Surrey, British Columbia

Within the City of Surrey itself feature many neighbourhoods including City Centre, Whalley, Newton, Guildford, Fleetwood, Cloverdale and South Surrey. Each neighbourhood is unique and includes ethnically diverse populations. While Europeans and South Asians can be found in large numbers across the city, areas which house a large proportion of the former include South Surrey (72%) and Cloverdale (69%), with Newton (58%) and Whalley (51%) being home to large numbers of the latter.[17][18][19][20]

Immigration to Surrey has drastically increased since the 1980s; this has created a more ethnically and linguistically diverse city. 52% do not speak English as their first language, while approximately 38% of the city's inhabitants are of South Asian heritage. Beginning in the 1990s, an influx of South Asians began moving to the city from neighbouring Vancouver due to rising housing costs and rapidly increasing rent costs for businesses.[21] The outflow of these residents combined with increased immigration from the Indian Subcontinent therefore established in Surrey one of the largest concentrations of South Asian residents in North America.[22]

Other significant groups which reside in the city include East Asians[lower-alpha 1] (10.9%) and Southeast Asians[lower-alpha 2] (9.7%).[23] Forming nearly 2.3% of the total population, the Black community of Surrey is small however the city is home to the largest Black population in British Columbia; roughly 21% of the entire Black community in the province resides in Surrey.[23] Similar to most cities across Canada, a large majority (64%) of Surrey residents of European heritage can trace their roots to the British Isles.[24]

Proportionally, Surrey has the largest Sikh population (27.4%) out of all subdivisions in Canada.

As of 2021, the top five most reported religious affiliations in Surrey were Christianity (170,115 or 30.2%), Irreligion (161,860 or 28.6%), Sikhism (154,415 or 27.4%), Islam (31,095 or 5.5%), and Hinduism (30,455 or 5.4%).[32]

As of 2010, Surrey had the highest median family income of CA$78,283, while the BC provincial median was $71,660, and the national median was $74,540. The average family income was $85,765.[33] South Surrey area had the highest average household income of all six town centres in Surrey, with an average of $86,824 as of 2010. Median household income was also high at $62,960.[34] South Surrey's neighbourhood of Rosemary Heights is the richest in Surrey and throughout the Metro Vancouver area, with a median income more than twice the regional average.[35]

As of 2010, the median household income of Surrey was $67,702 (versus the national median of $76,437), where 29.4 percent of households in Surrey earned a household total income of $100,000 or more, which is above the national average of 25.9 percent.[33][36]

Surrey has an oceanic climate (Cfb) typical of the inter-coastal Pacific Northwest: rainy, wet winters, often with heavy rainfall lasting into early spring. Winters are chilly but not frigid, summers are mild and sunny, and autumns are cool and cloudy.

Partial view of Surrey from a plane

Farming has strongly been attached to the economic well-being of Surrey, as the city of Surrey itself fostered and cemented a robust culture of farming. Approximately a third of Surrey's land is preserved and designated as farmland that is utilized for the local production of food to cater the city's growing population as well as increasing employment opportunities via the creation of local jobs. Agriculture continues to invigorate Surrey's economy employing 3300 people or 1.6 percent of Surrey's overall labour force. Manufacturing is also a highly diversified sector where products are produced for developed and emerging industries that range from the cutting of lumber for various BC logging firms to constructing wind turbines as many Surrey-based environmental firms are capitalizing on the city's initiatives for the clean energy sector.[43][44]

The health sector makes a significant contribution to Surrey's economy. Surrey is home to almost 900 health-related businesses where major focuses in several life science sub-sectors that include infectious diseases, marine bio-science, neuroscience, oncology and regenerative medicine. Surrey Memorial Hospital is the second largest employer in the City of Surrey with an annual operating budget of $149.2 million while the health care organization, Fraser Health employs more than 4,100 people and an additional 350 active physicians at SMH.[45] Due to population growth in the region, a new hospital in Surrey is planned to be built in Cloverdale; it is projected to be completed in 2026.[46]

Although not as large as Vancouver's technology sector, Surrey also has an emerging tech sector with a highly anticipated incubator that will potentially act as a base to jump-start ideas into various start-up companies from local innovators, inventors, investors and entrepreneurs.

