Surrey 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.
Delta is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, as part of Greater Vancouver. Located on the Fraser Lowland south of Fraser River's south arm, it is bordered by the city of Richmond on the Lulu Island to the north, New Westminster to the northeast, Surrey to the east, the Boundary Bay and the American pene-exclave Point Roberts to the south, and the Strait of Georgia to the west.
The Township of Langley is a district municipality immediately east of the City of Surrey in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It extends south from the Fraser River to the Canada–United States border, and west of the City of Abbotsford. Langley Township is not to be confused with the City of Langley, which is adjacent to the township but politically is a separate entity. Langley is located in the eastern part of Metro Vancouver.
White Rock is a city in British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It borders Semiahmoo Bay to the south and is surrounded on three sides by Surrey. To the southeast across a footbridge lies the Semiahmoo First Nation, which is within the borders of Surrey. Semiahmoo Bay and the Southern Gulf Islands in the Strait of Georgia are also to the south.
Vaisakhi, also pronounced Baisakhi as well as Basoa, marks the first day of the month of Vaisakh and is traditionally celebrated annually on 13 April and sometimes 14 April. It is seen as a spring harvest celebration primarily in Northern India. Further, other Indian cultures and diaspora celebrate this festival too. Whilst it is culturally significant as a festival of harvest, in many parts of India, Vaisakhi is also the date for the Indian Solar New Year.
The Punjabi Market, also known as Little India, is a commercial district and ethnic enclave in Vancouver, British Columbia. Officially recognized by the city as being primarily a major South Asian, Indo-Canadian and Punjabi population business community and cultural area, the Punjabi District is roughly a six block section of Main Street around 49th Avenue in the Sunset neighbourhood.
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.
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) is a public degree-granting undergraduate polytechnic university in British Columbia, Canada, with campuses in Surrey, Richmond, Cloverdale, Whalley, and Langley. KPU is one of the largest institutions by enrolment in British Columbia garnering a total of 20,000 students and 1,400 faculty members across its five locations, encompassing the gestalt of the Metro Vancouver district. KPU provides undergraduate and vocational education including bachelor's degrees, associate degrees, diplomas, certificates, apprenticeships, and citations in more than 140 diverse programs.
Penny Priddy is a politician from British Columbia (BC), Canada. She served as member of Parliament (MP) from 2006 to 2008, representing the electoral district of Surrey North in the House of Commons of Canada. Prior to that, she was a Surrey city councillor (2002-2005), a member of the BC legislature representing Surrey-Newton (1991-2001), and a trustee with the Surrey School District (1986-1991). She is the only woman in Canadian history to be elected to school board, city council, a provincial legislature and the House of Commons.
Newton is a town centre of the city in Surrey, British Columbia. It is the location for the previous Surrey City Hall and Courthouse, a local Surrey Public Library branch, and a Kwantlen Polytechnic University campus. The studios of radio station Red FM are also located here.
Sikhism in Canada has nearly 800,000 adherents who account for 2.1% of Canada's population as of 2021, forming the country's fastest-growing and fourth-largest religious group. 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).
McMillan Island is an island in the Fraser River, British Columbia, Canada, also known as McMillan Slough..
Dave Sukhdip Singh Hayer is a Canadian former politician for the province of British Columbia. He served as Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Surrey-Tynehead from May 2001 to May 2013. Hayer is an Indo-Canadian who is the son of assassinated journalist, Tara Singh Hayer.
The National Media Awards Foundation (NMAF) is a Canadian charity whose mission is to recognize excellence in the content and creation of Canadian magazines and Canadian digital publishing through two annual awards programs: the National Magazine Awards (NMAs) and the Digital Publishing Awards (DPAs).
Michael James Walsh is a Canadian film critic and print journalist. In addition to newspapering, Walsh has been a broadcaster and public speaker, published works of film history and run for a seat in Canada's Parliament.
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.
Wendy Hawthorne is a Canadian former soccer player who played as a goalkeeper. She was a member of the Canada national team that played at the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup, their first World Cup appearance, and on the team that won the 1998 CONCACAF championship. Hawthorne was awarded British Columbia Soccer's Order of Merit in 1997 and was appointed the province's Soccer Director for 1997–1998.
Sher Vancouver is a registered charity in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer South Asians and their friends. The full name of the organization is the Sher Vancouver LGBTQ Friends Society. The society was originally founded as an online Yahoo group for LGBTQ Sikhs in April 2008 by social worker Alex Sangha of Delta, B.C.
Alex Sangha is a Canadian social worker and documentary film producer. He is the founder of Sher Vancouver which is a registered charity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) South Asians and their friends. Sangha was the first Sikh to become a Grand Marshal of the Vancouver Pride Parade. Sangha received the Meritorious Service Medal from Governor General Julie Payette in 2018 for his work founding Sher Vancouver. Sangha's first short documentary film, My Name Was January, won 14 awards and garnered 66 official selections at film festivals around the world. Sangha's debut feature documentary, Emergence: Out of the Shadows, was an official selection at Out on Film in Atlanta, Image+Nation in Montreal, and Reelworld in Toronto. The film was the closing night film at both the South Asian Film Festival of Montreal and the Vancouver International South Asian Film Festival where it picked up Best Documentary. Emergence: Out of the Shadows also had a double festival premiere at the KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival and the Mumbai International Film Festival during the same week, where it was in competition at both film festivals for Best Documentary. The film also had an in-person and online screening at the 46th annual Frameline: San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival which is "the longest-running, largest and most widely recognized LGBTQ+ film exhibition event in the world."
Roxanne Charles-George is a mixed media artist, activist, curator, storyteller, and cultural historian of Strait Salish and European descent. She previously was a councilor, and continues to be an active band member of Semiahmoo First Nation in Surrey, British Columbia, promoting art, language, and culture. As an artist, she works with a wide range of media. She directly responds to the problems of colonialism, and documents issues that reflect her life experiences such as spirituality, identity, urbanization, food security, resource extraction, trauma, and various forms of systemic violence. As a contemporary storyteller and cultural historian, her goal is to touch, move, and inspire others through her work. Her work employs traditional Semiahma forms of knowledge such as visual representation, oral history, and ceremony.
