Abbotsford, British Columbia

Abbotsfordis a city inBritish Columbianext to theCanada–United States border,Greater Vancouver, and theFraser 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 theGreater Toronto Areaand the Greater Vancouver CMA.It is home toTradex, theUniversity of the Fraser Valley, andAbbotsford International Airport.
As of the2021 census, it is the largest municipality of theFraser Valley Regional Districtand thefifth-largest municipalityof British Columbia. The Abbotsford–Mission metropolitan area of around 195,726 inhabitants as of the 2021 census is the 23rd largestcensus metropolitan areain Canada.It has also been named by Statistics Canada as Canada's most generous city in terms of charitable donations for nine straight years.
The community of 375.55 square kilometres (145.00 sq mi) is thelargest city by areain British Columbia. The municipality's southern boundary is the Canada–United States border. In Canada, it is bordered by theTownship of Langleyto the west, theCity of Missionto the north, and the City ofChilliwackto the east. Abbotsford borders the town ofSumas, Washington, to the south. Much of Abbotsford has views ofMount Baker(to the southeast, in Washington) and theCoast Mountains(to the north).
The first residents of the area are theStó:lō Nation.TheUpper Sumas 6Indian reserveof theSumas First Nationis located at Kilgard within Abbotsford city limits.
European settlement began when theRoyal Engineerssurveyed the area in response to thegold rushalong theFraser Riverin 1858. This led to the building of Yale Road (todayOld Yale Road), the first transportation route to link theFraser Valley. The settlement grew and the production of butter, milk and tobacco began by the late 1860s. In 1889, former Royal Engineer John Cunningham Maclure applied for a Crown grant to obtain the 160 acres (0.65 km) that would become Abbotsford.
The Gur Sikh Temple, located on 33089 South Fraser Way, is the oldest Sikh temple in North America. Built in 1908 and opened in 1911, it is now over 110 years old, outlasting the now demolished 2nd Avenue temple in Vancouver (opened in 1908),and theGoldentemple (opened in 1905) which was destroyed by fire.
There is some controversy over the origin of the Abbotsford name.The most commonly cited origin is that Maclure named the land "Abbotsford" after family friend Henry Braithwaite Abbott, the western superintendent of theCanadian Pacific Railway.Maclure's sons later stated that the property had actually been named forSir Walter Scott'shome,Abbotsford House, and pronounced it with the accent onford,In his later years Maclure himself claimed that the naming had been "a combination of two ideas".The Akriggs say that Maclure in an 1894 letter said that when the town was laid out in 1894, the town was named for Henry Abbott, general superintendent of theCPRand brother of SirJohn Abbott, prime minister.
The title passed hands to Robert Ward, who filed a townsite subdivision on July 9, 1891. Also in 1891, the CPR built a railway line through the area that connectedMissionwith theSeattle, Lake Shore and Eastern RailwayatSumas, Washington. This route was the only rail connection betweenVancouverandSeattleuntil 1904. The Village of Abbotsford was incorporated in 1892. At that time Robert Ward sold many of the lots to private investors, but also sold off a significant portion to theGreat Northern Railway's subsidiary company theVancouver, Victoria and Eastern Railway. TheBritish Columbia Electric Railway(BCER) arrived in 1910. The Interurban, as the BCER tram linking Abbotsford with Vancouver andChilliwackwas called, was discontinued in 1950, but BCER's successorBC Hydroretains the right to re-introduce passenger rail service. Service to Vancouver runs from neighbouring Mission by way of theWest Coast Express.
The most notable natural disaster to hit Abbotsford wasa major floodof theFraser Riverin 1948.
In September 1984,Pope John Paul IIheld an open-air Mass for over 200,000 people atAbbotsford International Airport.
The amalgamation of the Village of Abbotsford and theDistrict of Sumasinto the District of Abbotsford occurred in 1972. The District of Abbotsford amalgamated with theDistrict of Matsquiin 1995 to become the City of Abbotsford, raising the population significantly.
In June 2013, the City of Abbotsford spread chicken manure on a homeless camp located in the city.Abbotsford MayorBruce Banmanpublicly apologized for the incident.
The city of Abbotsford has a long and ongoing history of gang-related crime, particularly that of violence and the illegal sale of controlled substances.
On November 16, 2021, Abbotsford residents living in theSumas Prairiewere given an evacuation order given theflooding in British Columbiaat the time, the city calling the situation "catastrophic".
Abbotsford City Councilcomprises acouncil-managerform of local government. The mayor and council were last electedin 2022. The current mayor isRoss Siemens.
