The Lower Mainland is a geographic and cultural region of the mainland coast of British Columbia that generally comprises the regional districts of Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. Home to approximately 3.05 million people as of the 2021 Canadian census,the Lower Mainland contains sixteen of the province's 30 most populous municipalities and approximately 60% of the province's total population.
The Fraser Valley is a geographical region in southwestern British Columbia,Canada and northwestern Washington State. It starts just west of Hope in a narrow valley encompassing the Fraser River and ends at the Pacific Ocean stretching from the North Shore Mountains,opposite the city of Vancouver BC,to just south of Bellingham,Washington.
Abbotsford is a city in British Columbia next to the Canada–United States border,Greater Vancouver and the Fraser River. With a census population of 153,569 people (2021),it is the largest municipality in the province outside metropolitan Vancouver. Abbotsford–Mission has the third-highest proportion of visible minorities among census metropolitan areas in Canada,after the Greater Toronto Area and the Greater Vancouver CMA. It is home to Tradex,the University of the Fraser Valley,and Abbotsford International Airport.
Mission is a city in the Lower Mainland of the province of British Columbia,Canada. It was originally incorporated as a district municipality in 1892,growing to include additional villages and rural areas over the years,adding the original Town of Mission City,long an independent core of the region,in 1969. It is bordered by the city of Abbotsford to the south and the city of Maple Ridge to the west. To the east are the unincorporated areas of Hatzic and Dewdney.
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.
South Asian Canadians are Canadians who were either born in or can trace their ancestry to South Asia or the Indian subcontinent,which includes the nations of India,Pakistan,Bangladesh,Nepal,Bhutan,Sri Lanka,and the Maldives. The term also includes immigrants from South Asian communities in East and South Africa,Guyana,Trinidad and Tobago,Fiji,Mauritius,and the rest of the world.
The Komagata Maru incident involved the Japanese steamship Komagata Maru,on which a group of people from British India attempted to immigrate to Canada in April 1914,but most were denied entry and forced to return to Budge Budge,near Calcutta. There,the Indian Imperial Police attempted to arrest the group leaders. A riot ensued,and they were fired upon by the police,resulting in some deaths.
Sam Sullivan is a Canadian politician who served as the MLA for Vancouver-False Creek. Previously,he served as the Minister of Communities,Sport,and Cultural Development with responsibility for Translink in the short-lived BC Liberal government after the 2017 election,as well as the 38th mayor of Vancouver,British Columbia,Canada,and has been invested as a member of the Order of Canada. He is currently President of the Global Civic Policy Society and an adjunct professor at the UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture.
Mike de Jong is a politician in the Canadian province of British Columbia. He is a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) of British Columbia,representing the electoral district of Matsqui from 1994 to 2001,Abbotsford-Mount Lehman from 2001 to 2009,and Abbotsford West since 2009. A caucus member of BC United,he served in several cabinet posts under premiers Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark,and ran for party leadership in 2011 and 2018.
Sikhism is the fourth-largest religious group in Canada,with nearly 800,000 adherents,or 2.1% of Canada's population,as of 2021. The largest Sikh populations in Canada are found in Ontario,followed by British Columbia and Alberta. As of the 2021 Census,more than half of Canada's Sikhs can be found in one of four cities:Brampton (163,260),Surrey (154,415),Calgary (49,465),and Edmonton (41,385).
Randy Clifford Hawes is a Canadian politician from British Columbia. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) of BC,representing the provincial riding of Maple Ridge-Mission from 2001 to 2009,and Abbotsford-Mission from 2009 to 2013. As part of the British Columbia Liberal Party caucus,he served as Minister of State for Mining from 2009 to 2011 under Premier Gordon Campbell. He also served as mayor of Mission,British Columbia from 1993 to 2001,and from 2014 to 2018.
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.
Edward Charles Kennedy Stewart is a Canadian academic administrator and politician who served as the 40th mayor of Vancouver from 2018 to 2022. He previously was the member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Burnaby—Douglas (2011–2015) and Burnaby South (2015–2018),serving in the House of Commons as a member of the New Democratic Party (NDP) caucus.
Wai Young is a Canadian politician from Vancouver,British Columbia. She represented the electoral district of Vancouver South for the Conservative Party of Canada from 2011 to 2015. She was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 2011 election,but was defeated by the Liberal Party candidate Harjit Sajjan in the 2015 election. She started her own municipal party,Coalition Vancouver,on June 21,2018. She is leader of the party and ran as its mayoral candidate for the 2018 municipal election. She unsuccessfully contested the 2019 federal election.
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.
The South Asian community in British Columbia was first established in 1897. The first immigrants originated from Punjab,British India,a northern region and state in modern-day India and Pakistan. Punjabis originally settled in rural British Columbia at the turn of the twentieth century,working in the forestry and agricultural industries.
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.
Pam Alexis is a Canadian politician who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2020 British Columbia general election. She represents the electoral district of Abbotsford-Mission as a member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party. She has served as Minister of Agriculture and Food of British Columbia since 2022.
Ross Allan Siemens is a Canadian politician. He has served as the mayor of Abbotsford,British Columbia since 2022.
