Richmond, British Columbia
''This page is for the city of Richmond, British Columbia. For the federal electoral district in this locality see
Richmond (electoral district); for the provincial electoral district see
Richmond (provincial electoral district).
Richmond is an incorporated city on the
Pacific coast of the
Canadian province of
British Columbia. It is located at . Richmond forms part of the
Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD). Its neighbouring municipalities include
Vancouver and
Burnaby to the north,
New Westminster to the east, and
Delta to the south, with
Georgia Strait on the west.
The city comprises most of the islands in the
Fraser River delta, the largest and most populated island being
Lulu Island (the eastern tip of which forms the Queensborough neighbourhood, which is actually part of the neighbouring city of New Westminster). The next largest island,
Sea Island, is home to the
Vancouver International Airport (YVR). In addition to Lulu and Sea Islands, 13 smaller islands make up the municipality's 129.66 km² land area.
Since all of Richmond's land occupies islands in a
river delta, the municipality has plenty of rich,
alluvial soil for agriculture, and was one of the first areas in British Columbia to be farmed by Europeans in the
19th century. The drawback, however, was that since all the land averages just one metre above
sea level, it is prone to
flooding, especially during
high tide. As a result, all the major islands are now surrounded by a system of
dykes (quite different from the dykes of
the Netherlands or the
levees of
New Orleans), which were created in the early days of European settlement. There is a possibility that, during an
earthquake, the dykes could rupture and the alluvial soil
liquefy, causing extensive damage. Richmond is also at risk of a major flood if the
Fraser River has an unusually high spring
freshet. Recreational trails run along the tops of many of the dykes, and Richmond also supports about 1400 acres (5.67 km²) of parkland.
|
Fishing boats in Steveston village, Richmond, BC |
Richmond enjoys a temperate climate, and actually receives 30% less rain than neighbouring
Vancouver because it is not as close to the mountains. It rarely snows in winter and the summer temperatures are mild to warm. Richmond is also very prone to fog in the cooler months.
The city was named after a local Richmond Farm established by Hugh McRoberts. A daughter of his chose this name after one of the Richmonds in
Australia (it is unknown exactly which one it is). The wife of the first reeve of
Richmond, England later claimed that the city was named in honour of her birthplace. However, modern historians proved this claim to be false, since the Boyds immigrated to Richmond in 1863, but there had already been a pamphlet called "A Visit to Richmond" made in British Columbia in September 1862.
*
November 10,
1879 — Richmond was incorporated as a District Municipality.
*
March 25,
1910 — The first flight in British Columbia was made from
Minoru Racetrack.
*
December 3,
1990 — Richmond was designated as a City.
An early centre of European (and
Japanese) settlement in Richmond was the old fishing village of
Steveston on the southwestern tip of Lulu Island. Steveston is now home to several museums and heritage sites, as well as a working harbour for fishing boats.
Richmond's estimated population in
2002 was 166,219 people. It is a city within the
Greater Vancouver Regional District. After
Vancouver (545,671),
Surrey (347,825) and Burnaby (193,954), Richmond is the fourth largest of these
GVRD cities.
Richmond has a
visible minority population of 59%, the highest in
Canada.[
1] More than half of its population is of Asian descent, most of whom immigrated in the early
1990s, many of them from
Hong Kong and
Mainland China. Other
Asian Canadians in Richmond include
Taiwanese Canadian and
Japanese Canadians, who have a long history in Steveston dating back to the 1800s. Their community was devastated in
1942 when Japanese Canadians were "relocated" to
internment camps in the
BC Interior and
Alberta and their property was
auctioned off during World War II.
According to
Statistics Canada, residents of Richmond have the greatest
life expectancy in
Canada at 83.4 years, and the lowest
obesity and
smoking rates as well.
As a middle-class suburban community, Richmond has tended to vote quite predictably along centrist to conservative lines, and political surprises or upsets tend to be infrequent.
