination in Canada, behind Toronto and ahead
of Montreal. There are several neighborhoods that are strongly
influenced by a specific ethnic group. In addition to the second largest
Chinatown in North America (after San Francisco), Vancouver also has
areas where Indian (“Punjabi Market”), Italian (“Little Italy”),
Japanese (“Japantown”), Korean (“Koreatown”) or Greek ("Greektown")
influences are noticeable.
The ten First Nations in Greater Vancouver are special in a number of
ways. Thus, the traditional areas of the Indians demarcate jurisdictions
in which the state has an obligation to timely consultations on all
matters affecting that area. As a result, government buildings may not
be sold without consultation with the First Nation concerned. In
addition, the Musqueam, for example, whose traditional area is largely
occupied by the university, have leased land there and maintain a
special relationship with the university itself. In addition, the First
Nations are not considered a "visible minority".
In 2001, there
were 22,700 Native Americans in Vancouver County, of whom 17,475 were
registered status Indians and 5,225 non-status Indians; 10,445 lived in
Vancouver itself. In 2006 there were already 23,515 Indians living in
the city. The 22 reservations in the greater Vancouver area cover only
17.22 km² or 0.6 percent of the total area. Also living in the city in
2001 were 12,505 Métis, their number increasing to 15,075 by 2006, and
260 Inuit, whose number decreased to 210. There were also 1,395 people
of mixed affiliation or other indigenous peoples. This means that 21.7
percent of the indigenous people of British Columbia lived in Greater
Vancouver, in 2006 there were exactly 40,310.
There is no dominant religion or denomination in Vancouver. According
to the 2001 census, Roman Catholics make up the largest proportion of
the population at 19.0 percent. On the one hand, this is due to
immigration from Catholic countries such as Italy and, on the other
hand, to the fact that the first missionaries among the First Nations
were Catholic religious, especially Oblates. 17.4 percent belong to
various Protestant denominations, with the Anglican community, which
emerged in Great Britain, dominating due to the British origin of many
residents. 1.7 percent described themselves as orthodox Christians,
which is mainly due to Ukrainian and Greek immigration, 4.4 percent
stated that they belonged to an unspecified Christian denomination. The
followers of various directions of Buddhism are mainly of Chinese origin
with a share of 6.9 percent. Adherents of Sikhism and Hinduism come
predominantly from the Indian subcontinent with 2.8 percent and 1.4
percent, respectively. 1.8 percent of the population profess Judaism,
Islam 1.7 percent and other religions 0.8 percent.
42.2 percent
indicated no religious affiliation. The city, like the rest of British
Columbia, has a low percentage of regular churchgoers compared to the
rest of North America. While this was 67 percent in 1946, it fell
steadily over the following decades and was only 20 percent in 2001.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver replaced the older
Diocese of New Westminster in 1908. It includes the southwestern part of
the province of British Columbia excluding Vancouver Island. Bishop's
seat is the Holy Rosary Cathedral built in 1899/1900. United with the
Roman Catholic Church is the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, with
Vancouver belonging to the Eparchy of New Westminster, which forms part
of the Archeparchy of Winnipeg. The Anglican Diocese of New Westminster
moved its seat to Vancouver in 1929, to Christ Church Cathedral, built
in 1894/95. The diocese forms part of the ecclesiastical province of
British Columbia and the Yukon. The Holy Trinity Cathedral belongs to
the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada; it is one of two cathedrals of
the Diocese of Edmonton and Western Canada affiliated with the
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
The most widespread
branch of Buddhism that came to the region with the Asian immigrants is
Amitabha Buddhism, which is dominant in East Asia. The most important
temple in the metropolitan region is the International Buddhist Temple
in neighboring Richmond.
Vancouver's Jewish community, which can
also be traced back to before the actual founding of the city, is now
the third largest in Canada. Conservative Judaism has the most members,
followed by Reform Judaism and Orthodox Judaism.
At the beginning
of the 20th century, Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims from what was then
British India also moved here. The former British colonial empire has
shaped its former colony of Canada to this day.
The economic boom and the housing needs of wealthy immigrants have
led to sharply rising rents. As a result, around 100,000 people in the
Vancouver metropolitan area are threatened with homelessness, and around
2,200 live on the streets in Vancouver. In addition, there is an
increasing number of drug addicts, prostitution and crime.
At the
same time, the street level social problems, i.e. the problems that
become apparent on the street, are increasing. For several years now,
they have not only affected well-known districts such as downtown
Vancouver, but also Metrotown in Burnaby and the Whalley/Centre City
area in Surrey. Yet in 2005, 63 percent of the homeless population was
concentrated in Vancouver itself, while 21 percent are in the sub-region
south of the Fraser River. Homelessness, but above all drug addiction,
prostitution and (procurement) crime are closely linked. The desolate
living situation of several hundred residents is easy to see, especially
in the vicinity of East Hastings Street (also known as Downtown
Eastside, DTES for short) between downtown and Chinatown.
