HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Dawson Creek is a city in northeastern
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. The municipality of had a population of 12,978 in 2016. Dawson Creek derives its name from the creek of the same name that runs through the community. The creek was named after
George Mercer Dawson George Mercer Dawson (August 1, 1849 – March 2, 1901) was a Canadian geologist and surveyor. Biography He was born in Pictou, Nova Scotia, the eldest son of Sir John William Dawson, Principal of McGill University and a noted geologis ...
by a member of his land survey team when they passed through the area in August 1879. Once a small farming community, Dawson Creek became a regional centre after the western terminus of the
Northern Alberta Railways Northern Alberta Railways was a Canadian railway which served northern Alberta and northeastern British Columbia. Jointly owned by both Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway, NAR existed as a separate company from 1929 until 19 ...
was extended there in 1932. The community grew rapidly in 1942 as the US Army used the rail terminus as a
transshipment Transshipment, trans-shipment or transhipment is the shipment of goods or containers to an intermediate destination, then to another destination. One possible reason for transshipment is to change the means of transport during the journey (e.g ...
point during construction of the Alaska Highway. In the 1950s, the city was connected to the interior of British Columbia via a highway and a railway through the
Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...
. Since the 1960s, growth has slowed, but the area population has increased. Dawson Creek is located in the dry and windy prairie land of the
Peace River Country The Peace River Country (or Peace Country; french: Région de la Rivière-de-la-paix) is an aspen parkland region centring on the Peace River in Canada. It extends from northwestern Alberta to the Rocky Mountains in northeastern British Columbia ...
. As the seat of the
Peace River Regional District The Peace River Regional District is a regional district in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. The regional district comprises seven municipalities and four electoral areas. Its member municipalities are the cities of Fort St. John and Daws ...
and a service centre for the rural areas south of the Peace River, the city has been called the "Capital of the Peace". It is also known as the "Mile 0 City", referring to its location at the southern end of the Alaska Highway. It also has a heritage interpretation village, an art gallery, and a museum. Annual events include a fall fair and rodeo.


