Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard Inlet with its Indian Arm to the north, Port Moody and Coquitlam to the east, New Westminster and Surrey across the Fraser River to the southeast, and Richmond on Lulu Island to the southwest. It has a population of 249,125 as of the 2021 census.
Burnaby was incorporated in 1892 and achieved its city status in 1992. A member municipality of Metro Vancouver, it is British Columbia's third-largest city by population (after Vancouver and Surrey), and is the seat of Metro Vancouver's regional district government. 25% of Burnaby's land is designated as parks and open spaces, one of the highest in North America.
The main campuses of Simon Fraser University and the British Columbia Institute of Technology are located in Burnaby. It is home to high-tech companies such as Ballard Power (fuel cell), Clio (legal software), D-Wave (quantum computing), and EA Vancouver. Burnaby's Metropolis at Metrotown is the largest mall in British Columbia, the third most visited in Canada and the fifth largest in the nation. Canada's largest film and television production studio and more than 60% of BC's sound stages are in Burnaby, contributing to the growth of Hollywood North.
The city is served by SkyTrain's Expo Line and Millennium Line. Metrotown station in Metrotown is the busiest station on weekends and the second-busiest on weekdays in regional Vancouver's urban transit system as of 2021.
History
Pre-colonial (before 1850) Early inhabitants were the Halkomelem- and Squamish-speaking Coast Salish Nations. Local landmarks such as Burnaby Mountain, Deer Lake, and Brunette River feature prominently in Indigenous history passed down through oral traditions. The northern shorelines of Burnaby, along the second narrows of Burrard Inlet was the site of an ancient battle between the attacking Lekwiltok and the defending Musqueam according to Chief Charlie Qiyəplenəxw.
The Coast Salish people living in BC and Washington state numbered more than 100,000 people, a level of population density supported by agriculture in other geographies. Techniques to preserve and store surplus food sustained a hierarchical society. Burnaby's marshlands along its rivers and lakes were cranberry harvesting areas for numerous villages, some numbering over 1,000 residents. Indigenous people travelled through Burnaby to reach the mouth of Brunette and Fraser River for the bountiful fishing seasons, eulachon in the spring and sockeye salmon in the late summer. Early European explorers and fur traders introduced diseases that decimated the Indigenous population. This false appearance of Burnaby as a vast open space, along with traditional Indigenous farming techniques which did not permanently alter the landscape, meant Indigenous land in Burnaby was mislabelled as terra nullius.
Incorporation (1850–1990)
The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush of 1858, the first of many gold rushes in British Columbia, brought over 30,000 fortune seekers, including many American miners. The fear of an impending annexation by the United States led to the creation of the Colony of British Columbia in 1858 and the establishment of New Westminster as its capital.
Settlers in Burnaby acquired land through a process called pre-emption which allowed people to claim a piece of land by clearing forests and building houses. Indigenous people were excluded from pre-emption. Royal Engineers dispossessed land from Indigenous people with the assistance of military force including the original routes of North Road, Kingsway, Canada Way, and Marine Drive. Logging permits given to settlers destroyed the forests of southern Burnaby which had provided vital sustenance for Indigenous people.
The City of Burnaby is named after Burnaby Lake, in turn named after Robert Burnaby, who was a Freemason, explorer, and legislator. He was previously private secretary to Colonel Richard Moody, the first land commissioner for the Colony of British of Columbia. In 1859, Burnaby surveyed a freshwater lake in the city's geographic centre. Moody named it Burnaby Lake.
Burnaby was established in 1891 and incorporated a year later in 1892. In the same year, the interurban tram connecting Vancouver, Burnaby, and New Westminster began construction.
Recent
The expanding urban centres of Vancouver and New Westminster influenced the growth of Burnaby. It developed as an agricultural area supplying nearby markets. Later, it evolved into an important transportation corridor between Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and the Interior. The introduction of the Skytrain's Expo Line cemented this trend into the 21st century.
As Vancouver expanded and became a metropolis, Burnaby was one of the first-tier suburbs of Vancouver, along with North Vancouver and Richmond. During the suburbanization of Burnaby, "Mid-Century Vernacular" homes were built by the hundreds to satisfy demand by new residents. The establishment of British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) in 1960 and Simon Fraser University (SFU) in 1965 helped Burnaby gradually become more urban in character. In 1992, one hundred years after its incorporation, Burnaby officially became a city.
Since the 1970s, Burnaby has seen a decline in resource sectors and a subsequent rise of high value-added services and technology sectors. The presence of BCIT and SFU promoted research & development in the area. For example, manufacturing plants near Still Creek closed in the late 1970s, only to reopen few years later as film production studios. The continued expansion of media production in Burnaby contributed to Hollywood North.
Geography and land use
Burnaby occupies and is located at the geographic centre of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. The city has four areas of urban density known as "town centres": Lougheed, Edmonds, Metrotown, and Brentwood. The city's governmental and cultural precincts are located in Burnaby's Deer Lake area. Situated between the city of Vancouver on the west and Port Moody, Coquitlam, and New Westminster on the east, Burnaby is bounded by Burrard 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 atop Burnaby Mountain. Due to its elevation, the city of Burnaby typically has 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.