According to numerous statistics and surveys, Canada in general and
Vancouver in particular achieve top rankings in terms of quality of
life. Vancouver is consistently ranked as one of the top three cities in
the world to live in. This means that the metropolis has been the most
livable city in Canada for many years. The unusually mild climate is
considered by many to be one of the main reasons why Vancouver is ahead
of other Canadian cities (such as Toronto, Calgary and Montreal) that
are also well-ranked. In a 2018 Mercer ranking of cities with the
highest quality of life in the world, Vancouver ranked fifth.
In
addition to surveys, such surveys also include statistics on, for
example, unemployment rates, crime or the like.
The Vancouver Charter, enacted in 1953, gives the city more powers
than other municipalities subject to the BC Municipalites Act of British
Columbia. The city is governed by a City Council (Vancouver City
Council), which is composed of ten MPs plus the mayor. There is also a
school council with nine members and a park council with seven members.
Councils are elected every three years by proportional representation,
with the entire city forming a single constituency. The introduction of
the majority voting with single constituencies, which is otherwise
customary in Canada, was rejected in a referendum on October 17, 2004.
In Canada, the parties are strictly separated at the federal and
provincial level (members of one party level do not necessarily belong
to the other). In Vancouver, this system continues at the local level.
The centre-right Non-Partisan Association (NPA) has dominated city
politics since the 1940s and has held the mayor with few interruptions
ever since. Opposite her is the centre-left Coalition of Progressive
Electors (COPE). Central to the political spectrum, Vision Vancouver
split from COPE in 2005. In the most recent election, on November 15,
2008, Vision Vancouver won eight seats, including newly elected mayor
Gregor Robertson (his predecessor, NPA's Sam Sullivan, lost in the
party's internal elimination). COPE won two seats, the previously
governing NPA one seat.
Traditionally, the more affluent
residents of the western parts of the city tend to vote conservatively
and liberally, while those in the eastern parts of the city tend to vote
left. Consensus has emerged across the political spectrum on some
issues: the city's parks will be protected from development, the
development of public transport has priority over the construction of
city freeways, drug users will not be prosecuted.
In April 2019,
the city declared a "Climate Emergency" due to global climate change and
announced an action program to reduce CO2 in its sphere of influence.
Vancouver is represented in the British Columbia Legislative Assembly
by ten MPs elected in as many constituencies. In the last election on
May 17, 2005, the British Columbia Liberal Party and the British
Columbia New Democratic Party each won five seats.
Five MPs
represent Vancouver in the Canadian House of Commons. In the October 14,
2008 election, the Liberal Party won three seats and the New Democratic
Party two seats. The ruling Conservative Party has no representative
from Vancouver.
While most of the Lower Mainland region is managed by Division E of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Vancouver has its own police force, the Vancouver Police Department. According to the 2016 Annual Report, the Vancouver Police Department has a staff strength of 1,716 (1,327 police officers and 389 civilian employees) and has a budget of approximately C$265 million to carry out its duties. In 2006, the city's police force established its own anti-terrorist unit, leading to speculation about potential tensions with the RCMP, given the latter's sole responsibility for national security matters. The Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority Police Service, formed in December 2005, provides safety on public transportation. In 2005, Greater Vancouver had the fourth highest crime rate among Canada's metropolitan areas. Property crime rates are particularly high, and one of the highest in North America, but declined 10.5 percent between 2004 and 2005. Car theft accounts for the majority of property crimes.
Coat of Arms Statement: Vancouver's coat of arms has existed in its current form since 1969 and was awarded by the College of Arms. The coat of arms shows - framed by shield holders, helmet, helmet jewel and motto - four blue and white wavy bars, above each in the corners a dogwood blossom with white petals, green petals and orange carpel. The shield is divided by a tapering Indian totem pole.
Commerce makes up the bulk of Vancouver's economy. The Port of
Vancouver is Canada's largest and the second largest on the west coast
of North America (it is the continent's largest in terms of exports).
Goods worth CAD 43 billion are traded with more than 90 countries every
year. The port creates around 69,200 jobs and generates four billion CAD
gross domestic product.
Another mainstay of Vancouver's economy
is forestry. Global corporations such as Canfor and West Fraser Timber
(the second and third largest timber producers in the world) have their
headquarters here. Vancouver is also the headquarters of numerous mining
companies such as Teck Resources and Goldcorp. Vancouver's stock
exchange, the Vancouver Stock Exchange (now part of the Toronto Stock
Exchange), is the world's premier venture capital market for small to
mid-sized mining companies. Vancouver has numerous branches of national
and international banks and service companies (e.g. HSBC, RBC, BMO,
CIBC).
