Coquitlam ( ) is a city in the
Lower Mainland
The Lower Mainland is a geographic and cultural region of the mainland coast of British Columbia that generally comprises the regional districts of Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley. Home to approximately 3.05million people as of the 2021 Canadia ...
of
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
, Canada. Mainly
suburb
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...
an, Coquitlam is the
sixth-largest city in the province, with a population of 148,625 in 2021,
and one of the 21 municipalities comprising
Metro Vancouver
The Metro Vancouver Regional District (MVRD), or simply Metro Vancouver, is a Canadian political subdivision and corporate entity representing the metropolitan area of Greater Vancouver, designated by provincial legislation as one of the 28 ...
. The mayor is
Richard Stewart
Richard Stewart (born 1959) is the mayor for the city of Coquitlam, British Columbia. He was elected to Coquitlam City Council in 2005, and became mayor in 2008.
Personal life
He was married in 1983 to Anna Rosa, they have four children. Stewa ...
.
Simon Fraser explored the region in 1808, encountering the Indigenous
Coast Salish
The Coast Salish is a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. They speak one of the Coas ...
peoples. Europeans started settling in the 1860s. Fraser Mills, a lumber mill on the north bank of the Fraser River was constructed in 1889, and by 1908 there were 20 houses, a store, post office, hospital, office block, barber shop, pool hall, and a
Sikh temple
A gurdwara (sometimes written as gurudwara) (Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ''guradu'ārā'', meaning "Door to the Guru") is a place of assembly and worship for Sikhs. Sikhs also refer to gurdwaras as ''Gurdwara Sahib''. People from all faiths ...
.
History
The
Coast Salish
The Coast Salish is a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. They speak one of the Coas ...
people were the first to live in this area, and archaeology confirms continuous occupation of the territory for at least 9,000 years. The name ''
Kwikwetlem
The Kwikwetlem ( hur, kʷikʷəƛ̓əm), whose name is on the modern map as that of the City of Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada, are a Coast Salish Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast, indigenous people whose traditional territories and ...
'' is said to be derived from a Coast Salish term "kʷikʷəƛ̓əm" meaning "red fish up the river".
Explorer
Simon Fraser came through the region in 1808, and in the 1860s Europeans gradually started settling the area. Coquitlam began as a "place-in-between" with the construction of North Road in the mid-19th century to provide
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...
in
New Westminster
New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the capita ...
access to the year-round port facilities in
Port Moody
Port Moody is a city in British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It envelops the east end of Burrard Inlet and is the smallest of the Tri-Cities, bordered by Coquitlam on the east and south a ...
.
[City of Coquitlam]
History and Heritage
Retrieved on 15 February 2009
The young municipality got its first boost in 1889 when Frank Ross and James McLaren opened what would become
Fraser Mills
Fraser Mills was a municipality in British Columbia on the north bank of the Fraser River, incorporated in 1913, but since amalgamated with the City of Coquitlam.
History
Located on the northern shore of the Fraser River, the area was originally ...
, a $350,000, then state-of-the-art
lumber mill
A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...
on the north bank of the Fraser River. The Corporation of the District of Coquitlam was incorporated in 1891. By 1908, a mill town of 20 houses, a store, post office, hospital, office block, barber shop, pool hall and a
Sikh temple
A gurdwara (sometimes written as gurudwara) (Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ''guradu'ārā'', meaning "Door to the Guru") is a place of assembly and worship for Sikhs. Sikhs also refer to gurdwaras as ''Gurdwara Sahib''. People from all faiths ...
had grown around the mill. A mill manager's residence was built that would later become
Place des Arts
Place may refer to:
Geography
* Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population
** Census-designated place, a populated area lacking its own municipal government
* "Place", a type of street or road name
** Often ...
.
[Fraser Mills]
History
Retrieved on 15 February 2009
Over the next two years, several contingents of
French Canadian
French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fren ...
mill workers arrived from
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
, and
Maillardville
Maillardville is a community on the south slope of the city of Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada.
History
In 1889, Frank Ross and James McLaren opened what would become Maillardville, a $350,000, modern lumber mill on the north bank of the Fras ...
was born. Named for Father Edmond Maillard, a young
Oblate
In Christianity (especially in the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Methodist traditions), an oblate is a person who is specifically dedicated to God or to God's service.
Oblates are individuals, either laypersons or clergy, normally livi ...
from France, it became the largest Francophone centre west of Manitoba. Maillardville's past is recognized today in street names, the Francophone education system and
French immersion
French immersion is a form of bilingual education in which students who do not speak French as a first language will receive instruction in French. In most French-immersion schools, students will learn to speak French and learn most subjects s ...
programs, French-language
Girl Guides
Girl Guides (known as Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) is a worldwide movement, originally and largely still designed for girls and women only. The movement began in 1909 when girls requested to join the then-grassroot ...
and
scouts
Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking ...
, and celebrations such as ''
Festival du Bois
Festival du Bois is an annual Francophone festival held in the Maillardville neighbourhood of Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada. This year, Festival du Bois will be held from March 24 to 26. Produced by Societe francophone de Maillardville, the f ...
''.
Following
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Coquitlam and the rest of the Lower Mainland experienced substantial population growth that continues today. The opening of
Lougheed Highway Lougheed is an Irish variant of a surname of Scottish origins, meaning ''head of the lake''. Lougheed or Loughead may refer to:
Places
* Lougheed, Alberta, a Canadian village
* Lougheed Island, Nunavut, Canada
* Lougheed Highway, part of British Co ...
in 1953 made the city more accessible and set the stage for residential growth. In 1971, Coquitlam and Fraser Mills were
amalgamated
Amalgamation is the process of combining or uniting multiple entities into one form.
Amalgamation, amalgam, and other derivatives may refer to:
Mathematics and science
* Amalgam (chemistry), the combination of mercury with another metal
**Pan ama ...
, which gave the city a larger industrial base. The mill closed in 2001, and is now currently the subject of a proposed waterfront community.