Burnaby is home to many industrial and commercial firms. British Columbia's largest (and Canada's second largest) commercial shopping mall, Metropolis at Metrotown, is located in Burnaby, as well as malls in Brentwood and Lougheed town centres. Still, Burnaby's ratio of park land to residents is one of the highest in North America. It also maintains some agricultural land, particularly along the Fraser foreshore flats in the Big Bend neighbourhood along its southern perimeter.
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, Squint Lake, and Barnet Marine Park.
Climate
Burnaby's Simon Fraser University weather station is located above sea level on Burnaby Mountain. Therefore, climate records are cooler and wetter, with more snowfall, as compared to the rest of the city.
Burnaby has an oceanic climate (Cfb) with mild, dry summers and cool, rainy winters.
Demographics
In the 2021 Canadian census conducted by Statistics Canada, Burnaby had a population of 249,125 living in 101,136 of its 107,046 total private dwellings, an increase of from its 2016 population of 232,755. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
In 2016, the median age is 40.3 years old, slightly younger than the British Columbia median of 43.0 years old.
Ethnicity Burnaby has diverse ethnic and immigrant communities. For example, North Burnaby near Hastings Street has long been home to many Italian restaurants and recreational bocce games. Metrotown's high-rise condominium towers in the south have been fuelled in part by arrivals from China (Hong Kong and Macau) during the 1990s, Taiwan, and South Korea. According to the 2021 census, ethnic Chinese make up the largest ethnic group of Burnaby with 33.3% while Europeans make up a close 2nd with 30.5%.
+ Panethnic groups in Burnaby (2001–2021)Panethnic group20212016201120062001 East Asian 94,895 89,470 79,205 71,435 59,090 European 74,860 79,575 86,015 86,560 95,165 South Asian 23,155 18,735 17,480 16,840 14,960 Southeast Asian 20,560 17,620 16,850 10,915 7,965 Middle Eastern 8,975 6,660 5,975 3,700 3,580 Latin American 6,155 4,630 3,765 2,785 3,020 African 4,985 3,670 3,445 2,450 2,480 Indigenous 4,175 4,195 3,295 3,005 3,145 Other/multiracial 7,965 5,530 4,220 3,170 1,975 Total responses 245,725 230,080 220,255 200,855 191,380 Total population 249,125 232,755 223,218 202,799 193,954
Language According to the 2021 census, English was spoken as the mother tongue of 44.46 percent of the population. Other common languages spoken as mother tongues were Mandarin (13.91 percent), Cantonese (12.45 percent), Tagalog (3.63 percent), Korean (3.34 percent), Spanish (2.40 percent), Punjabi (2.37 percent), Persian (2.28 percent), Serbo-Croatian (1.55 percent), and Italian (1.53 percent).
+ Mother tongue languages in Burnaby (2001–2021)Mother tongue2021 Canadian census2016 Canadian census2011 Canadian census2006 Canadian census2001 Canadian census English 109,800 100,390 100,040 89,460 93,850 Mandarin 34,360 33,165 28,725 22,525 14,460 Cantonese 30,755 28,750 27,780 28,125 28,175 Tagalog 8,970 8,755 7,630 5,060 3,265 Korean 8,255 7,345 7,380 7,030 5,270 Spanish 5,930 4,485 4,200 3,055 3,125 Punjabi 5,850 5,465 5,705 4,920 4,680 Persian 5,620 4,265 3,830 2,895 2,790 Serbo-Croatian 3,835 4,120 4,230 4,020 4,390 Italian 3,770 4,265 4,620 4,285 4,695 Vietnamese 3,620 2,525 2,190 1,945 1,830 Hindi 3,560 2,425 2,330 2,340 1,925 Portuguese 3,090 1,930 1,480 1,465 1,280 Russian 2,890 2,740 2,565 1,980 1,440 Japanese 2,650 2,480 2,360 1,765 2,000 French 2,555 2,340 2,455 2,145 2,135 Arabic 2,450 1,975 1,575 875 770 Gujarati 2,055 1,785 1,845 1,750 1,885 German 1,295 1,605 1,945 1,940 2,390 Polish 990 1,060 1,240 1,150 1,435 Total responses 246,940 230,935 221,460 200,855 191,380 Total population 249,125 232,755 223,218 202,799 193,954
Religion According to the 2021 census, religious groups in Burnaby included: Irreligion (118,890 persons or 48.4%) Christianity (86,490 persons or 35.2%) Islam (13,735 persons or 5.6%) Buddhism (9,140 persons or 3.7%) Hinduism (7,505 persons or 3.1%) Sikhism (6,905 persons or 2.8%) Judaism (620 persons or 0.3%) Indigenous spirituality (130 persons or 0.1%) Other (2,325 persons or 0.9%)
Industry and economy
The city features major commercial town centres, high-density residential areas, two rapid transit lines, technology research, business parks, film studios such as The Bridge Studios, and TV stations such as Global TV.
Major technology firms such as Ballard Power Systems (fuel cell), D-Wave Systems (quantum computing), Clio (legal tech), Creo (imaging), and Electronic Arts Canada (studio) have their headquarters in Burnaby.
Metropolis mall located in the Metrotown neighbourhood, the downtown area of Burnaby, is the largest mall in British Columbia with West Vancouver's Park Royal in second place. It is the second largest in Canada behind the first-place West Edmonton Mall in Alberta. Metropolis was the second most visited mall in Canada in 2017 and third most visited in 2018.