Municipal ElectionsThe current mayor is
Malcolm Brodie, first elected in October,
2001. Local government consists of an 8-member
City Council and a seven-member
School Board. The last elections were in November 2005.
Like
Vancouver, but unlike most cities in
British Columbia, Richmond runs on a political system of locally-based
political parties. For the most part, however, their organization is weak and they may form or collapse frequently between elections.
In the November 2005 elections, the main local parties were: the right-wing
Richmond First party (RF) , the centrist
Richmond Independent Team of Electors (RITE) and the left-wing
Richmond New Democrats (NDP) [Richmond local parties: RF, RITE, NDP].
In the 2005 elections for City Council, the RF won 3 seats, the NDP won 2 seats, the RITE won 1 seat and there were 3 independents (including the mayor). For school board, the RF won 5 seats and the RITE won 2.
In
Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Richmond has three seats, all of which were comfortably won by the
BC Liberal Party in the
2005 provincial elections.
Federal ElectionsIn the
Canadian House of Commons, Richmond is divided between two seats. In the
2006 federal election, the
Liberal Party of Canada and the
Conservative Party of Canada each won one seat.
Richmond is connected by a system of bridges and tunnels to Vancouver and Delta, and through the New Westminster suburb of Queensborough (on eastern Lulu Island) to the "mainland" portion of New Westminster.
Three bridges (one of them twinned) connect Lulu Island to Sea Island and the Vancouver International Airport; one bridge connects Sea Island and the Vancouver International Airport to Vancouver; two bridges connect Lulu Island to Vancouver; one bridge connects Queensborough (on eastern Lulu Island) to New Westminster; one bridge connects Queensborough to Annacis Island in Delta; one twinned bridge connects Richmond to Annacis Island; and one of the few
underwater tunnels in British Columbia connects Richmond to Delta.
Richmond is served by two freeways:
Highway 99, which connects Vancouver to the
United States, and
Highway 91, which connects Delta, New Westminster, and Richmond.
Railway bridges connect Lulu Island to Vancouver, New Westminster, and
Annacis Island, and serve the
Canadian National and
Canadian Pacific Railways, as well as the Southern Railway of British Columbia (although the latter railway's Lulu Island trackage is entirely within Queensborough).
The public transit system in Greater Vancouver, planned and funded by
TransLink, currently has bus connections from Richmond to
Downtown Vancouver, Surrey, New Westminster, Burnaby, Delta and the
University of British Columbia. A rapid transit line called the
Canada Line (formerly the Richmond-Airport-Vancouver (RAV) Line) is scheduled for completion in late 2009 and will connect Richmond Centre and the airport to downtown Vancouver and points between, expected to replace the
bus rapid transit 98 B-Line.
Vancouver International Airport, located on Sea Island (part of Richmond) to the north of Lulu Island, provides most of the air access to the region. The airport (YVR) is the second busiest in Canada and one of the busiest international airports on the West Coast of North America.
Richmond supports about 100,000 jobs in various areas including services, retailing, tourism, light manufacturing, airport services and aviation, agriculture, fishing, and government.
Richmond also is a leading centre in the region for high-technology companies.
Agriculture
The
Agricultural Land Reserve preserves 4,800 hectares within the city as farmland, an area that makes up most of east Richmond.
Blueberries and cranberries are the dominant crops grown. Among the other crops grown are blackberries, strawberries, corn, and potatoes.
Shopping malls
Richmond is home to many Asian-themed shopping malls, most of them along No. 3 Road from Alderbridge Way to Capstan Way. This area is officially termed as the "
Golden Village" by Tourism Richmond and includes malls such as
Aberdeen Centre,
President Plaza,
Parker Place, and
Yaohan Centre.
Non-Asian-themed malls in Richmond include
Richmond Centre and the
Lansdowne Park Shopping Centre.
Richmond and Hollywood
Steveston Village has played home to several major American movies and television series such as
Supernatural,
Outer Limits,
Killer Instinct,
X-Files,
Smallville and the
Scary Movie series.