[CitySoup.ca]
Coquitlam Regional History
Retrieved on 15 February 2009
Geography
Coquitlam is situated some east of
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
, where the
Coquitlam River
The Coquitlam River ( /koʊˈkwɪtləm/ or /kəˈkwɪtləm/) is a tributary of the Fraser River in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The river's name comes from the word Kʷikʷəƛ̓əm which translates to "Red fish up the river". The na ...
connects with the
Fraser River
The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver. The river's annual d ...
and extends northeast along the
Pitt River
The Pitt River in British Columbia, Canada is a large tributary of the Fraser River, entering it a few miles upstream from New Westminster and about 25 km ESE of Downtown Vancouver. The river, which begins in the Garibaldi Ranges of the Coas ...
toward the
Coquitlam
Coquitlam ( ) is a city in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. Mainly suburban, Coquitlam is the List of cities in British Columbia, sixth-largest city in the province, with a population of 148,625 in 2021, and one of the 21 municipa ...
and
Pitt lakes. Coquitlam borders
Burnaby
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 I ...
and Port Moody to the west, New Westminster to the southwest, and
Port Coquitlam
Port Coquitlam ( ) is a city in British Columbia, Canada. Located east of Vancouver, it is on the north bank of the confluence of the Fraser River and the Pitt River. Coquitlam borders it on the north, the Coquitlam River borders it on the west, ...
to the southeast.
Burke Mountain Several hills and mountains are named Burke, including:
United States of America
* Burke Mountain (Arizona), ,
* Burke Mountain (North Carolina), ,
* Burke Mountain (Vermont)
Burke Mountain is a mountain located in the Northeast Kingdom of ...
,
Eagle Ridge, and tall
Coquitlam Mountain
Coquitlam Mountain is a mountain located in northeast Coquitlam, British Columbia, east of Coquitlam Lake and north of Minnekhada Regional Park. The mountain is located at the head of Or Creek, completely within the Coquitlam watershed, and t ...
form the northern boundary of the city.
Coquitlam's area, , is about six times larger than either Port Moody or Port Coquitlam.
[CitySoup.ca]
Land Use Patterns
Retrieved on 15 February 2009
Coquitlam is in the
Pacific Time Zone
The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC−08:00) ...
(winter
UTC−8, summer
UTC−7), and the
Pacific Maritime Ecozone
The Pacific Maritime Ecozone, as defined by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), is a Canadian terrestrial ecozone, spanning a strip approximately 200 kilometres wide along the British Columbia Coast, then narrowing along th ...
.
Neighbourhoods
Coquitlam's geographic shape can be thought of as a tilted
hourglass
An hourglass (or sandglass, sand timer, sand clock or egg timer) is a device used to measure the passage of time. It comprises two glass bulbs connected vertically by a narrow neck that allows a regulated flow of a substance (historically sand) ...
, with two larger parcels of land with a smaller central section connecting them.
Southwest Coquitlam comprises the original core of the city, with Maillardville and Fraser River industrial sector giving way to the large, elevated, flat-plateaued residential areas of Austin Heights. These older residences, with larger property dimensions, are increasingly being torn down and replaced with newer and larger homes. The Poirier Street area was the city's original recreational centre with the
Coquitlam Sports Centre
Poirier Sport & Leisure Complex is a 190,000-square-foot multi-purpose all-season recreation complex in Coquitlam, British Columbia.
Arena
The arena-side of the facility is used by a wide variety of groups, including hockey, lacrosse and ringett ...
,
Chimo Aquatic and Fitness Centre
Poirier Sport & Leisure Complex is a 190,000-square-foot multi-purpose all-season recreation complex in Coquitlam, British Columbia.
Arena
The arena-side of the facility is used by a wide variety of groups, including hockey, lacrosse and ringett ...
, and sports fields located there, while City Hall was previously located further south in Maillardville.
[City of Coquitlam]
City Profile
Retrieved on 7 March 2009
The Austin Heights area contains
Como Lake
Lake Como ( it, Lago di Como , ; lmo, label=Western Lombard, Lagh de Còmm , ''Cómm'' or ''Cùmm'' ), also known as Lario (; after the la, Larius Lacus), is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy. It has an area of , making it the thir ...
, a renowned urban fishing and recreation area, and headwaters for the
Como watershed
The Como Watershed is a small, but biologically important, watershed in Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada. Its headwater is Como Lake. There are four main tributaries which lead to the Fraser River, which in turn flows to the Pacific Ocean
...
. The watershed represents one of the last urban watersheds in the Tri-Cities that supports wild stocks of
coho salmon
The coho salmon (''Oncorhynchus kisutch;'' Karuk: achvuun) is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family and one of the five Pacific salmon species. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon or "silvers". The scientific species name i ...
as well as other species at risk such as
coastal cutthroat trout
The coastal cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii clarkii''), also known as the sea-run cutthroat trout, blue-back trout or harvest trout, is one of the several subspecies of cutthroat trout found in Western North America. The coastal cutthroa ...
(both sea-run and resident) and bird species such as the
great blue heron
The great blue heron (''Ardea herodias'') is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North America and Central America, as well as the Caribbean and the Galápagos ...
and
green heron
The green heron (''Butorides virescens'') is a small heron of North and Central America. ''Butorides'' is from Middle English ''butor'' "bittern" and Ancient Greek ''-oides'', "resembling", and ''virescens'' is Latin for "greenish".
It was long c ...
. It also contains
Mundy Park, one of the largest urban parks in the Metro Vancouver area.
![Coquitlam Lafarge Lake](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Coquitlam_Lafarge_Lake.jpg)
In 1984, the provincial government sold formerly attached to
Riverview Hospital to Molnar Developments. Shortly afterward, this land was subdivided and became Riverview Heights, with about 250 single-family homes. The remaining of this still-active
mental health facility
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...
has been the subject of much controversy amongst developers, environmentalists, and conservationists. In 2005, the city's task force on the hospital lands rejected the idea of further housing on the lands and declared that the lands and buildings should be protected and remain as a mental health facility. In May 2021, the Government of British Columbia announced that the Riverview lands had been renamed səmiq̓wəʔelə (pronounced suh-MEE-kwuh-EL-uh), meaning "The Place of the Great Blue Heron". The kʷikʷəƛ̓əm Nation and
BC Housing are working on a long-term master plan for development of the site.
Coquitlam Town Centre
Coquitlam Town Centre is the main commercial and retail neighbourhood for the city of Coquitlam, British Columbia. Coquitlam Town Centre covers . The Town Centre also contains the highest concentration of high-rise condominiums in the Tri-Cities ...