The Abbotsford flag and coat of arms are the same, featuring straight, diagonal crosses representing Abbotsford as at a "crossroads". At the centre is a strawberry blossom to symbolize the local berry industry. The flag of Abbotsford was originally blue in colour. The change to green was initiated in 1995 when the District of Abbotsford and the District of Matsqui amalgamated to create the City of Abbotsford.
In the2021 Censusof Population conducted byStatistics Canada, Abbotsford had a population of 153,524 living in 53,234 of its 55,659 total private dwellings, a change of8.6% from its 2016 population of 141,397. With a land area of 375.33 km(144.92 sq mi), it had a population density of409.0/km(1,059.4/sq mi) in 2021.
The 2021 census reported thatimmigrants(individuals born outside Canada) comprise 43,190 persons or 28.6% of the total population of Abbotsford. Of the total immigrant population, the top countries of origin wereIndia(23,830 persons or 55.2%),United Kingdom(2,310 persons or 5.3%),Philippines(1,735 persons or 4.0%),United States of America(1,395 persons or 3.2%),Netherlands(895 persons or 2.1%),Vietnam(885 persons or 2.0%),South Korea(850 persons or 2.0%),China(845 persons or 2.0%),Germany(820 persons or 1.9%), andPakistan(565 persons or 1.3%).
According to the 2021 Census, 92,460 persons or 61.0% of Abbotsford's population haveEnglishas amother tongue;Punjabiis themother tongueof 34,280 persons or 22.6% of the population, followed byGerman(3,065 or 2.0%),Spanish(1,375 or 0.9%),Korean(1,190 or 0.8%),Tagalog(1,180 or 0.8%),Vietnamese(1,105 or 0.7%),Dutch(990 or 0.7%),French(955 or 0.6%),Mandarin(945 or 0.6%),Hindi(860 or 0.5%),Arabic(720 or 0.5%),Cantonese(555 or 0.4%),Russian(415 or 0.3%), andUrdu(400 or 0.3%).
Furthermore, the 2021 census stated 141,175 persons or 93.6% of Abbotsford's population have knowledge of theEnglish language; 41,145 persons or 27.3% of the population have knowledge of thePunjabi language, followed byHindi(7,080 or 4.7%),French(6,295 or 4.2%),German(3,665 or 2.4%),Spanish(2,880 or 1.9%),Tagalog(1,835 or 1.2%),Korean(1,430 or 0.9%),Vietnamese(1,170 or 0.8%),Dutch(1,145 or 0.8%),Mandarin(1,430 or 0.9%),Arabic(1,030 or 0.7%),Urdu(985 or 0.7%),Cantonese(810 or 0.5%), andRussian(805 or 0.5%).
A plurality of Abbotsford's population isChristian.Many of the largest congregations in the city areMennonite Brethren.
The next largest religious group isSikh.Opened in 1911, the city contains the oldest existing SikhGurdwarabuilt in Canada andNorth America, with earlier Gurdwaras built inKitsilano(1908)andGolden(1905)since being demolished or destroyed by fire.ANational Historic Site, located in Central Abbotsford, theGur Sikh Templeis now over 110 years old.
The2021 censusreported the religious demography in the city of Abbotsford was:
According to the 2021 census, the largestpan-ethnicgroup isEuropean, comprising approximately 55.2% of the municipal population.This group includes German, Dutch, British, Irish, Scandinavian and Slavic ethnic origins.
The next largest pan-ethnic group in Abbotsford is South Asian, comprising 30.2% of the city population; this group includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka national origins, while the population in Abbotsford primarily includes persons of Punjabi ethnic origin.Members of the ethnic group first arrived in the early 1900s to work on farms and in the lumber industry.
This is followed byIndigenous peoplesat 4.6% of the population, Southeast Asians (3.1%), and East Asians (2.7%).
At thecensus metropolitan area(CMA) level in the 2021 census, the Abbotsford–Mission CMA had a population of195,726living in67,613of its70,648total private dwellings, a change of8.4% from its 2016 population of180,518. With a land area of 606.72 km(234.26 sq mi), it had a population density of322.6/km(835.5/sq mi) in 2021.
The2021 Canadian censusreported thatimmigrants(individuals born outside Canada) comprise 50,085 persons or 26.1% of the total population of the Abbotsford-MissionCMA. Of the total immigrant population, the top countries of origin were India (25,990 persons or 51.9%), United Kingdom (3,295 persons or 6.6%), Philippines (2,065 persons or 4.1%), United States of America (1,725 persons or 3.4%), Germany (1,085 persons or 2.2%), Netherlands (1,070 persons or 2.1%), Vietnam (1,040 persons or 2.1%), China (990 persons or 2.0%), South Korea (930 persons or 1.9%), and Pakistan (600 persons or 1.2%).