School District 36 Surrey oversees 100 public elementary and 21 public secondary schools, making it the largest public school district in British Columbia. The Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique operates one Francophone school in that city: École Gabrielle-Roy, which includes primary and secondary levels.[47]

Private schools in Surrey include Calvary Christian Academy, Holy Cross Regional High School, Pacific Academy, Regent Christian Academy, White Rock Christian Academy, Surrey Christian School, Khalsa School Surrey and Southridge School. There are no public middle schools in Surrey, so a typical elementary school includes kindergarten through grade 7, and secondary school starts at grade 8 and continues through grade 12. There are around 65,000 students enrolled in public and private schools.

Surrey is home to the third campus of Simon Fraser University, the SFU Surrey Campus, which opened its doors in Surrey in 2002, acting as a satellite campus operating as a public research university as well as providing further impetus for shaping the city. SFU took over the space and programming that was initially built for TechBC, a technical university proposed for south of the Fraser River by the NDP provincial government of the 1990s. SFU Surrey offers a number of programs, including TechOne and Explorations; first-year cohort options; and studies in Health Science, Applied Sciences, Natural Sciences, Liberal Arts, Business Administration, and Interactive Arts and Technology.

Surrey is also the home of Kwantlen Polytechnic University, a polytechnic university that opened its doors in the Newton Town Centre of Surrey in 1981 as a response to the growing need for expanded vocational training across the Fraser Valley. Kwantlen Polytechnic University was granted a university designation from the BC provincial government, upgrading itself from a community college to an official academic teaching institution that has become renowned in applied research.[48] Since then, it has expanded to provide satellite campuses in Richmond, Langley, and a trades and technology centre in the Cloverdale Town Centre. The Surrey campus offers university transfer, career-training and academic-upgrading programs with focuses on science, business, arts, and health, including a publicly accessible wellness centre, while the Cloverdale campus offers vocational training through apprenticeships, citations, certificates, and diplomas for skilled trades and technical careers.

In November 2021, the University of British Columbia announced plans to establish a location in Surrey just north of Surrey Memorial Hospital.[49]

Surrey also has many private post-secondary institutions offering vocational training including Brighton College, Sprott Shaw College, CDI College, Western Community College, Sterling College, Stenberg College, Academy of Learning, Surrey Community College, Discovery Community College and Vancouver Career College.

Surrey Museum in Cloverdale

The Museum of Surrey is affiliated with CMA, CHIN, and Virtual Museum of Canada. It reopened as the Museum of Surrey on September 29, 2018, after a renovation which added 12,000 square feet (1,100 m²) to the previous 24,000-square-foot (2,200 m²) building.[50][51]

Surrey Art Gallery is the second largest public art museum in the Metro Vancouver region.[52] It opened on September 13, 1975.[53]

The historic Surrey Municipal Hall complex includes the Cenotaph in Heritage Square, the Surrey Museum, and Cloverdale Library. The Surrey City Centre Public Library located at Whalley / City Centre is the second largest library in terms of size in Metro Vancouver.[54][55]

"REMEMBRANCE" by André Gauthier (sculptor) in Heritage Square, is an oversized bronze statue depicting a World War I kneeling soldier, helmet in hand, in remembrance of his fallen comrades.[56]

Fusion Festival at Holland Park

Attracting 15,000 people every February since 2004, WinterFest is a day of live music, sporting activities, food, and fireworks, held at the Central City Plaza.

Since 1888, the town centre of Cloverdale has hosted the annual Cloverdale Rodeo and Country Fair at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds every May long weekend. The Fair is Canada's second largest rodeo, and it features 150 acres (0.61 km²) of family-oriented entertainment including agricultural/horticultural exhibits, a western tradeshow, parade, community stages, and the Pacific Northwest Firefighter Combat Challenge.