, was designated as a "Regional Town Centre" under the Metro Vancouver's Livable Region Strategic Plan. The concept of a
town centre
A town centre is the commerce, commercial or geographical centre or core area of a town. Town centres are traditionally associated with shopping or retail. They are also the centre of communications with major public transport hubs such as train ...
for the area dates back to 1975, and is intended to have a high concentration of high-density housing, offices, cultural, entertainment and education facilities to serve major growth areas of the region, served by rapid transit service.
It is in the town centre that many public buildings can be found, including City Hall, a branch of the
Coquitlam Public Library
Coquitlam Public Library is a public library that serves Coquitlam, British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a ...
, an
R.C.M.P. station, Coquitlam's main fire hall, the David Lam Campus of
Douglas College
Douglas College is the largest public degree-granting college institution in British Columbia, Canada. Close to 17,000 credit students, 8,500 continuing education students and 4,210 international students are enrolled here. Douglas College o ...
, the
Evergreen Cultural Centre
The Evergreen Cultural Centre is a community gathering place for performing and visual arts activities in Coquitlam, British Columbia, opened in October 1996 by former Coquitlam Mayor Lou Sekora. The design team was headed by Thom Weeks of Archite ...
,
City Centre Aquatic Complex
The City Centre Aquatic Complex is an indoor aquatic centre featuring an Olympic size swimming pool in the Town Centre area of Coquitlam, British Columbia. The building was designed by Vic Davies Architect Ltd., built at a cost of $8.2 million, ...
,
Town Centre Park
Town Centre Park is a park in central Coquitlam, British Columbia, just north of the Coquitlam Centre shopping mall. The park is surrounded by Coquitlam's city hall, main police station, main fire hall, City Centre Aquatic Complex, and the David L ...
and
Percy Perry Stadium
Percy Perry Stadium is a multi-purpose, fully lit stadium in Coquitlam, British Columbia. It was built for the 1991 British_Columbia_Summer_Games, B.C. Summer Games, as part of the district's 100th anniversary, and has featured events with crowds ...
.
In 1989, the provincial government sold of
second-growth forested land on the south slope of Eagle Mountain, known locally as ''Eagle Ridge'', to developer Wesbild. This resulted in the closure of
Westwood Motorsport Park in 1990, and the creation of
Westwood Plateau
Westwood Plateau is a neighbourhood in the northern region of Coquitlam, British Columbia.
It is named for Westwood Motorsport Park which existed on the plateau before the community was built, and was closed in 1990 to make way for real estate de ...
, which was developed into 4,525 upscale homes, as well as two golf courses.
With development on Westwood Plateau completed and the opening of the
David Avenue Connector in 2006, Coquitlam's primary urban development has now shifted to Burke Mountain in the northeastern portion of the city.
With new development of the
Evergreen Extension
The Evergreen Extension (previously known as the Evergreen Line) is a extension of the Millennium Line of Metro Vancouver's SkyTrain rapid transit system. The extension runs from Lougheed Town Centre in Burnaby to Lafarge Lake–Douglas in Co ...
of the
Millennium Line
The Millennium Line is the second line of the SkyTrain rapid transit system in the Metro Vancouver region of British Columbia, Canada. The line is owned and operated by BC Rapid Transit Company, a subsidiary of TransLink, and links the cities ...
of the
SkyTrain rapid transit
Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be c ...
system which began operation in December 2016, Coquitlam's urban development area has again shifted to
Burquitlam and secondly Burke Mountain. The Burke Mountain area plan is now divided into 4 new neighbourhood plans: Lower Hyde Creek Neighbourhood, Upper Hyde Creek Neighbourhood, Partington Creek, and Smiling Creek.
Climate
Like much of Metro Vancouver, Coquitlam has an
oceanic climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...
(
Köppen climate type ''Cfb''), experiencing mild temperatures and high
precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
; warm, dry summers and cool, wet winters. However, compared to most other cities in the area, precipitation is especially heavy in Coquitlam due to its proximity to the mountain slopes. With westward air moving off the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
, the air is forced to flow up the
Coast Mountains
The Coast Mountains (french: La chaîne Côtière) are a major mountain range in the Pacific Coast Ranges of western North America, extending from southwestern Yukon through the Alaska Panhandle and virtually all of the Coast of British Columbia ...
causing it to cool and condense and fall as precipitation, this process is known as
orographic precipitation
Orography is the study of the topographic relief of mountains, and can more broadly include hills, and any part of a region's elevated terrain. Orography (also known as ''oreography'', ''orology'' or ''oreology'') falls within the broader discipl ...
. The orographic effect is mainly responsible for the massive annual average precipitation that Coquitlam receives each year, with most falling as rainfall in the fall and winter months, with in November; the summer is usually sunny with minimal precipitation with in July. Although the mild temperatures allow for mostly rain to fall during the winter months, occasionally
snow
Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes.
It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...
will fall. With a slightly higher elevation compared to the rest of Metro Vancouver, Coquitlam receives an average of of snow each year, with it rarely staying on the ground for a few days, adding to a very intermittent snow cover during the winter season.
Coquitlam is also located in one of the warmest regions in Canada where average mean annual temperature is . Temperatures are warm during the summer months with an average high of , and an average low of in August. During the winter months, the average high is , and the average low is in December. This relatively mild climate, by Canadian standards, is caused by the warm
Alaska Current
The Alaska Current is a southwestern shallow warm-water current alongside the west coast of the North American continent beginning at about 48-50°N. The Alaska Current produces large clockwise eddies at two sites: west of the Haida Gwaii ("Haid ...
offshore and the many mountain ranges preventing the cold arctic air from the rest of Canada from reaching the southwest corner of British Columbia.
On June 28, 2021, Coquitlam reached an all-time high temperature reading of , shattering the previous record of .
Demographics
In the
2021 Census of Population conducted by
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...
, Coquitlam had a population of 148,625 living in 55,949 of its 58,683 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 139,284. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
According to the 2016 Census, 47% of
household
A household consists of two or more persons who live in the same dwelling. It may be of a single family or another type of person group. The household is the basic unit of analysis in many social, microeconomic and government models, and is im ...
s contained a married couple with children, 30% contained a married couple without children, and 22% were one-person households. Of the 40,085 reported
families
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideall ...