Fantasy Gardens (an old amusement park which is largely unoccupied now) served as Halloweentown in the popular
Disney Channel television movie
Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge and was also featured in the TV series
Killer Instinct.
Vancouver International Airport on Richmond's Sea Island has also been featured in numerous films and television series, commonly standing in for
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (as it does in
The Cleaner and
Dead Like Me). It is also featured as stand-ins for other airports in films such as
Final Destination,
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,
The L Word and
The Lizzie McGuire Movie.
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The head offices of the Richmond School District #38, on Granville Avenue. |
Richmond is home to a campus of
Kwantlen University College. In addition, the
British Columbia Institute of Technology runs its aircraft maintenance courses at facilities at Vancouver International Airport.
School District 38 Richmond has 11 secondary schools and 38 elementary schools, including two late French Immersion schools and six early French Immersion schools.
The school district also hosts one
International Baccalaureate World School, located at
Richmond Secondary School.
Community/Recreation Centreshttp://www.richmond.ca/parksrec.htm
*Cambie Community Centre
*Hamilton Community Centre
*Lang Centre (City Centre)
*
Minoru Aquatic Centre
* Minoru Arenas
* Minoru Sports Pavilion
*Richmond Ice Centre
*Sea Island Community Centre
*South Arm Community Centre
*Steveston Community Centre
*Thompson Community Centre
*Watermania
*West Richmond Community Centre
Richmond is home to the Richmond Sockeyes Junior B hockey team, and the Richmond Budgies Senior Men's Baseball Club.Richmond also has two swim clubs; the Kigoos summer swimming club and the Richmond Rapids (winter) Swim Club.
Richmond and the 2010 Winter Olympics
For the
2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the City of Richmond is also constructing an 8,000-seat speed-skating oval near the No. 2 Road Bridge, close to Vancouver International Airport. The estimated construction cost (paid for by the city, the provincial government and the federal government) is around $178 million
CAD but is an issue of debate right now due to rising construction costs. After the Games, the oval is to serve as a recreational structure for residents. The oval is scheduled to open in the summer of 2008.
On
Canada Day, Richmond has an annual festival in
Steveston called the
Salmon Festival. In this event, there is a
carnival set up and there is a huge
barbecued salmon sale in front of the Steveston Community Centre. Locally-based municipal, provincial and federal politicians frequently show up at this event, usually as part of the
Canada Day parade or to hand out
Canadian flags.
From August 8th to 12th,
2002, Richmond hosted a
tall ships festival which attracted an estimated 400,000 people to Steveston. The success of this event surpassed many expectations and caused traffic chaos in the usually-quiet area
. There was insufficient parking in the area, which gave locals the idea of selling "parking space" by using their driveways and front yards
. Despite the event's popularity, there was a revenue shortfall and the city decided not to host the event again
.
During the summer, Richmond holds its annual
Night Market. Toys, clothes, pet goldfish, and food are available along with live entertainment. It is very popular and is usually crowded. The main audience of this local event are the
Cantonese and
Mandarin citizens of the
Lower Mainland.
Richmond will also be host to the 2006
Gemini Awards, which will be held at
River Rock Casino. This will mark the first time the ceremony has taken place on the West Coast, as it traditionally takes place in
Toronto.
The following notable people were born in, live in or have resided in Richmond for a long period of time:
*
Aaron Ashmore, actor
*
Shawn Ashmore, actor
*
Nicki Clyne, actress
*
Sherry Fraser, curler
*
Scott Hannan, professional
NHL hockey player with the
San Jose Sharks*
Rick Hansen,
disability activist and former
Paralympian*
Alexa Loo,
Olympic snowboarder
*
Brent Seabrook, professional
NHL hockey player with the
Chicago Blackhawks*
Ryan Stiles, comedian
*
Bill Vander Zalm, former Premier of British Columbia
*
Pamela Anderson, actor
*
Ciy of Richmond Official Website*
Steveston Community Portal*
Discover Vancouver article on Richmond