Every year on April 13, the Sikh community celebrates Vaisakhi, which often includes a nagar kirtan, or parade, and free food is often handed out. It is the largest Vaiskahi parade outside India, growing from 100,000 attendees in 2008[57] to over 500,000 in 2019.[58]

Every October since 1991, Surrey has hosted the Surrey International Writers' Conference. This event brings established writers, agents, editors and publishers from all over the world to the Comfort Inn & Suites Surrey Hotel and Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel in Guildford Town Centre.

There are presently three live theatre venues in the City of Surrey in British Columbia as of January 2013: the Bell Centre for Performing Arts, the Chandos Pattison Auditorium and the Surrey Arts Centre.[59]

One of the lesser-known events in Surrey is the annual Nicomekl River Race. Every year, in early June, teams of four meet at Nicomekl Park in Langley, British Columbia to begin the race. Unlike most traditional boat races, the Nicomekl River Race requires that all boats be made by the participants. The racecourse extends from Nicomekl Park to Blackie Spit Park at Crescent Beach. The first team to reach the mouth of the river is awarded a prize of $1,000. Additional prizes are awarded to the most creative boat and costume. All proceeds go towards the BC Cancer society.

Panorama of the Cloverdale Fairgrounds

In addition to news media from Vancouver, the community is served by The Surrey Now-Leader newspaper, and the Peace Arch News newspaper (for South Surrey). The city is also home to South Asian Broadcasting's ethnic radio station ReD-FM and the Asian Journal newspaper.

The first Surrey-based English-language radio station, My Surrey FM 107.7 FM, was licensed by the CRTC in 2014[60] and is now Pulse FM 107.7 reporting about South of the Fraser news. Radio India, another Indo-Canadian radio station, has its offices in Surrey.[61]

The first non-Indigenous settlement of Surrey was founded near Crescent Beach, located in South Surrey; another was founded near Bridgeview/Brownsville, located in North Surrey. Early trails and roads helped to encourage the settlement of Surrey. The first trail built by a settler was the 1861 the Kennedy Trail. James Kennedy built the trail to provide a route between New Westminster and the natural pasture land on the Mud Bay Flats next to the Serpentine River.[64] The Semiahmoo Wagon Road was built in 1873 between Brownsville (opposite New Westminster) and Semiahmoo (Blaine).[65] The first regular ferry service across the Fraser River started in 1882 on the steam ferry K de K, with the point of departure at Brownsville.[66] The ferry landed on the Surrey side at the start of Old Yale Road, which connected directly inland to Yale and was a major gold rush trail.

The New Westminster Rail Bridge was opened in 1904, allowing personal vehicles to cross the Fraser River on the upper deck. The lower deck, for rail, enabled BC Electric Railway to finally construct the Interurban line, an electric suburb commuter rail route connecting Chilliwack to Vancouver. It opened for service in 1910, and ran through Kennedy, Newton, Sullivan, and Cloverdale. Currently, two of the BCER cars (1225 & 1304) are nearly finished being restored for operation on the mainline between Cloverdale and Sullivan. New car barns and museum currently under construction in Cloverdale (as of 2012).[67]

In 1937, the then two-lane Pattullo Bridge linking New Westminster and Surrey was opened.

In the early 1950s, BC Electric Railways ceased operating its interurban line, thus increasing the number of vehicles on Surrey roads. Highway 10 was built in 1953, and Highway 15 in 1957. In 1964, the provincial government completed Highway 401 and the Port Mann Bridge; that section of roadway would later be renamed Highway 1. In 1959, the George Massey Tunnel was opened, along with what is known as Highway 99. With the completion of the new Highways 1 and 99, the Fraser Highway and King George Boulevard became major arteries.

In the early 1990s, Surrey saw the return of rail transit with the SkyTrain Expo Line expansion into Surrey. The four stations added were Scott Road, Gateway, Surrey Central and King George.

The R1 King George Blvd provides frequent bus service between Newton, Guildford and Surrey City Centre.

An Expo Line train at King George station; service to Downtown Vancouver begins at this station.

Public transit in Surrey, as with the rest of Metro Vancouver, is operated by TransLink, which provides frequent bus service throughout Surrey, and to other Metro Vancouver municipalities. Metro Vancouver's metropolitan rail system, SkyTrain, provides Surrey with an Expo Line service to Downtown Vancouver via four stations: Scott Road, Gateway, Surrey Central, and King George.