: 76% were
married
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...
couples with an average of 3.0 persons per family, 15% were lone-parents with an average of 2.5 persons per family, and 9% were
common-law
In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...
couples with an average of 2.6 persons per family. The median age of Coquitlam's population was 41.1 years, slightly younger than the British Columbia median of 43.0 years. Coquitlam had 85.6% of its residents 15 years of age or older, less than the provincial average of 87.5%.
According to the 2016 census, about 44% of Coquitlam residents were foreign-born, much higher than the 28% foreign-born for the whole of British Columbia. The same census documented the median income in 2015 for all families was $65,020, compared to the provincial average of $61,280. 58.2% of respondents 15 years of age and older claim to have a post-secondary certificate, diploma or degree, compared to 55% province-wide.
Lastly, also as of the 2016 census, only 23.4% of Coquitlam residents who work outside the home work within the city of Coquitlam itself, just less than half the provincial average of 48.9% of residents who work within their own municipality, yet 22.2% of Coquitlam residents take public transit, bicycle or walk to work, close to the provincial average of 22.4%.
Ethnicity
Languages
The 2016 census found that English was spoken as the mother tongue of 50.47% of the population. The next most common mother tongue language was
Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
, spoken by 9.66% of the population, followed by
Cantonese
Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...
at 6.43%.
The south slope of Coquitlam, which includes Maillardville, has a pocket of French speakers.
Religion
According to the
2021 census, religious groups in Coquitlam included:
*
Irreligion
Irreligion or nonreligion is the absence or rejection of religion, or indifference to it. Irreligion takes many forms, ranging from the casual and unaware to full-fledged philosophies such as atheism and agnosticism, secular humanism and a ...
(73,945 persons or 50.1%)
*
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
(55,150 persons or 37.4%)
*
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
(9,315 persons or 6.3%)
*
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
(3,110 persons or 2.1%)
*
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
(1,955 persons or 1.3%)
*
Sikhism
Sikhism (), also known as Sikhi ( pa, ਸਿੱਖੀ ', , from pa, ਸਿੱਖ, lit=disciple', 'seeker', or 'learner, translit=Sikh, label=none),''Sikhism'' (commonly known as ''Sikhī'') originated from the word ''Sikh'', which comes fro ...
(1,855 persons or 1.3%)
*
Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...
(405 persons or 0.3%)
*
Indigenous Spirituality (45 persons or <0.1%)
Economy
As a
bedroom community
A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...
, the majority of Coquitlam residents commute to work in Vancouver, Burnaby, and other Metro Vancouver suburbs. Coquitlam's main industrial area lies in the southern Maillardville/Fraser Mills area near the Fraser River. Among the largest employers within Coquitlam are the City of Coquitlam with approximately 850 employees, Art in Motion with approximately 750 employees, and
Hard Rock Casino with approximately 600 employees. Other major employers include
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...
,
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
, and the Marine Propulsion division of
Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to:
* Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct
Automobiles
* Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...
.
In 2007, there were 610 retail businesses in Coquitlam, and these provided 8,765 jobs (27% of all jobs) within the city. Most retail businesses are concentrated around
Coquitlam Centre
Coquitlam Centre is a shopping mall in Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada, built in 1979 and expanded in 2001. It is located at the southern edge of the Coquitlam Town Centre area, near Coquitlam Central station and several other smaller shoppi ...
in the Town Centre area, and
big-box retailers
A big-box store (also hyperstore, supercenter, superstore, or megastore) is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain of stores. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store. The te ...
such as
IKEA
IKEA (; ) is a Dutch multinational conglomerate based in the Netherlands that designs and sells , kitchen appliances, decoration, home accessories, and various other goods and home services. Started in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA has been t ...
and
The Home Depot
The Home Depot, Inc., is an American multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportation rentals. Home Depot is the largest home improvement re ...
in the Pacific Reach areas, with the remainder of the city's retail outlets centered around the Austin Heights and North Road sectors.
The Tri-Cities
Chamber of Commerce
A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ad ...
has over 900 members including businesses, professionals, residents and other community groups, governed by a 14-person volunteer Board of Directors.
Arts and culture
![Lights at Lafarge in Coquitlam, Canada](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Lights_at_Lafarge_in_Coquitlam%2C_Canada.jpg)
Being in close proximity to Vancouver and surrounded by the rest of the Lower Mainland, Coquitlam residents have access to virtually unlimited choice in cultural and leisure activities. Within the city itself are numerous venues that bring these choices closer to home.
Coquitlam was designated as a ''Cultural Capital of Canada'' in 2009 by the
Department of Canadian Heritage
The Department of Canadian Heritage, or simply Canadian Heritage (french: Patrimoine canadien), is the department of the Government of Canada that has roles and responsibilities related to initiatives that promote and support "Canadian identity ...
.
Arts and entertainment
The Molson Canadian Theatre
The Molson Canadian Theatre in Coquitlam, British Columbia is a 1,074-seat live event theatre adjoining the Hard Rock Casino Vancouver. The $20 million venue opened with a show by Little Richard on September 16, 2006, and was named for local radio ...
, a 1,074-seat multi-purpose venue, opened as part of a $30 million expansion to Coquitlam's Hard Rock Casino in 2006, while
Cineplex Entertainment
Cineplex Inc. (formerly Cineplex Galaxy) is a Canadian movie theatre and family entertainment centre chain headquartered in Toronto.
The company was formed in 2003 via the acquisition of Loews Cineplex's Canadian operations (which included ...
operates the 4,475-seat SilverCity Coquitlam movie complex with 20 screens.
A partnership of the city, the arts community, private business and senior governments, the Evergreen Cultural Centre in the Town Centre area is a venue for arts and culture, a civic facility designed to host a wide variety of community events. It features a 264-seat
black box theatre
A black box theater is a simple performance space, typically a square room with black walls and a flat floor. The simplicity of the space allows it to be used to create a variety of configurations of stage and audience interaction. The black ...
, rehearsal hall, art studios and
art gallery
An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...
. Evergreen serves as the home venue for the
Pacific Symphonic Wind Ensemble
The Pacific Symphonic Wind Ensemble is a Canadian wind band from the Metro Vancouver area in British Columbia. The ensemble's home venue is the Evergreen Cultural Centre in Coquitlam.