History

Dawson Creek is named after the watercourse of the same name, itself named after
George Mercer Dawson George Mercer Dawson (August 1, 1849 – March 2, 1901) was a Canadian geologist and surveyor. Biography He was born in Pictou, Nova Scotia, the eldest son of Sir John William Dawson, Principal of McGill University and a noted geologis ...
who led a surveying team through the area in August 1879; a member of the team labelled the creek with Dawson's name. The community that formed by the creek was one of many farming communities established by European-Canadian settlers moving west through the
Peace River Country The Peace River Country (or Peace Country; french: Région de la Rivière-de-la-paix) is an aspen parkland region centring on the Peace River in Canada. It extends from northwestern Alberta to the Rocky Mountains in northeastern British Columbia ...
. When the Canadian government began issuing
homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses * Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres *Homestead principle, a legal concept t ...
grants to settlers in 1912, the pace of migration increased. With the opening of a few stores and hotels in 1919 and the incorporation of the Dawson Creek Co-operative Union on May 28, 1921, Dawson Creek became a dominant business centre in the area. After much speculation by land owners and investors, the
Northern Alberta Railways Northern Alberta Railways was a Canadian railway which served northern Alberta and northeastern British Columbia. Jointly owned by both Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway, NAR existed as a separate company from 1929 until 19 ...
built its western terminus 3 km (2 mi) from Dawson Creek. The golden spike was driven on December 29, 1930, and the first passenger train arrived on January 15, 1931. The arrival of the railway and the construction of grain elevators attracted more settlers and business to the settlement. The need to provide services for the rapidly growing community led Dawson Creek to incorporate as a village in May 1936. A small wave of refugees from the Sudetenland settled in the area in 1939 as World War II was beginning. The community exceeded 500 people in 1941. Upon entering the war, the United States decided to build a transportation corridor to connect the US mainland to Alaska. In 1942, thousands of US Army personnel, engineers, and contractors poured into the city – the terminal of rail transport – to construct the Alaska Highway. The highway was completed in less than a year; even after the workers involved in its construction departed, population and economic growth continued. In February 1943, a major fire and explosion in a livery barn, packed with road-building supplies including dynamite, caused serious damage to the center of town; five people were killed and 150 injured. Dawson Creek became a
RCAF The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...
station during WWII, in September 1944. The station disbanded in March 1946. By 1951, Dawson Creek had more than 3,500 residents. In 1952, the John Hart Highway linked the town to the rest of the British Columbia Interior and Lower Mainland through the Rocky Mountains; a new southbound route, known locally as Tupper Highway, made the town a crossroads with neighbouring
Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
. The next year, western Canada's largest propane gas plant was built and federal government offices were established in town. In 1958, the extension of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway to the Peace from Prince George was completed, and the village was re-incorporated as a city. Between 1951 and 1961, the population of Dawson Creek more than tripled. The RCAF center reemerged on October 1, 1956 and was declared functional in 1958. It was disbanded a final time in March 1964. Growth slowed in the 1960s, with the population reaching its all-time high in 1966, but area population increased. In the 1970s, the provincial government moved its regional offices from Pouce Coupe to the city, Northern Lights College opened a Dawson Creek campus, and the Dawson Creek Mall was constructed. Several modern grain elevators were built, and the town's five wooden grain elevators, nicknamed "Elevator Row", were taken out of service. Only one of the historic elevators remains, converted to an art gallery. Since the 1970s, with the nearby town of Fort St. John attracting much of the area's industrial development and
Grande Prairie Grande Prairie is a city in northwest Alberta, Canada within the southern portion of an area known as Peace River Country. It is located at the intersection of Highway 43 (part of the CANAMEX Corridor) and Highway 40 (the Bighorn Highway), a ...
becoming a commercial hub, the town's population and economy have not significantly increased. Since 1992, the city has undergone several boundary expansions. One expansion incorporated undeveloped land in the southeast for an industrial park and a Louisiana-Pacific Canada veneer factory. The city extended sewer and water lines to the location; however, the area was not developed and with the factory only half-built, L-P Canada abandoned its plans. A business making manufactured homes bought the factory and completed its development in 2005. Another expansion incorporated the existing
oriented strand board Oriented strand board (OSB) is a type of engineered wood similar to particle board, formed by adding adhesives and then compressing layers of wood strands (flakes) in specific orientations. It was invented by Armin Elmendorf in California in 1963 ...
factory in the northwest corner of the city, while further incorporations have included undeveloped land to the south and north.


Demographics

In the
2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...
conducted by Statistics Canada, Dawson Creek had a population of 12,323 living in 5,405 of its 6,189 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 12,178. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. The 1941 census, the first to include Dawson Creek as a defined subdivision, counted 518 residents. Its growth spurred by the construction of the Alaska Highway, the town recorded a sevenfold increase to 3,589 residents in the 1951 census. Within five years, the population more than doubled to 7,531. New transport links with southern British Columbia and Alberta spurred continued growth into the next decade. The population peaked in 1966 at 12,392, then declined throughout the 1970s, rising again briefly during the construction of the nearby town of Tumbler Ridge in the early 1980s. Dawson Creek's population has remained relatively stable since then. Between 2005 and 2009, the population rose from 10,869 to 11,514, per provincial estimates. According to the 2016 Canadian census, there was an average household size of 2.3 persons, similar to the provincial average of 2.4 persons. One-person households made up 32% of total households, slightly above the 29% average provincewide, leaving the average family size to be 2.9 persons. The median age decreased from 38.8 years in 2001 to 34.4 in 2016 with 53% of those over 15 years of age being married (or
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 omnipres ...
), lower than the 58% provincial average. Only 46% of residents over 15 years old had a post-secondary certificate (including degree, diploma and trades certificate), compared to the provincewide rate of 55%. Among those aged 25–64, 17% did not have a high school certificate or equivalent, higher than the 10% provincewide rate.


Ethnicity

As of the 2016 Canadian census, nearly 16% of the city's population belong to an Aboriginal group ( Métis or
First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...
) with an additional 10% belonging to a Visible minority group (primarily
Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...
and South Asian).