Vancouver is the third most important location for the
North American film and television industry after Los Angeles and New
York City. Around ten percent of all Hollywood films are shot in and
around Vancouver, which is why the city is often referred to as
"Hollywood North". The Vancouver Film Studios are among the most
important film and television studios in the world, other companies in
the film and television industry have their headquarters in various
suburbs. Reasons for switching to Vancouver are the favorable exchange
rate of the Canadian dollar, the same time zone as Los Angeles and the
scenic and architectural diversity in Greater Vancouver, which makes it
possible to recreate scenes from (almost) all over the world. The film
industry also benefits from tax breaks from the Canadian government.
Numerous universities and the high quality of life led to the
settlement of several cutting-edge technology and software companies. A
particularly large cluster of computer game developers has formed in the
region, the largest being Electronic Arts and Relic Entertainment. In
addition, Vancouver is developing into the center of research into fuel
cells. The world's leading manufacturer, Ballard Power Systems, has its
headquarters in the neighboring city of Burnaby, while the National
Research Council of Canada's institute for fuel cell research is located
in Vancouver.
Especially since the World Exhibition Expo 86, the
importance of tourism has increased significantly. In addition to
numerous sights, parks and beaches in Vancouver itself, it is above all
the diverse nature in the area and the associated leisure activities
that attract many tourists. 126 km north, the Whistler-Blackcomb resort
is one of the most popular ski areas in North America. Plenty of summer
and winter sports are also available in the nearby North Shore
Mountains. Cruise ships operate regularly from Vancouver, usually bound
for Alaska. With almost 3.9 million foreign visitors, Vancouver was the
34th most visited city in the world in 2016. Tourists brought in $2.1
billion in revenue that same year. Most foreign visitors came from the
USA and Asia.
Inner-city railways
Since 1998, TransLink has served almost all
transportation in Metro Vancouver and parts of the adjacent Fraser
Valley Regional District, except for intercity rail, ferry and taxi
services. TransLink operates local public transport in this area and
partially or fully finances and maintains roads and bridges (excluding
motorways).
The backbone of local public transport in Vancouver
and the surrounding area is the fully automatic SkyTrain, which is
mostly designed as an elevated railway. The Expo Line and Millennium
Line go to Burnaby, New Westminster and Surrey. Since August 17, 2009,
the Canada Line has connected downtown with Richmond and the airport.
The companies Coast Mountain Bus Company and West Vancouver Blue Bus
operate a dense bus network on behalf of TransLink. 13 routes are also
served by the Vancouver trolleybus. In 1948, this replaced the British
Columbia Electric Railway's streetcars and interurbans that existed from
1890 to 1958. In 2008 there were studies at the city council to
reintroduce the tram; the first line will run from Granville Island
along False Creek via the Waterfront Station to Stanley Park. In 2019,
this study was updated under the aspect of a potential long-term
realization. The Vancouver Downtown Historic Railway, a heritage tram,
runs along the south bank of False Creek on summer weekends. Historical
omnibuses are also used in downtown Gastown as a tourist attraction.
Airport
Vancouver International Airport is located in the
neighboring city of Richmond on Sea Island, an island in the Fraser
River estuary. Vancouver's airport is the second busiest in Canada and
the second busiest on the west coast of North America with international
flights. Other major airports in the area include Abbotsford
International Airport in Abbotsford and Boundary Bay Airport in Delta.
Downtown also has docks for seaplanes, particularly Harbor Air, which
flies north to Vancouver Island, as well as sightseeing flights over the
surrounding area. There is also a helipad just east of Canada Place;
Scheduled flights are also offered from here.
The Airwest
Airlines crash in Vancouver Harbor in 1978 claimed 11 lives.
road
network
Due to spatial planning measures and the geographical
location, there are no freeways in Vancouver with one exception. The
only one is the Trans-Canada Highway in the far east of the city. All
others narrow before the city limits to main streets. In general, the
street network of the metropolis is structured according to a grid
pattern. A 170 km long cycle path network runs through the city. Most
cycle paths lead along traffic-calmed side streets, in the more densely
populated city center cycle lanes predominate.
watercraft
There is no direct ferry service between Vancouver and Vancouver Island.
BC Ferries operate ferries from Horseshoe Bay west of West Vancouver to
Nanaimo and Bowen Island, and from Tsawwassen in Delta Township to
Swartz Bay near Victoria and the Gulf Islands. The SeaBus ferry connects
downtown Vancouver and North Vancouver.