Abbotsford has the third-highest proportion of visible minorities among Census Metropolitan Areas in Canada, after theGreater Toronto AreaandGreater Vancouver.The Abbotsford metropolitan area has Canada's highest Census Metropolitan Area proportion ofSouth Asians.
Abbotsford has anoceanic climate(Köppen climate typeCfb), with just enough summer precipitation not to be classified aswarm-summer mediterranean. Summers are generally warm and drier than at other times of the year and winters are rainy and very mild by Canadian standards. Snowfall can be heavy but usually not very long lasting, on average falling mostly in December and January.
Some 62 percent of residents in Abbotsford work in the City of Abbotsford itself. Most of the remaining 38 percent commute to Mission, Chilliwack or Vancouver and its suburbs (primarilySurreyandLangley). More than 25 percent of Abbotsford's workforce commutes to Abbotsford from other municipalities.
The Conference Board of Canada has identified the local economy as one of the most diverse in the country.Abbotsford's main industries are agriculture, transportation, manufacturing and retail. The city earns the highest dollar per acre of agricultural land in the country, greater than theNiagara Regionand theNorth Okanagan. Total sales from agricultural businesses grew from $635,000,000 in 2010 to nearly $1billion as of 2021 and accounts for almost 50% of all chicken eggs and dairy milk production for all of British Columbia.
The BC government's Animal Health Centre, at the Abbotsford Agriculture Centre offers "more than 400 laboratory diagnostic tests for agents that may be found in wild and domestic birds, mammals, fish, reptiles and amphibians" and is the leading accredited full-service veterinary laboratory in Western Canada.The facility has housed aBiosafety level 3 laboratorysince October 2009.
Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centreand community health services makeFraser Healththe city's largest employer with about 2,500 staff.The city is also home to three federal prisons, each of which employs between 200 and 500 officers and support staff. There is also a growingaerospaceindustry led byCascade AerospaceandConair Group Inc.
Local and privately owned confectionery company Brookside Foods was acquired byThe Hershey Companyin 2011.In 2016, it announced it would be closing.
Forty-six public elementary, middle, and secondary schools are administered by theAbbotsford School District.This includes avirtual schoolcalled the "Abbotsford Virtual School" that offers more than 30 semestered online courses. This school offers a unique animation and modeling program that teaches students aspects of the video game industry as well as many other courses such as Mathematics, English, and Science.
Private schools include Dasmesh Punjabi School,St. John Brebeuf Regional Secondary,Mennonite Educational Institute, and Abbotsford Christian School.
Post-secondary institutions in the city include theUniversity of the Fraser Valley, religious institutions such asColumbia Bible CollegeandSummit Pacific College, as well as career colleges such as Career Gate Community College,Sprott Shaw College, Vancouver Career College, Métis Skills and Employment Centre, and CDI College.
The Abbotsford Arts Council hosts a number of free local events including music inMill Lake Park, the Arty Awards and more recently, the Christmas Artisan Gift Fair. It has been involved in projects such as the Abbotsford "Unity Statue", Abbotsford Christmas Craft Fair, Art in the Park, Abbotsford's Art and Heritage Unity Festival, and the Historical Downtown Art Bench Project. As well as maintaining the Kariton Art Gallery which features and hosts exhibitions from local artists of all mediums residing in the Lower Mainland.
The Reach Gallery Museumfeatures exhibitions from across Canada and around the world, as well as the work of local artists. It houses a heritage archive, runs special events, programs and courses and seeks to promote local arts and culture.
Trethewey House Heritage Site features a restored 1920s Craftsman-style house built by J.O. Trethewey, one of the owners of the lumber and shingle mill that gaveMill Lake Parkits name. The municipally designated heritage house and adjacent gallery are open to the public for special events, educational programming, and drop-in tours.
The Mennonite Heritage Museum, which opened in January 2016, features a permanent exhibit that tells the 500-year-old story of theAnabaptist/Mennonitemovement, with a particular focus on the history of those Mennonites who settled in Abbotsford beginning in the early 1930s. The Museum also has a gallery that features the work of local Mennonite artists, a coffee shop serving traditional Mennonite foods, a bookstore, and a replica traditional Mennonite housebarn that includes a permanent exhibit focusing on Mennonites and agriculture. The Museum is also home to the library and archive of the Mennonite Historical Society of British Columbia.
Gallery 7 Theatre and Performing Arts has been one of Abbotsford only performing arts organizations since 1991 and operates out ofMennonite Educational Institute. They produce four mainstage productions every year.
Public bus transportation is provided by theCentral Fraser Valley Transit System. Passenger rail service to Vancouver currently runs from nearby Mission by way of theWest Coast Express.
Air links are provided by theAbbotsford International Airport.WestJetprovides regular scheduled service from the airport, due to its proximity to Vancouver's eastern suburbs. The airport is also the home of the annualAbbotsford International Airshow.