Religion

According to the 2021 census, religious groups in Dawson Creek 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 ...
(7,170 persons or 59.4%) *
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 ...
(4,385 persons or 36.3%) *
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 ...
(205 persons or 1.7%) *
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 ...
(80 persons or 0.7%) *
Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...
(45 persons or 0.4%) * Islam (40 persons or 0.3%) *
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 t ...
(10 persons or 0.1%) * Indigenous Spirituality (10 persons or 0.1%)


Geography

At the foot of Bear Mountain ridge, the city developed around the Dawson Creek watercourse which flows eastward into the Pouce Coupe River. The city is located on the Pouce Coupe Prairie in the southwestern part of the
Peace River Country The Peace River Country (or Peace Country; french: Région de la Rivière-de-la-paix) is an aspen parkland region centring on the Peace River in Canada. It extends from northwestern Alberta to the Rocky Mountains in northeastern British Columbia ...
, southeast of Fort St. John, and northwest of Grande Prairie, Alberta. According to the Canada Land Inventory, the city is on soil that has moderate limitations, due to an adverse climate, that restrict the range of crops or require moderate conservation practices. The land is flat, but slopes upwards in the northeastern corner elevating a residential area over the rest of the city. The city is in the British Columbia Peace Lowland
ecosection An ecosection is a biogeographic unit smaller than an ecoregion that contains minor physiographic, macroclimatic or oceanographic variations. They are a virtual ecological zone in the Canadian province of British Columbia, which contains 139 ecosec ...
of the Canadian Boreal Plains ecozone on the continental Interior Platform. Located in the Cordillera Climatic Region, it lies at the southern end of a subarctic climate (
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
''Dfc''). In the summer, the city is often dusty and arid; temperatures during the day are warm, but cool at night, typically falling below . Highs reaching occur only twice per year on average. Heavy rain showers are sporadic, lasting only a few minutes. In the winter, the city can get bitterly cold and dry, with 17 to 18 days of lows per year. It is subject to very strong winds year round. Unlike most of the province, the city and its region use
Mountain Standard Time The Mountain Time Zone of North America keeps time by subtracting seven hours from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) when standard time ( UTC−07:00) is in effect, and by subtracting six hours during daylight saving time ( UTC−06:00). The cloc ...
( UTC−07:00) all year round, since the area already has long daylight hours in the summer and short daylight hours in the winter. In other words, residents of the region never change their clocks –
Pacific Daylight Time 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 ...
is used during the spring, summer and early fall, and Mountain Standard Time during the late fall and winter.


Climate

Dawson Creek has a subarctic climate (
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
''Dfc''), bordering on a warm-summer
humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...
(Köppen ''Dfb'') due to its short summers. Summers are generally warm and rainy with cool nights and low humidity. Winters are very cold, some of the coldest in British Columbia with moderate snowfall. Winter is the longest season, lasting from the end of October to the beginning of April. Summer is typically 2 to 3 months, from June through August. Spring and Autumn are usually short seasons, lasting one to two months in length. A freeze has been recorded for every month of the year including all the summer months. Precipitation peaks during July, likely due to thunderstorm activity.


Economy

The economy of Dawson Creek is based on four major industries: agriculture, retail, tourism, and oil and gas. Agriculture has historically been the most important industry to Dawson Creek, as the city is the regional transshipment point for agricultural commodities. The city is surrounded by the Agricultural Land Reserve, where the soil can support livestock and produces consistently good yields of quality grain and grass crops, such as canola, hay, oats, alfalfa, wheat, and sweet clover. The service and retail sector caters to the city's inhabitants, smaller nearby towns, and rural communities. However, there is significant retail leakage to Grande Prairie, the closest major Alberta city, where there is no provincial tax on retail purchases, while British Columbia charges 7%. In 2006, the BC government rejected a proposal to lower the sales tax in the province's border communities to 4%. The problem of leakage has been exacerbated in recent years by the introduction of large-format retail stores into the small city. Residents still cross the border for high-priced items but now also purchase medium- and low-priced items from foreign-owned large-format chain stores. Dawson Creek has a large tourism industry as Mile "0" of the Alaska Highway. Thousands of people drive on the highway every year, starting in Dawson Creek and ending in
Fairbanks, Alaska Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska and the second largest in the state. The 2020 Census put the p ...
. The trek is often made with recreational vehicles, sometimes in convoys which gather in the city. In the winter, the hospitality industry caters to workers from the oil patches. Discoveries south of Dawson CreekCity of Dawson Creek and Fisheries Renewal BC, Kiskatinaw River Watershed Plan, May 2003, p28. and higher energy prices have spurred oil and gas activities, which have in turn driven the nearby Fort St. John economy to spill over to the Dawson Creek economy. British Columbia's first wind farm, Bear Mountain Wind Park, was constructed southwest of the city in 2009.