The PSWE was founded in 1981 by Maurice Backun in Vancouver, a ...
, the
Coastal Sound Music Academy
The Coastal Sound Music Academy is a Canadian choral organization based in Coquitlam, British Columbia. It began as a children's choir within the Coquitlam school district in 1989; this was transitioned into the Coastal Sound Music Academy in 200 ...
, the Coquitlam Youth Orchestra, and the
Stage 43 Theatrical Society
The Stage 43 Theatrical Society is a community theatre company in the Tri-Cities area of British Columbia. Stage 43's home theatre is the Evergreen Cultural Centre in Coquitlam
Coquitlam ( ) is a city in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, ...
. Nearby
proscenium theatres include the 336-seat
Terry Fox Theatre
The Terry Fox Theatre is a proscenium theatre in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, opened in 1999, named after cancer research activist Terry Fox. Although attached to Terry Fox Secondary School
Terry Fox Secondary School is a school with app ...
in Port Coquitlam, and the 206-seat
Inlet Theatre in Port Moody.
Numerous yearly
festival
A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...
s are staged at various locations throughout Coquitlam, including Festival du Bois (first full weekend in March),
the
Water's Edge Festival (third full weekend in March), Como Lake Fishing Derby (last Sunday in May),
BC Highland Games
ScotFestBC: The British Columbia Highland Games is the second oldest continually running Highland Games in British Columbia, Canada. The games are run by the ScotFestBC Organizing Committee as a program of the United Scottish Cultural Society of ...
(last Saturday in June), a
Canada Day
Canada Day (french: Fête du Canada), formerly known as Dominion Day (french: Fête du Dominion), is the national day of Canada. A federal statutory holiday, it celebrates the anniversary of Canadian Confederation which occurred on July 1, 18 ...
Celebration at Town Centre Park, th
BC Dumpling Festival(mid-August), and the Blue Mountain Music Festival (mid-July).
Attractions
Parks and community
Coquitlam has a considerable number of open green spaces, with the total area of over . There are over 80 municipal parks and natural areas, with Mundy Park located roughly in the centre of the city being the biggest, and Ridge Park located in the highlands near the city's northern edge.
Pinecone Burke Provincial Park
Pinecone Burke Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada. It extends from the southwest corner of Garibaldi Provincial Park, west of Pitt Lake and Pitt River to include Mount Burke (British Columbia), Burke Mountain in the ...
, Minnekhada Regional Park, and Pitt Addington Marsh are on the northern and eastern border of the city, while the restricted area of the
Metro Vancouver's Coquitlam watershed border Coquitlam to the north.
Colony Farm is a 404-hectare park that straddles the Coquitlam and
Port Coquitlam
Port Coquitlam ( ) is a city in British Columbia, Canada. Located east of Vancouver, it is on the north bank of the confluence of the Fraser River and the Pitt River. Coquitlam borders it on the north, the Coquitlam River borders it on the west, ...
boundaries, offering walking trails rich with wildlife and gardens.
Town Centre Park
Town Centre Park is a park in central Coquitlam, British Columbia, just north of the Coquitlam Centre shopping mall. The park is surrounded by Coquitlam's city hall, main police station, main fire hall, City Centre Aquatic Complex, and the David L ...
is a large city park located in the central area of the city, it provides city residents with many recreational activities.
Como Lake Park
Como Lake Park is a park in Erie County, in the U.S. state of New York. The park is located along the banks of Cayuga Creek in both the village and town of Lancaster, approximately east of the city of Buffalo. It is operated by the Erie Coun ...
and
Glen Park are also popular with local residents.
Place des Arts is a non-profit teaching
arts centre
An art centre or arts center is distinct from an art gallery or art museum. An arts centre is a functional community centre with a specific remit to encourage arts practice and to provide facilities such as theatre space, gallery space, venues for ...
in Maillardville founded in 1972, offering programs in visual arts, music, acting, and dance. It features specialized programs for school students and home learners, and presents concerts and exhibitions for the public. Studios are offered for
pottery
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and por ...
,
fibre arts,
yoga
Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...
,
ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
,
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
,
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
,
drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art in which an artist uses instruments to mark paper or other two-dimensional surface. Drawing instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, various kinds of paints, inked brushes, colored pencils, crayons, ...
and
painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...
. Place des Arts offers four faculty concerts throughout the year, as well as numerous recitals and presentations by students on an ongoing basis.
Place Maillardville is a community centre providing leisure activities for all age groups, with programs on French language, culture, as well as physical activities. Heritage Square offers visitors a wealth of historic sites, gardens, a bike path, and an outdoor amphitheatre; it is also home to the Mackin Heritage Home & Toy Museum.
The city is responsible for the maintenance of numerous sports and recreation fields, including 40 grass/sand/soil sports fields, five
FieldTurf fields, 35 ball diamonds, several all-weather surfaces, a
bowling
Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...
green, a
croquet
Croquet ( or ; french: croquet) is a sport that involves hitting wooden or plastic balls with a mallet through hoops (often called "wickets" in the United States) embedded in a grass playing court.
Its international governing body is the Wor ...
/
bocce
(, or , ), sometimes anglicized as bocce ball, bocci or boccie, is a ball sport belonging to the boules family. Developed into its present form in Italy, it is closely related to British bowls and French , with a common ancestry from ancien ...
court, and a
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
pitch. The city also operates Percy Perry Stadium and the Poirier Sport & Leisure Complex. Privately owned Planet Ice features 4 additional ice rinks, and more rinks are found throughout the Tri-Cities.
Sports
Professional sports teams in the area include the
Vancouver Canucks
The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference, and play their home games at Rogers Arena. Bruce B ...
(
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
),
BC Lions
The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place.
The Lions played their first season ...
(
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...
),
Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Marc ...
(Major League Soccer), Vancouver Warriors (National Lacrosse League), and the Vancouver Canadians (Northwest League baseball). The 2010 Winter Olympics were also staged in the Metro Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia, Whistler areas.