The Canadian National Railway, Canadian Pacific Railway, BNSF Railway, and Southern Railway of British Columbia have trackage running through Surrey.[68]

Vancouver International Airport is located 28 kilometres (17 mi) west of Surrey. Vancouver International Airport offers direct daily service to destinations in Canada, North America, Europe, and Asia.

Bellingham International Airport is located 32 kilometres (20 mi) south of Surrey, and offers connections to Seattle, Las Vegas, and Hawaii.

Abbotsford International Airport is located 24 kilometres (15 mi) east of Surrey, and offers daily flights to Calgary and Edmonton.

Seaport facilities are available at the Fraser River Docks.[69]

Funding a light rail transit (LRT) line linking both Newton and Guildford with Surrey City Centre was agreed to by both BC's provincial government and the federal government. The project was unpopular, and after electing a new mayor and council in October 2018, who had run on a platform to cancel the LRT line in favour of extending the existing SkyTrain line to Langley, made it their first order of business.[70] TransLink's Mayors' Council, who has the ultimate authority over the project, responded to this decision by indefinitely suspending work on the light rail project.[71] In July 2019, a 7-kilometre (4.3 mi) Expo Line extension from King George station to 166 Street and Fraser Highway in Fleetwood was approved and is estimated to be completed by 2025.[72][73] However, the plan is now to take the SkyTrain the entire way to Langley in one phase by 2028.[74]

Being an all-inclusive plan requires an interplay of many complex and sometimes wicked problems. Trying to account for all problems is ambitious, and as the report admits, being at the municipal level reduces the funding, power and resources to implement the vision. The report acknowledges the political hurdle and notes that the city needs to influence players with more power such as the provincial or federal government in order for the vision to be successful.

Some other hurdles that have arisen since the inception of the charter include the following:

Holland Park and Residential towers in Surrey

Surrey currently faces the problem of urban sprawl, the phenomenon that is characterized by the low density residential, with almost no commercial or industrial zoning. This results in a heavy outflow of traffic in the morning, and inflow in the evening.

The announcement of the Gateway Program in 2005 by the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation meant a large expenditure in transportation infrastructure. Despite the oppositions by the Metro Vancouver and several mayoral councils,[77][78] the project went ahead to create the South Fraser Perimeter Road and the Port Mann Bridge, both which pass through major portions of Surrey. It has been criticized to be contradictory to not only Metro Vancouver's Sustainable Region Initiative,[79] but also Surrey's Sustainability Charter. Studies have shown that with an increase in road capacity, generated traffic increases, that is traffic that is diverted (shifted in time and route) and induced travel (increased total motor vehicle travel).[80] With the construction of the 10 lane Port Mann Bridge, the problem of suburban sprawl is exacerbated not only with the additional capacity, but RapidBus service was also cancelled despite expectations of a stop in Surrey.[81]

The Sustainability Charter hinges on a large reduction on automobile dependency requiring a well established transit infrastructure to the multiple districts of Surrey. In 2008, Gordon Campbell announced the extension of the Expo Line beyond the current terminus to as far as Langley.[82] However, financial shortfall came upon Translink shortly after, and many of the announced plans came to a halt. Plans to expand northward via the Evergreen extension came to fruition prior to the vision of extending light rail out to Guildford, Newton and Langley. Mayor Watts attempted impose equal tolling across the region to assist with funding transit to reduce car reliance.[83]

Protecting agricultural land reserves also play an important part in the charter of sustainability. The idea behind the agricultural land reserves is to encourage and increase the role of urban agriculture, thus reducing the reliance of food transport and increasing the quality and availability of food to local people. The Charter takes the idea one step further by encouraging food processing agribusiness to complete the supply chain circle.[84]

In a case study of Toronto completed by Pierre Filion, he claims that while transit and natural area conservation are successful at achieving their respective immediate objectives, they "do not modify metropolitan-wide relations between transportation and land use...in a fashion that is consistent with smart growth". Filion identifies that the largest obstacles are NIMBY reactions from the public and the limited finances from the public sector.[85]