Transportation and infrastructure

Dawson Creek's road network was laid out in the mid-20th century as the town rapidly expanded. The city maintains 88 km (55 mi) of paved and 11 km (7 mi) of unpaved roads.Reed Construction (2006), ''Municipal redbook: an authoritative reference guide to local government in British Columbia'', Burnaby, BC, 27. The primary roads generally follow a grid pattern around large blocks of land. Because the grid contains many internal intersections with stop signs, traffic is forced onto two
arterial road An arterial road or arterial thoroughfare is a high-capacity urban road that sits below freeways/motorways on the road hierarchy in terms of traffic flow and speed. The primary function of an arterial road is to deliver traffic from collector r ...
s: 8 Street going north–south and Alaska Avenue going southeast–northwest. These two roads meet at a traffic circle where a metal statue marks the beginning of the Alaska Highway, and the Mile Zero Post is now located. Officially designated
British Columbia Highway 97 Highway 97 is a major highway in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the longest continuously numbered route in the province, running and is the only route that runs the entire north–south length of the British Columbia, connec ...
, it runs north from Dawson Creek to Fort St. John and the
Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...
– where it becomes Highway 1 – before reaching Alaska. The other highways emanating from Dawson Creek are the John Hart Highway, also 97 (southwest to Chetwynd and Prince George), Highway 2 (south to Grande Prairie and southern Alberta), and Highway 49 (east to Peace River and northern Alberta). A road with few intersections along the southern and western borders of the city, incorporating a stretch of Highway 2, is designated as a "dangerous goods route" for heavy trucks so that they can avoid traveling through the city. However, Highway 49 has no direct access to such a ring road, so many trucks bound to or from the east use the city arterials, slowing traffic and damaging roads. Dawson Creek is a regional node for air and rail services. The Dawson Creek Airport, which services commercial flights by Central Mountain Air, was built in 1963; its 1,524 m (5,000 ft) runway was paved in 1966. There are larger airports in Fort St. John and Grande Prairie that maintain more comprehensive flight schedules. Passenger rail service was available in Dawson Creek between 1931 and 1974. Service began when the
Northern Alberta Railways Northern Alberta Railways was a Canadian railway which served northern Alberta and northeastern British Columbia. Jointly owned by both Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway, NAR existed as a separate company from 1929 until 19 ...
(NAR) built its northwest terminus in the town and was extended in 1958 to
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 ...
with a rail line through the Rocky Mountains. Passenger rail service ended as commodity shipments of grains, oil and gas by-products, and forestry products became more important in the resource-based economy. The city draws its water supply from the Kiskatinaw River, 18 km (11 mi) west of town. Before reaching the city, the water is pumped through a settling pond, two storage ponds, and a treatment plant where it is
flocculate Flocculation, in the field of chemistry, is a process by which colloidal particles come out of suspension to sediment under the form of floc or flake, either spontaneously or due to the addition of a clarifying agent. The action differs from p ...
d, filtered, and
chlorinated In chemistry, halogenation is a chemical reaction that entails the introduction of one or more halogens into a compound. Halide-containing compounds are pervasive, making this type of transformation important, e.g. in the production of polyme ...
. The city also provides drinking water for Pouce Coupe and rural residents. Sewage is processed by a lagoon system east of town and released into the Pouce Coupe River.