There exists many opportunities for a wide variety of activities in Coquitlam:
* Baseball – The Coquitlam Reds of the B.C. Premier Baseball League play their home games at Mundy Park; the Reds' most famous alumnus is former Major League Baseball, Major League All-Star and National League Most valuable player, MVP Larry Walker. Coquitlam is also home to Coquitlam Little League, which has been part of Little League Baseball, Little League International since 1955; Coquitlam finished 3rd at the 1984 Little League World Series. In 2008, Coquitlam hosted the Junior League Canadian Championships.
* Basketball – Coquitlam is home to the Tri-City Youth Basketball Association; formed in 1999, it serves the Tri-Cities with over 1,400 players from grades 2 to 9. The program is part of the Steve Nash Youth Basketball program administered by Basketball BC. It is open to both boys and girls, and operates out of school gyms across the Tri-Cities area.
* CrossFit – The regional CanWest CrossFit games have been held in the Percy Perry Stadium since 2016.
* Cricket – Coquitlam is home to the Windies Cricket Club. The club consists of over 40 members with 3 adult teams playing in the Premier, Second & Fifth Divisions. The club is affiliated with the British Columbia Mainland Cricket League and games are played at Mackin Park. A youth Kanga Cricket Program was formed with the aim of promoting and growing the game of cricket in Coquitlam. The SuperStrikers cricket team is open to boys and girls aged 6 – 16.
* Canadian football, Football – Coquitlam is home to the Coquitlam Minor Football Association, which is a member of the Vancouver Mainland Football League. CMFA players range from 6 to 18 years of age, and play against teams from the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island. Coquitlam was also the home of the Tri-City Bulldogs of the Canadian Junior Football League from 1991 to 2004.
* Golf – In addition to courses in neighbouring communities in the Tri-Cities, Coquitlam itself is home to several golf facilities. The Vancouver Golf Club, located in southwest Coquitlam, has hosted four major LPGA tour events as well as one Champions Tour, Senior PGA Tour event. The Westwood Plateau Golf & Country Club is one of the highest rated golf courses in Canada. Both the Westwood Plateau Golf Academy and Eaglequest Golf Centre are designed as executive learning courses.
* Ice hockey, Hockey – Founded in 2001, the Coquitlam Express of the British Columbia Hockey League play at the Poirier Sport & Leisure Complex. Coquitlam is also home to the Coquitlam Minor Hockey Association, a AAA club in the Greater Vancouver area in the Pacific Coast Division, with almost 1000 members from Initiation Hockey 1 to Juvenile.
* Lacrosse – Coquitlam is home to the Coquitlam Adanacs of the Western Lacrosse Association, who play at the Poirier Sport & Leisure Complex, and to the Coquitlam Minor Lacrosse Association. In July 2008, Percy Perry Stadium hosted the 2008 Men's U-19 World Lacrosse Championship, 2008 ILF Under-19 World Lacrosse Championships.
* Auto racing, Motorsports – Coquitlam was formerly home to Westwood Motorsport Park, Canada's first purpose-built permanent road course, located on what is now Westwood Plateau. The first race was held in 1959, and over the years hosted many different professional series including Atlantic Championship, Formula Atlantic and Trans-Am Series, Trans-Am. Notable drivers to have raced at Westwood include Formula One World Champion Keke Rosberg, Indianapolis 500 winners Bobby Rahal and Danny Sullivan, Gilles Villeneuve and Michael Andretti, and Greg Moore (racing driver), Greg Moore. The track finally closed in 1990 due to encroaching development, and racing moved to Mission Raceway Park.
* Softball – Coquitlam is home to the Coquitlam Minor Softball Association. This association consists of about 300 registered players, predominantly females between the ages of 5 – 19 years of age. Most of the games are held at Mundy Park, Riverview Park, and Hillcrest Park. The CMSA is home to the Coquitlam Classics competitive rep program.
* Rugby football, Rugby – The city is home to the United Rugby Club which claimed the BC Rugby Under 23 championship in 2018. The club has two senior men's team and one senior women's team, as well, the team has age grade programs from its mini's program for elementary school children to U-16 and U-19 teams.
* Association football, Soccer – The city is home to two major soccer associations, including the Coquitlam Metro-Ford Soccer Club which has over 2500 players that range from Under-5 to adult teams including the Women's Premier team which plays in the Pacific Coast Soccer League, and the North Coquitlam United Soccer Club.
* Swimming – City Centre Aquatic Complex is an indoor aquatic centre built in the Town Centre area at a cost of $8.2 million and opened in 1994. It features a 50m Olympic size swimming pool, wave pool, waterslide, fitness centre, and physiotherapy clinic. The Chimo Aquatic and Fitness Centre (CAFC) opened in 2008 in the Austin Heights area at a cost of $19.5 million, replacing the older Chimo Pool nearby. It features a 25m swimming pool, a 20m lap pool, leisure pool, and fitness room. Coquitlam also operates three outdoor swimming pools (Eagle Ridge, Rochester, Spani), two outdoor wading pools (Blue Mountain, Mackin), and three outdoor splash pads (Blue Mountain, Panorama, Town Centre).
* Track and field – Coquitlam is home to the Coquitlam Cheetahs track and field club, who train at Percy Perry Stadium, which was named after their former coach who died in 2005.
Government
Federal
Coquitlam is represented by two federal Member of Parliament (Canada), MPs in the Parliament of Canada. Bonita Zarrillo, Bonita Zarillo (New Democratic Party, NDP) represents the Port Moody—Coquitlam riding, while Ron McKinnon (politician), Ron McKinnon (Liberal Party of Canada, Liberal Party) represents Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam.
Provincial
Coquitlam is represented by three provincial Member of the Legislative Assembly, MLAs in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. Rick Glumac (British Columbia NDP) represents the Port Moody-Coquitlam (provincial electoral district), Port Moody-Coquitlam riding, while Joan Isaacs BC Liberals, (BC Liberals) represents Coquitlam-Burke Mountain, and Selina Robinson (BC NDP) represents Coquitlam-Maillardville.
Municipal
In the 2018 British Columbia municipal elections, 2018 civic election,
Richard Stewart
Richard Stewart (born 1959) is the mayor for the city of Coquitlam, British Columbia. He was elected to Coquitlam City Council in 2005, and became mayor in 2008.
