Burnaby is a city in British Columbia, Canada, located immediately to the east of Vancouver. It is the third-largest city in British Columbia by population, surpassed only by nearby Surrey and Vancouver.

It was incorporated in 1892 and achieved City status in 1992, one hundred years after incorporation. It is the seat of the Greater Vancouver Regional District's government, the board of which calls itself Metro Vancouver.

 History

At incorporation, the municipality's citizens unanimously chose to name it after legislator, speaker, Freemason and explorer, Robert Burnaby, who had been private secretary to Colonel Richard Moody, the Colony of British Columbia's first land commissioner in the mid-19th century.^[1] In 1859, Mr. Burnaby had surveyed the freshwater lake near what is now the city's geographical centre; Moody chose to name it Burnaby Lake.

In the first 30 to 40 years after its incorporation, the growth of Burnaby was influenced by its location between expanding urban centres of Vancouver and New Westminster. It first served as a rural agricultural area supplying nearby markets. Later, it served as an important transportation corridor between Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and the Interior and continues to do so. As Vancouver expanded and became a metropolis, it was one of the first-tier bedroom community suburbs of Vancouver itself, along with North Vancouver andRichmond. Burnaby is now a mature, integrated community, which is centrally located within a rapidly growing metropolitan area. Burnaby's characteristic has shifted over time from rural to suburban, to urban.

Geography and land use

Burnaby occupies 98.60 square kilometres (38.07 sq mi) and is located at the geographical centre of the Metro Vancouver area. Situated between the city of Vancouver on the west and Port Moody, Coquitlam, and New Westminster on the east, Burnaby is further bounded byBurrard Inlet and the Fraser River on the north and south respectively. Burnaby, Vancouver and New Westminster collectively occupy the major portion of the Burrard Peninsula. The elevation of Burnaby ranges from sea level to a maximum of 370 metres (1,200 ft) atopBurnaby Mountain. Due to its elevation, the city of Burnaby experiences quite a bit more snowfall during the winter months than nearby Vancouver or Richmond. Overall, the physical landscape of Burnaby is one of hills, ridges, valleys and an alluvial plain. The land features and their relative locations have had an influence on the location, type and form of development in the city.

Burnaby is home to many industrial and commercial firms. British Columbia's largest (and Canada's second largest) commercial mall, theMetropolis at Metrotown is located in Burnaby. Still, Burnaby's ratio of park land to residents is one of the highest in North America, and it maintains some agricultural land, particularly along the Fraser foreshore flats in the Big Bend neighbourhood along its southern perimeter.

Burnaby parks, rivers, and lakes

Major parklands and waterways in Burnaby include Central Park, Robert Burnaby Park, Kensington Park, Burnaby Mountain, Still Creek, the Brunette River, Burnaby Lake, Deer Lake, and Squint Lake.

Climate

Metrotown and central Burnaby, looking north toward Burrard Inlet and the North Shore

Transportation

The Brentwood neighbourhood, withCapitol Hill in the distance

The SkyTrain rapid transit system, based in Burnaby, crosses the city from east to west in two places: the Expo Line (completed in 1986) crosses the south along Kingsway and the Millennium Line (completed in 2002) follows Lougheed Highway. The SkyTrain has encouraged closer connections to New Westminster, Vancouver, and Surrey, as well as dense urban development atLougheed Town Centre on the city's eastern border, at Brentwood Town Centre in the centre-west, and most notably at Metrotown in the south.

Major north-south streets crossing the City include Boundary Road, Willingdon Avenue, Royal Oak Avenue, Kensington Avenue, Sperling Avenue, Gaglardi Way, Cariboo Road, and North Road. East-west routes linking Burnaby's neighbouring cities to each other include East Hastings Street, Barnet Highway, the Lougheed Highway, Kingsway (which follows the old horse trail between Vancouver and New Westminster), Canada Way and Marine Drive/Marine Way. Douglas Road, which used to cross the city from northwest to southeast, has largely been absorbed by the Trans-Canada Highway and Canada Way. Since the 1990s, Burnaby has developed a network of cycling trails. It is also well served by Metro Vancouver's bus system, run by the Coast Mountain Bus Company, a division of TransLink.

Demographics

 According to BC Stats, in 2010 the estimated population of Burnaby was 227,389.^[2]

People and politics

 While Burnaby occupies about 4% of the land area of the Greater Vancouver Regional District, it accounted for about 10% of the Region's population in 2001. It is the third most populated urban centre in British Columbia (after Vancouver and Surrey) with an estimated population of 205,261. Like much of Greater Vancouver, Burnaby has always had large ethnic and immigrant communities: to cite two examples, North Burnaby near Hastings Street has long been home to many Italian restaurants and recreational bocce games, while Metrotown's ever-sprouting condominium towers in the south have been fuelled in part by more recent arrivals from China (Hong Kong & Macau), Taiwan, South Korea, and the former Yugoslavia. According to the 2006 Census, 54% of Burnaby residents have a mother tongue that is neither English nor French.

Politically, Burnaby has maintained a centre-left city council (which recently completely eliminated the city's debt) and school board for many years, while sometimes electing more conservative legislators provincially (for the Social Credit and BC Liberal parties) and federally (for the Reform, Alliance, and Conservative parties). Its longest-serving politician had beenSvend Robinson of the New Democratic Party (NDP), Canada's first openly homosexual member of Parliament, but after 25 years and seven elections he resigned his post in early 2004 after stealing and then returning an expensive ring. Burnaby voters endorsed his assistant, Bill Siksay, as his replacement in the spring 2004 Canadian federal election. In the May 2005 provincial election, residents of the city sent a mix of BC Liberal and NDP representatives to the British Columbia legislature.

According to a 2009 survey by Maclean's magazine, Burnaby is Canada's best run city. The survey looks at a city's efficiency, the cost of producing results, and the effectiveness of its city services.^[4]

Industry and economy

Metrotown at sunset as seen from Lochdale

Major technology firms such as Electronic Arts, Creo (now part of Eastman Kodak), Ballard Power Systems and Telus base their operations in Burnaby; heavy industry includes Chevron Corporation and Petro-Canada petroleum refineries on the shores of Burrard Inlet. Other companies such as eBay (ceased operation in 2009),^[5] Future Shop and Nokia have significant facilities in Burnaby as well. Other firms with operations based in Burnaby include Canada Wide Media, Doteasy, Telus, and Translink. The City features high density residential areas, major commercial town centres, rapid transit, high technology research and business parks, film production studios such as Bridge Studios, TV stations such as Global TV and comprehensive industrial estates.

Education

School District 41 is responsible for the public schools in Burnaby. It also has a Community and Adult Education Department, and also an International Students' Programme. Major post-secondary institutions include the main campuses of Simon Fraser University (atop Burnaby Mountain) and the British Columbia Institute of Technology.