Education

Dawson Creek is located in School District 59 Peace River South which maintains four elementary schools ( Tremblay, Frank Ross, Crescent Park, and Canalta elementary schools), and one high school ( Dawson Creek Secondary School). Mountain Christian School, and Ron Pettigrew Christian School are K-12 private schools located in the city. There is also Notre Dame which is a K-7 Catholic school. Established in 1975, Northern Lights College has a campus in Dawson Creek that houses its Regional Administration and two Centres of Excellence. At Northern Lights College, students can earn a one-year certificate, a two-year diploma or associate degree, or complete upgrading courses to get their high school diploma.


Culture and recreation

The cultural identity of Dawson Creek rests on its designation as Mile "0" of the Alaska Highway. The Mile "0" post, depicted in the city flag, was located in the historic downtown area, one block south of the Northern Alberta Railways Park, but has been relocated to the traffic circle a few blocks to the northeast. The four- acre (1.6  ha), mostly paved NAR Park is the gathering point for travelers. The park includes the Dawson Creek Art Gallery, which exhibits work by local artists and craftsmen. The Station Museum, connected to the art gallery, displays artifacts and exhibits associated with the construction of the NAR railway and the Alaska Highway. Other parks in Dawson Creek include the Mile Zero Rotary Park and the Walter Wright Pioneer Village. Annual events in the city include the Dawson Creek Art Gallery auction, the Dawson Creek Spring Rodeo, and the Peace Country Blue Grass Festival. The largest event, held annually since 1953, is the Dawson Creek Fall Fair & Exhibition — a five-day professional rodeo, with a parade, fairgrounds, and exhibitions. City recreation facilities include two ice hockey arenas, a curling rink, an indoor swimming pool, an outdoor ice rink, and a speed skating oval. The South Peace Community Multiplex, a new facility completed in 2010, boasts a pool, indoor rodeo grounds and ice rink. Voters approved building the Multiplex in a 2004 referendum which projected its cost at C$21.6 million. The project became controversial when construction began and the cost projection was raised to $35 million. The facility is located close to the city's exhibition grounds, away from residential uses. It features an indoor rodeo arena and a 4,000-seat convention centre/ice arena with skyboxes. Nearby Bear Mountain, located south of the city, provides over 20 km (12 mi) of snowshoeing and cross-country skiing trails, as well as areas for downhill skiing and about 500 km (300 mi) of trails for snowmobiles, mountain bikes, and all-terrain vehicles. The city was once home to a North American Hockey League team, the Dawson Creek Rage, beginning in the 2010–11 season until it ceased operations in 2012 due to financial difficulties.


Media

Dawson Creek is served by several regional newspapers. The ''Dawson Creek Daily News'' (formerly ''Peace River Block Daily News'') and Fort St. John's ''Alaska Highway News'', both part of the Glacier Ventures chain of local papers, are dailies available in the city. '' The Vault Magazine'' is a free alternative newspaper available in the city bi-weekly. The ''Northeast News'', a free weekly published in Fort St. John, has a sub-office in Dawson Creek. The only radio station broadcasting from the city is 890 CJDC AM, which first went on air in 1947. Originating in Chetwynd, 94.5 Peace FM (CHET) is rebroadcast in Dawson Creek on CHAD-FM 104.1. The Fort St. John stations 95.1 Energy FM (CHRX), 101.5 The Bear FM (CKNL), and 101.1 The Moose FM (CKFU) also reach the city. Also available locally is CBKQ-FM 89.7, repeating
CBC Radio One CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent of C ...
station CBYG-FM from Prince George; and CBUF-FM-7 93.7 FM, repeating
Première Chaîne A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its firs ...
station CBUF-FM from
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 ...
. CJDC-TV, a long-time affiliate of CBC Television before moving to a
CTV 2 CTV 2 is a Canadian English-language television system owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc. The system consists of four terrestrial owned-and-operated television stations (O&Os) in Ontario, one in British Columbia and two regional cab ...
affiliation in 2016, has been broadcasting from Dawson Creek since 1959. A local community group, the Cable 10 Society, operates a community television station. Dawson Creek is also served by local repeater CFSN-TV channel 8, owned locally by Dawson Creek Hypervista Communications and repeating CTV station
CFRN-DT CFRN-DT (channel 3) is a television station in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, part of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside cable-exclusive CTV 2 Alberta. The two outlets share studios with si ...
Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
in analogue. As of 2016, CBC Television service in the area is maintained only through pay television means.