Personal life
He was married in 1983 to Anna Rosa, they have four children. Stewa ...
was reelected as mayor of Coquitlam, and Craig Hodge, Chris Wilson, Teri Towner, Bonita Zarillo, Brent Asmundson, Dennis Marsden, Trish Mandewo and Steve Kim were all elected to Coquitlam City Council.
Coquitlam contracts out garbage and recycling services to International Paper Industries for city residents, but local businesses are responsible for their own garbage and recycling arrangements. Coquitlam Lake provides residents with a mountain-fed water source, while the city maintains its own sewage management system.
Judicial
The nearest Supreme Court of British Columbia venue is the New Westminster Law Courts. Provincial Court of British Columbia cases were formerly handled through the Coquitlam Provincial Court, but this was closed in 1996 and moved to the new Port Coquitlam Provincial Court.
Infrastructure
Transportation
Coquitlam is served by TransLink (British Columbia), TransLink, which is responsible for both public transit and major roads.
The city has four SkyTrain stations on the Millennium Line that are a part of the long Evergreen Extension. With a project cost of $1.4 billion, the line runs from the Coquitlam City Centre area, through Coquitlam Central station, Coquitlam Central Station and into Port Moody, re-entering Coquitlam on North Road and finally joining the existing Millennium Line at Lougheed Town Centre station, Lougheed Town Centre.
There is regular transit bus, bus service on numerous lines running throughout the city and connecting it to other municipalities in Metro Vancouver, with a major exchange at Coquitlam Central Station.
The West Coast Express, with a stop at Coquitlam Central Station, provides commuter rail service west to downtown Vancouver and east as far as Mission, British Columbia, Mission. WCE operates Monday to Friday only (excluding holidays), with five trains per day running to Vancouver in the morning peak hours and returning through Coquitlam in the evening peak hours.
For motorists, the Trans-Canada Highway provides freeway access to Burnaby, Vancouver, Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and other municipalities in the Lower Mainland. British Columbia Highway 7, Lougheed Highway is an alternative route to the Trans-Canada, entering Coquitlam through Maillardville, past the Riverview Hospital area, up to Coquitlam Centre where it turns sharply east to Port Coquitlam. British Columbia Highway 7A, Barnet Highway begins at the Coquitlam Centre area and heads directly east through Port Moody and on to Burnaby and downtown Vancouver.
Coquitlam has 60 km of bike routes, including dedicated bike lanes on Guildford Way, David Avenue, United Boulevard, Mariner Way, Chilko Drive and others, plus additional routes through city parks.
Coquitlam is served by two international airports. Vancouver International Airport, located on Sea Island (British Columbia), Sea Island in the city of Richmond, British Columbia, Richmond to the west, is the second busiest in Canada and provides most of the air access to the region. Abbotsford International Airport, located to the east, is the seventeenth busiest airport in Canada. Nearby Pitt Meadows Airport provides services for smaller aircraft and there are also Boundary Bay Airport and Langley Airport for small aircraft.
Residents and visitors wishing to travel to Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands, and other destinations along the Inside Passage may use the BC Ferries car and passenger ferry service from two terminals in the communities of Tsawwassen, British Columbia, Tsawwassen and Horseshoe Bay, British Columbia, Horseshoe Bay, south and north of Vancouver respectively. BC Ferries operates the Queen of Coquitlam, a C-class ferry capable of carrying 362 cars and 1,466 passengers, which was launched in 1976. She received an $18 million rehabilitation in November 2002, and currently operates as a secondary vessel on the Departure Bay-Horseshoe Bay route.
Health care
Coquitlam is served by Fraser Health, which operates the 106-bed Eagle Ridge Hospital on the Port Moody/Coquitlam city boundary. ERH opened its doors in 1984 and operates a 24-hour emergency department, ambulatory, long-term care and acute care programs. It is a ''Centre of Excellence'' for elective surgery for urology, gynaecology, Plastic surgery, plastics and Orthopedic surgery, orthopedics. The hospital also offers public education clinics for asthma, Diabetes mellitus, diabetes, Physical medicine and rehabilitation, rehabilitation services and programs for cardiology, children's grief recovery, youth crisis response and early psychosis prevention.
Fraser Health also operates the 352-bed Royal Columbian Hospital just south of Coquitlam in New Westminster. Coquitlam residents are also served by many privately owned health care clinics, while Tri-Cities Health Services operates 653 residential care beds.
Coquitlam is also the home of Riverview Hospital, a large
mental health facility
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...
, operating under the governance of BC Mental Health & Addiction Services. Riverview opened in 1913 and had 4,630 patients at its peak, but advances in treatment and cutbacks in funding have resulted in fewer people receiving mental health care, and much of the facility has closed over the last few decades.
[BCMHAS]
History
Retrieved on 22 February 2009
Police, fire, emergency services
Coquitlam contracts out its police service to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, with the main police station adjacent to City Hall at Coquitlam Town Centre and Community policing, community police stations in the Austin Heights and Burquitlam areas. The Coquitlam RCMP detachment also serves the municipalities of Anmore, Belcarra, and
Port Coquitlam
Port Coquitlam ( ) is a city in British Columbia, Canada. Located east of Vancouver, it is on the north bank of the confluence of the Fraser River and the Pitt River. Coquitlam borders it on the north, the Coquitlam River borders it on the west, ...
.
Coquitlam has its own fire service, known as Coquitlam Fire/Rescue, with four fire halls. Coquitlam uses names, not numbers for their halls. The fire halls are Town Centre, Austin Heights, Mariner Way, near Mundy Park and Burke Mountain.
Like all other municipalities in British Columbia, Coquitlam's ambulance service is run by the British Columbia Ambulance Service.
Coquitlam Search and Rescue is a volunteer search and rescue team operating under the Provincial Emergency Program. Coquitlam SAR is responsible for urban and wilderness search and rescue for the area between Indian Arm and Pitt Lake, and encompasses the local communities of Coquitlam, Burnaby, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, New Westminster, Belcarra and Anmore. The SAR team is based at Town Centre Fire Hall.
Community centres
The city manages four all-age community centres (Centennial, Pinetree, Poirier, Summit), and two senior community centres (Dogwood Pavilion, Glen Pine Pavilion).
Education
Coquitlam is served by School District 43 Coquitlam, and offers four public secondary schools, seven middle schools, and dozens of elementary schools. Francophone education in the Tri-Cities is offered by Conseil Scolaire Francophone de la Colombie-Britannique.
