Surrey (/ˈsɝɹi/) is a city in British Columbia, Canada. It is located south of the Fraser River on the Canada–United States border. It is a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver regional district and metropolitan area. Mainly a suburban city, Surrey is the province's second-largest by population after Vancouver and the third-largest by area after Abbotsford and Prince George. Seven neighbourhoods in Surrey are designated town centres: Cloverdale, Fleetwood, Guildford, Newton, South Surrey, and City Centre encompassed by Whalley.
Ujjal Dev Dosanjh, is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served as the 33rd premier of British Columbia from 2000 to 2001 and as a Liberal Party of Canada member of Parliament from 2004 to 2011. He was minister of health from 2004 until 2006, when the party lost government. He then served in the Official Opposition from January 2006 until 2011. Dosanjh was one of four visible minorities to serve in Paul Martin's Ministry.
Gulzar Singh Cheema is an Indian-born Canadian physician and politician. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1988 to 1993, and a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 2001 to 2004, making him one of only a few Canadian politicians to have sat in two provincial legislatures since Confederation. He is the first Indian-born provincial legislator in Canada. He was also a cabinet minister in the government of Premier of British Columbia Gordon Campbell from 2001 to 2004, and was a candidate of the Liberal Party of Canada in the federal election of 2004.
Greater Vancouver, also known as Metro Vancouver, is the metropolitan area with its major urban centre being the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The term "Greater Vancouver" describes an area that is roughly coterminous with the region governed by the Metro Vancouver Regional District (MVRD), though it predates the 1966 creation of the regional district. It is often used to include areas beyond the boundaries of the regional district but does not generally include wilderness and agricultural areas that are included within the MVRD.
Fleetwood—Port Kells is a federal electoral district in the province of British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 2004.
Surrey Central was a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, used in the 1997 and 2000 elections to elect a Member of Parliament for the 36th and 37th Parliaments, respectively. The electoral district was created, in 1996, as part of the expansion of the House of Commons of Canada from 295 to 301 seats, which gave British Columbia two additional seats. Gurmant Grewal won the 1997 election for the Reform Party of Canada which became the official opposition. After the Reform Party disbanded, Grewal joined the Canadian Alliance and won re-election in 2000, with his party again forming the official opposition. The electoral district was abolished when the House of Commons again expanded for the 2004 election.
Gurmant Singh Grewal is an Indo-Canadian politician and former Conservative Member of Parliament. Gurmant and his wife, Nina Grewal, who represented Fleetwood—Port Kells from 2004 to 2015, were the first married couple to serve in the House of Commons of Canada at the same time. First elected to the Canadian House of Commons on June 2, 1997 for the riding of Surrey Central and re-elected there on November 27, 2000, he represented the riding of Newton—North Delta from 2004 until 2005. Grewal announced that he would not be running in the 2006 federal election over a dispute of alleged offer of patronage with the Liberal Party, which was governing at that time.
Tara Singh Hayer was an Indian-Canadian newspaper publisher and editor who was murdered after his outspoken criticism of fundamentalist violence and terrorism. In particular, he was a key witness in the trial of the Air India Flight 182 bombing.
Sukhminder "Sukh" Singh Dhaliwal is a Canadian businessman and politician, who has served as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Surrey—Newton since 2015. He was previously the Member of Parliament for Newton—North Delta from 2006 to 2011.
Jagrup Brar is a Canadian politician. He is a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in British Columbia, representing the riding of Surrey-Panorama Ridge from 2004 to 2009, then Surrey-Fleetwood from 2009 to 2013 and since 2017. A member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party, he has served as the province's minister of State for Trade since 2022.
John Nuraney was a Canadian politician who was the first Muslim elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. He represented the riding of Burnaby-Willingdon from 2001 to 2009 for the British Columbia Liberal Party.
Indo-Canadians or Indian Canadians, are Canadians who have ancestry from India. The term East Indian is sometimes used to avoid confusion with the Indigenous peoples of Canada. Categorically, Indo-Canadians comprise a subgroup of South Asian Canadians which is a further subgroup of Asian Canadians. According to Statistics Canada, Indians are one of the fastest growing communities in Canada and one of the largest non-European ethnic groups.
Stephanie Cadieux is a Canadian politician, who was elected as a BC Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2009 provincial election, representing the riding of Surrey-Panorama. After the 2013 provincial election, Cadieux was elected in the riding of Surrey-Cloverdale and in the 2017 provincial election, Cadieux was elected in the riding of Surrey South. In Opposition, she served as Opposition critic for Advanced Education and as Opposition critic for Gender Equity, Accessibility, Inclusion and Sport, having previously served, when her party formed the government, as the Minister of Children and Family Development, and prior to that as Minister of Social Development, Minister of Labour, Citizens' Services and Open Government and Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development.
Amrik S. Virk is a Canadian politician, who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2013 provincial election. He represented the electoral district of Surrey-Tynehead as a member of the British Columbia Liberal Party and was appointed Minister of Advanced Education on June 10, 2013, by Premier Christy Clark. Following a compensation scandal, he was appointed Minister of Technology, Innovation, and Citizens' Services on December 18, 2014, dropping his responsibilities for Advanced Education.
Cloverdale—Langley City is a federal electoral district in British Columbia. It encompasses a portion of B.C. previously included in the electoral districts of Langley, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale and Fleetwood—Port Kells.
South Asian Canadians in Metro Vancouver are the third-largest pan-ethnic group in the region, comprising 369,295 persons or 14.2 percent of the total population as of 2021. Sizable communities exist within the city of Vancouver along with the adjoining city of Surrey, which houses one of the world's largest South Asian enclaves.
Punjabi Canadians number approximately 950,000 and account for roughly 2.6% of Canada's population, as per the 2021 Canadian census. Their heritage originates wholly or partly from the Punjab region of India and Pakistan.
Rachna Singh is a Canadian politician and trade unionist who has represented the electoral district of Surrey-Green Timbers in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia since 2017. A member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party caucus, she has served as Minister of Education and Child Care of British Columbia since December 2022.
The 2024 British Columbia general election will be held on October 19, 2024, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly to serve in the 43rd parliament of the Canadian province of British Columbia.