Government and politics

The City of Dawson Creek has a council-manager form of municipal government. A six-member council, along with one mayor, is elected at-large every four years. Current mayor Dale Bumstead assumed the position following a byelection to replace Mike Bernier who had been elected MLA in 2013. Previous mayors of the city have included Calvin Kruk (2005–08), Wayne Dahlen (2001–05), Blair Lekstrom (1997–2001), Bill Kusk (1994-96) and Robert Trail (1967-75, 1982-93). The city government administers infrastructure and services such as the provision of drinking water, sewage and garbage collection, fire protection, recreational facilities (including parks, trails and arenas), roadway maintenance, snow removal, library services, street lighting, public transportation, and the airport. The city also partially funds a 22-officer
Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...
municipal detachment. ISSN 1198-9971 For creating its Community Energy Plan, which involved the installation of low-voltage street lights and solar-powered hot water heaters, the city was awarded the
Federation of Canadian Municipalities The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM, ''Fédération canadienne des municipalités'') is an advocacy group representing over 2000 Canadian municipalities. It is an organization with no formal power but significant ability to influence d ...
' 2007 Sustainable Community Award. City council appoints one person, usually the mayor, to serve as a board director with the Peace River Regional District. Concurrent with municipal elections, residents also elect two
school board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...
trustees to School District 59 which consists of seven trustees. For representation in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Dawson Creek is situated in the Peace River South provincial electoral district and is represented by
Mike Bernier Mike Bernier (born 1968) is a Canadian politician, who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2013 provincial election. He represents the electoral district of Peace River South as a member of the British Columbia ...
of the
British Columbia Liberal Party The British Columbia Liberal Party, often shortened to the BC Liberals, is a centre-right provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party currently forms the Official Opposition. Subsequent to the 2020 British Columbia genera ...
. Bernier has been the
Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. ...
since 2013 provincial election and prior to that served as mayor of Dawson Creek between 2008 and 2013. His predecessor, Blair Lekstrom, also served as mayor of Dawson Creek between 1996 and 2001 before being elected as the MLA. Before Bernier and Lekstrom, Peace River South was represented by Dawson Creek resident Jack Weisgerber. Weisgerber was first elected in 1986 as a member of the Social Credit Party and served as the province's Minister of Native Affairs for three years. While the Social Credit Party lost power in 1991, Weisgerber was re-elected and served as interim party leader. He joined the
Reform Party of British Columbia The Reform Party of British Columbia (Reform BC) is an unregistered right-wing populist political party in British Columbia, Canada. Although its name is similar to the defunct Reform Party of Canada, the provincial party was founded before the ...
in 1994 and won re-election in 1996 as party leader, even though Dawson Creek polls put him in third place behind the BC Liberal Party and New Democratic Party candidates. Federally, Dawson Creek is in the Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies riding, represented in the House of Commons of Canada by Conservative Party
Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
Bob Zimmer. Before Zimmer, who was elected in May 2011, the riding was represented by Jay Hill since
1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...
. The riding was represented by Frank Oberle of the Progressive Conservative Party from 1972 to 1993. Oberle served as Canada's Minister of Science and Technology in 1985 and Minister of Forestry in 1989.


Notable people

*
Dan Brennan Daniel T. Brennan (born 1 October 1962) is a Canadian former professional National Hockey League player. He played eight games for the Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team com ...
, ice hockey player *
Donna Feore Donna Feore (née Starnes, born June 20, 1963) is a Canadian choreographer and theatre director, most noted for her work with the National Arts Centre and the Stratford Festival. Early life Donna Starnes was born in Dawson Creek, British Colu ...
, choreographer and musical theatre director *
Roy Forbes Roy Charles Forbes (born February 13, 1953) is a Canadian folk music singer-songwriter, whose music bears heavy influences from classic American genres of acoustic blues and traditional country. Forbes is known for his high soulful voice and p ...
, singer-songwriter * Ben Heppner, opera singer / tenor * Phil Sykes, ice hockey player


See also

* List of cities in British Columbia


References


External links

* * {{Authority control Cities in British Columbia