Coquitlam Town Centre is home to the 4,000-student David Lam Campus of Douglas College, which offers university transfer, career-training and academic-upgrading programs. Therapeutic Recreation, Hotel and Restaurant Management, and Animal Health Technology programs are housed in the original main campus building. The $39 million Health Sciences Centre opened in 2008, with state-of-the-art facilities for Nursing, Psychiatric Nursing and other health-career programs.
There are two major universities, University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University, located in the nearby municipalities. The British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) in neighbouring Burnaby provides institute of technology#Canada, polytechnic education and grants Academic degree, degrees in several fields. Vancouver is also home to the Emily Carr University of Art and Design and the Vancouver Film School.
The Coquitlam Public Library has two branches: City Centre and Poirier. The library has a circulation of over 1.1 million items, and an annual budget of over $5 million.
Media
In addition to the other List of Vancouver media outlets, Metro Vancouver media outlets, CKPM-FM was the first radio station dedicated to the Tri-Cities area when it took to the air in 2009.
Coquitlam is served by the bi-weekly ''Tri-City News'' newspaper.
A significant number of movie and television productions have been partly or completely filmed in Coquitlam in recent years, including a significant portion of 2018's Deadpool 2, 2014's Godzilla (2014 film), Godzilla, both New Moon (2009 film), New Moon and Eclipse (2010 film), Eclipse from the The Twilight Saga (film series), Twilight series, The X-Files, Juno (film), Juno, Smallville (TV series), Smallville, Psych, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (film), The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Dark Angel (2000 TV series), Dark Angel, The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008 film), The Day the Earth Stood Still, Romeo Must Die, Stargate SG1, Riverdale (2017 TV series), Riverdale, and Watchmen (film), Watchmen. The city maintains the Coquitlam Film Office to coordinate permits, traffic and crowd control, and insurance for film and television productions.
Sister cities
Coquitlam currently has sister city relationships with the following:
* Foshan, People's Republic of China
* Paju, South Korea
In November 2017, the city stated that they had ended sister city relationships with Laizhou, Tochigi, Tochigi, Tochigi, Ormoc and San Juan, Metro Manila, San Juan.
Notable people
Juno Award-winning rock music, rock musician Matthew Good is from Coquitlam. He graduated from Centennial Secondary School (Coquitlam), Centennial Secondary in 1989, and became lead singer for the Matthew Good Band, one of Canada's most successful alternative rock bands in the 1990s. Centennial Secondary was featured in the "Alert Status Red" video, and its cheerleading squad recorded for "Giant". The Matthew Good Band was dissolved in 2002, and Good has since pursued a solo career and established himself as a political activist, blogger, and author.
Actor Taylor Kitsch graduated from Gleneagle Secondary School, Gleneagle Secondary in 1999, and went on to star in movies such as ''John Carter (film), John Carter'' and ''Battleship (film), Battleship'' as well as the television series ''Friday Night Lights (TV series), Friday Night Lights''.
Former Premier League, FA Premier League goalkeeper Craig Forrest is from Coquitlam and attended Centennial Secondary. Forrest appeared in 263 games for Ipswich Town, 30 games for West Ham United, and three games for Chelsea F.C., Chelsea. Forrest also earned 56 caps for the Canada men's national soccer team, Canadian national soccer team, the most of any goalkeeper in team history, and earned the most clean sheets in the country's history. Forrest was elected to Canada's Soccer Hall of Fame in 2007. Former Canadian national soccer team midfielder Jeff Clarke (Canadian soccer), Jeff Clarke and Canadian women's national soccer player Brittany Timko also both attended Centennial Secondary.
Former National Basketball Association player Lars Hansen (basketball), Lars Hansen was raised in Coquitlam and played his high school basketball at Centennial Secondary. He was a member of the Seattle SuperSonics 1979 NBA Finals, 1979 NBA Championship team, and was elected to the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.
Model and host of MTV Select and G4techTV Amanda MacKay also attended Centennial Secondary where she started her journalism career writing for the school's student newspaper.
American political analyst and former Fox News co-host Rachel Marsden was raised in Northeast Coquitlam's Burke Mountain area.
Former BC Lions placekicker Lui Passaglia has resided in Coquitlam for over 20 years. Passaglia is a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, and his #5 jersey is one of eight BC Lions#Retired numbers, numbers retired by the Lions. Passaglia was voted #30 of the CFL's TSN Top 50 CFL Players, Top 50 players of the modern era by Canadian sports network The Sports Network, TSN.
''Playboy'' Playboy Playmate, Playmate and actress Dorothy Stratten was raised in Coquitlam and attended Centennial Secondary School. Stratten was Playmate of the Year for 1980. She appeared in several movies, including Peter Bogdanovich, Peter Bogdanovich's ''They All Laughed'', then she was murdered by her estranged husband. Stratten was portrayed twice in biographies of her life, by Jamie Lee Curtis in ''Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story'' and by Mariel Hemingway in ''Star 80''.
spoken word, Spoken word poet Chris Tse (Canadian poet), Chris Tse was raised in Coquitlam though he is based in Ottawa. He was captain of the Ottawa spoken word team that won the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word championships and placed second overall in the Poetry Slam World Cup in Paris, France.
Filipino pop and jazz singer, musician, lyricist, and songwriter Joey Albert is a Coquitlam resident.
Hockey player Mathew Barzal, who plays for the New York Islanders in the National Hockey League, was born and raised in Coquitlam.
Science fiction novelist Dennis E. Taylor is a Coquitlam resident.
See also
* Coat of arms of Coquitlam
* Tri-Cities (British Columbia), Tri-Cities
*
Metro Vancouver
The Metro Vancouver Regional District (MVRD), or simply Metro Vancouver, is a Canadian political subdivision and corporate entity representing the metropolitan area of Greater Vancouver, designated by provincial legislation as one of the 28 ...
*
Lower Mainland
The Lower Mainland is a geographic and cultural region of the mainland coast of British Columbia that generally comprises the regional districts of Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley. Home to approximately 3.05million people as of the 2021 Canadia ...
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Coquitlam,
Cities in British Columbia
Populated places in Greater Vancouver