Vancouver (British Columbia)

V

Educational and Cultural Institutions

The Vancouver Art Gallery has a predominantly British Columbian and Canadian collection, including several works by renowned Canadian painter Emily Carr. The main post-secondary educational institutions in the city of Vancouver include the University of British Columbia (founded in 1908; opened in 1915), the site of the Museum of Anthropology; the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design (1925); and Vancouver Community College. Simon Fraser University (1963) and the British Columbia Institute of Technology (1964) are in neighboring Burnaby. Capilano, Kwantlen, and Douglas community colleges serve suburban populations from several campuses. The city supports a symphony orchestra, which plays in the restored Orpheum Theatre, an opera company, and a number of theater groups.

VI

Recreation

The city of Vancouver contains many parks. Stanley Park (400 hectares/1000 acres), located on the tip of the peninsula separating Burrard Inlet from English Bay, contains the Vancouver Aquarium. Vanier Park, located on the southern entrance to False Creek, contains the Vancouver Museum, the H. R. MacMillan Planetarium, the Vancouver City Archives, and the Maritime Museum. Winter sports are popular at Grouse Mountain, which is located 13 km (8 mi) north of downtown, and boating is popular in the waters surrounding the city.

The Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League play in General Motors Place. The British Columbia Lions of the Canadian Football League play in nearby BC Place stadium, one of the largest air-supported domed stadiums in North America (its roof is supported by air blowers).

VII

Government

The city of Vancouver is governed at the municipal level by the Vancouver City Council, which consists of a mayor and ten councilors. Public elections for these offices are held every three years. In addition to the council, there are several important boards and committees in the city and the metropolitan area, including the Greater Vancouver Regional District Board of Directors (representing 18 municipalities) and the Vancouver Regional Transit Commission.

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VIII

History

The Fraser Delta—Burrard Inlet area that is now Vancouver was occupied by Coast Salish people of the Musqueam, Kwantlen, Tsawwassen, and Capilano bands when the Spanish explorer José Maria Narvaez and the British naval officer George Vancouver visited the area in the early 1790s.

The first permanent white settlement, established around the Hastings sawmill in the 1860s, was colloquially known as Gastown (after a talkative leading citizen, “Gassy” Jack Deighton). This settlement was renamed Granville in 1870. After the arrival of the transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railroad, in 1886, the settlement was incorporated and renamed after George Vancouver. The community grew as a wood-processing center, a railroad terminus, and a port. Vancouver surpassed Victoria (which nevertheless remained the provincial capital) in population and commercial and financial importance at the turn of the 20th century.

In 1929 Vancouver merged with the adjoining municipalities of Point Grey and South Vancouver to form what remains the city proper. A plan for the city drawn up in that year by American consultants Harland Bartholomew and Associates shaped the pattern of Vancouver’s development into the 1970s.

With the expansion of British Columbia’s economy from the 1950s, Vancouver assumed increasing importance within the province and on the national and international level. Much new building occurred in the 1960s; high-rise buildings rose in the downtown area and multistory apartments were built in the neighboring West End. Suburban development was facilitated by the automobile and by new bridges across the Fraser River. Growth has continued steadily since. In 1986 the city was the site of Expo ‘86, an international exposition whose theme was transportation. Canada Place, on Burrard Inlet, now comprising a convention center, cruise-ship terminal, and hotel, was constructed for this event, while the fair’s main site on the north shore of False Creek was sold to private interests and is currently under development for high-density housing.

In 2003 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that Vancouver had been selected to host the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. The city narrowly beat out Pyeongchang, South Korea, in bidding for the event. The Olympics are expected to bring millions of dollars in tourism to Vancouver and the surrounding region and will spur new construction and development.

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