Major transportation routes leading into Abbotsford are theTrans-Canada Highway(No. 1), theAbbotsford-Mission Highway(No. 11) and theFraser Highway(No. 1A). Access to the United States is via theSumas–Huntingdon Border Crossing.
Due to its proximity to Vancouver, most Vancouver television and radio stations are also available in Abbotsford, although in a few cases there are repeater stations licensed to different centres in the region.
Two radio stations originate from Abbotsford:CIVL-FM, campus radio station of theUniversity of the Fraser Valley, andcountry musicstationCKQC-FM.
Abbotsford Minor Hockey is one of the largest associations in British Columbia, with more than 1,000 players registered from the ages of 5 through 18 years old. This association is recognized by many as a model and a leader in the development of minor hockey programs, and several Abbotsford-raised players have gone on to the highest levels of this sport. In the 2005–06 hockey season, Abbotsford's bantam AAA team were ultimately the Western Canadian Bantam Champions, and eight individual players from this team (the most ever) were selected in the 2006 WHL Bantam Draft.
TheAbbotsford Pilotsof thePacific International Junior Hockey League(junior B level) play at MSA Arena, which is Abbotsford's second largest arena at just over 400 seats. Abbotsford was considered as a possible home for theChilliwack Chiefs(junior A), who were forced to move in 2006 when theChilliwack Bruins(a WHL expansion team) took over their arena, Prospera Centre. Abbotsford would have become the home of the Chiefs if the city had supported them in building a new arena; instead, the Chiefs moved to Langley. Construction has now been completed in Abbotsford on a far bigger sports and entertainment centre (with 7,500 seats).
From 2009 until 2014, Abbotsford hosted theNHL'sCalgary Flames'American Hockey League(AHL) affiliate, theAbbotsford Heat.Home games were played at theAbbotsford Entertainment & Sports Centre.
On May 6, 2021, the NHL'sVancouver Canuckswere approved to relocate their AHL affiliate to Abbotsford for the 2021–22 season as theAbbotsford Canucks.
From 2012 and 2013, theBC Angelsof theLegends Football League's LFL Canada division played at the Abbotsford Entertainment & Sports Centre.
Abbotsford'sJane and Gerry Swan Track at Rotary Stadiumis home to theValley Royals Track & Field Club, who have produced numerous Olympians, including two for the2008 Olympics. Rotary Stadium was also home to the now-defunctAbbotsford Air Forceof theCanadian Junior Football League.
Abbotsford has a superior youth soccer program, winning two national titles, and numerous provincial titles. It is also home of soccer all-stars Sophie Schmidt, Brad Petoom and Adam Lang. Abbotsford is home to theAbbotsford Marinersof theUnited Soccer LeaguesPremier Development League, the highest level of amateur soccer in North America.
Abbotsford is home to many high school sports, withAbbotsford Senior Secondary School,W.J. Mouat Secondary,Rick Hansen Secondary,Robert Bateman Secondary,St. John Brebeuf Secondary,Yale Secondary, and theMennonite Educational Institute, among others, doing very well in track and field, volleyball, basketball, and football. These schools have consistently ranked among the highest in the province. The Yale Secondary senior boys basketball team, under Coach Al Friesen, won the 2008 'AAA' provincial boys' basketball championship.
Abbotsford'srugby clubsupports three men's teams, two women's teams, U19 men's and women's, U15 U16 and U17 men's, and a great mini rugby program. Many of Abbotsford's players have gone on to play for Canada, such as Erin Lockwood,Ryan McWhinney, Scott Hunter and Brodie Henderson.
In Olympic sports, Abbotsford's Alana Kraus has won medals in short-track speed skating.
In 2005, the Abbotsford–Mission metropolitan area had the highest property crime rate and the second-highest violent crime rate among cities with a population of 100,000 to 500,000 in Canada.
The metropolitan area had the highest rate of homicides nationally for two years running (2008 and 2009) with a rate of 5.22 homicides per 100,000 population, compared with the national average of 1.81.In 2010, the rate was 2.3.
The City of Abbotsford has its own municipal police force, one of eleven municipal police forces in British Columbia. It is the third-largest municipal police force in British Columbia (behind Vancouver andVictoria). As of 2006, the Abbotsford Police Department employed nearly 200 officers and 80 civilian employees.
The Abbotsford Police Department was officially formed in 1995 when the District of Matsqui and the District of Abbotsford amalgamated to become the City of Abbotsford. Prior to the amalgamation, the District of Matsqui was patrolled by the Matsqui police and the District of Abbotsford by the RCMP. During the referendum citizens elected to keep a municipal police force.
These places represent parts of the city that have more than one neighbourhood in them.
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