This research provides a profile of the City of Vancouver, British Columbia. Areas of interest included in the profile are geography, demographics, socioeconomic, and political.
Vancouver is situated on a peninsula which is defined by the Strait of Georgia, English Bay, Burard Inlet, and the North Arm of the Fraser River. The area is sheltered from the open sea by Vancouver Island to the west. The city's excellent harbour is located on Burard Inlet.
The Greater Vancouver metropolitan area encompasses most of the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. This area stretches from the communities along the North Shore of Burard Inlet to the American border in the south, and eastward to Pitt Meadows. The mild climate of the Lower Mainland facilitates the conduct of industrial, service, and agricultural activities.
The Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) of Vancouver had a population approximating 1.4 million at the 1986 census.1 The
1J. Paxton, (ed.), The Statesman's Year Book, 126th ed. (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989), 272.
incorporated City of Vancouver had a population of somewhat over 431 thousand at the 1986 census.
Both the Lower Mainland generally and the City of Vancou ver specifically are ethnically diverse, although the strength of the diversity is greater in the city than it is in the metropolitan area.
Ethnically, one tends to perceive Canada in an Anglo/ French context. This perception, however, is not applicable to Vancouver, where the French population component is quite small. A better ethnic description of Vancouver is Anglo/ Asian, although this description is also lacking. Both the Anglo and the Asian communities are diverse within themselves. The Chinese and Japanese are the largest components of the Asian community in Vancouver, although several other Asian ethnic groups are well represented.
Additionally, East Indian ethnic groups are present in Vancouver in significant numbers. While t...