The port makes the city
the main terminus for Canada's two transcontinental freight trains, the
Canadian Pacific Railway and the Canadian National Railway. The American
BNSF Railway (formerly Great Northern Railway) also has a route to
Vancouver. The Canadian Pacific reached the city in 1887, the Great
Northern in 1891, and the Canadian Northern (predecessor to the Canadian
National) in 1915. The railroads offer direct freight trains to Chicago,
the railroad hub of North America, and to New York/New Jersey. The
necessary shunting systems of the companies are all outside the city
area. The route network of the British Columbia Railway, which has
belonged to the CN since 2004, ends in North Vancouver.
long-distance rail transport
InterCity trains to other Canadian
cities are operated by VIA Rail under the name The Canadian and depart
from Pacific Central Station. Amtrak Cascades offers service to Seattle.
Great Canadian Railtour excursion trains operate under the Rocky
Mountaineer name to Calgary, Jasper and Whistler. The West Coast Express
is a commuter train that runs from Waterfront Station to Mission.
Greyhound Canada intercity buses operated from Pacific Central
Station until late 2018, but operations have been suspended.
The city of Vancouver forms School District 39, the second largest in British Columbia with around 57,000 students and 119 schools. As in other parts of the province, there are a variety of private schools that qualify for partial government funding—including religious, secular, and special education schools, most of which require additional tuition. In addition, there are three schools that offer French language courses. These are subordinate to the Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique, which is responsible for francophone pupils throughout the province.
There are two major public universities in the Vancouver area.
Founded in 1908, the University of British Columbia (UBC) is located
just west of the city on the western tip of the Burrard Peninsula.
Founded in 1965, Simon Fraser University (SFU) is headquartered in
Burnaby. UBC and SFU have off-campus teaching facilities in Vancouver.
The British Columbia Institute of Technology at Burnaby is a technical
university with campuses in Vancouver, Richmond and North Vancouver. In
September 2007, a campus of the private Fairleigh Dickinson University
was opened in Vancouver.
Important art colleges are the Emily
Carr University of Art and Design, the Vancouver Film School and the
Studio 58. Two technical colleges (called colleges in Canada) also offer
higher education courses in Vancouver, these are the Vancouver Community
College and the Langara College.
The Collège Éducacentre offers
adult education in French.
Two regional daily newspapers, The Vancouver Sun and The Province,
are published in Vancouver. Both are published by the Pacific Newspaper
Group, a subsidiary of CanWest Global Communications. Two national
dailies, The Globe and Mail and National Post are also distributed. The
three daily newspapers Ming Pao, Sing Tao Daily and World Journal are
aimed at the Chinese-speaking part of the population. 24 Hours and Metro
are free commuter newspapers. The weekly newspaper The Georgia Straight
is also free. The local newspaper Vancouver Courier appears twice a
week.
In British Columbia, too, the nationally active television
stations are represented with regional branches. In the case of the
public broadcasters Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Télévision de
Radio-Canada, these are the channels CBUT and CBUFT, while the
commercial providers Citytv, CH, Global and CTV are represented by
Citytv Vancouver, CHEK-TV, Global BC and CTV British Columbia . The
station Global BC has the highest market shares in the news sector.
Channel m caters to the large number of immigrants and broadcasts in
five Asian languages.
The three main radio stations are CBC Radio
One, CKNW and News1130. There are also a large number of sports or news
channels, mainly on AM, as well as numerous music channels, most of
which can be received on FM.
Vancouver is the birthplace and place of work of numerous prominent
personalities. Due to the great importance of the city for the North
American film industry, many actors are represented among them. Among
the best known are James Doohan (Star Trek), Hayden Christensen (Star
Wars) and Yvonne De Carlo (The Munsters). Numerous well-known athletes
who have excelled in ice hockey, Canada's national sport, come from
Vancouver. Glenn Anderson is a six-time Stanley Cup winner, and Olympic
champion Paul Kariya is one of the best-known Canadians of Japanese
descent.
Due to the very short terms of office, only a few mayors
had a lasting influence on the development of the city. The first,
Malcolm Alexander MacLean, oversaw the rebuilding of the city after the
1886 fire. Louis Denison Taylor served four times between 1910 and 1934,
and his eleven-year tenure is the longest of any previous mayor. Larry
Campbell's previous career as a coroner served as a template for the hit
television series Da Vinci's Inquest. Gordon Campbell was Prime Minister
of British Columbia from 2001 to 2011 and has been Canada's Ambassador
to the UK since 2011.
Squamish chief Joseph Capilano (actually
Su-á-pu-luck) also had an influence on Canadian politics. First Nations
Congregation leader Shawn Atleo is also from Vancouver. Environmental
activist David McTaggart founded Greenpeace here.