Mission, British Columbia

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Mission
City
City of Mission^[1]

Flag
Motto(s): "The Future Our Mission"
Mission Location of Mission in British Columbia
Coordinates: 49°08′01.3″N 122°18′40.2″WCoordinates: 49°08′01.3″N 122°18′40.2″W
Country	Canada
Province	British Columbia
Regional district	Fraser Valley
Founded	1868
Incorporated	1892
Incorporated (city)^[1]	March 29, 2021
Government
• Mayor	Paul Horn^[2]
Area
• Total	227.65 km² (87.90 sq mi)
Population (2016)
• Total	38,833
• Density	170.6/km² (442/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC-8 (PST)
Forward sortation area	V2V, V4S
Area code(s)	604/778
Website	District of Mission

Mission is a city in the Lower Mainland of the province of British Columbia, Canada. It was originally incorporated as a district municipality in 1892, growing to include additional villages and rural areas over the years, adding the original Town of Mission City, long an independent core of the region, in 1969.

It is situated on the north bank of the Fraser River, backing onto mountains and lakes overlooking the Central Fraser Valley 80 km (50 mi) southeast of Vancouver.

provides eastbound flag stop service from Mission Harbour railway station.

Mission differs from some of the other Fraser Valley communities because of its access to the Fraser River. The Fraser near Mission is for the most part undeveloped and unspoiled which makes Mission the launch point for many water based activities that happen year round. Boat tours run from Mission's docks on Harbour Avenue, which are also home to sport and commercial fishing vessels; the Fraser has famous salmon runs and population of green sturgeon.

The Mission Bridge carries Highway 11. Following this bridge's opening much of the town's retail business was lost to Abbotsford.

Climate[edit]

Mission has an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb) due to its proximity to the Pacific Ocean. However, Mission has plentiful rainfall all year round, with a drying trend in the summer.

hideClimate data for Mission
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	15.6 (60.1)	20.6 (69.1)	22.5 (72.5)	28.0 (82.4)	36.5 (97.7)	42.9 (109.2)	37.8 (100.0)	36.5 (97.7)	36.0 (96.8)	27.0 (80.6)	18.9 (66.0)	17.5 (63.5)	42.9 (109.2)
Average high °C (°F)	5.1 (41.2)	8.0 (46.4)	10.9 (51.6)	14.6 (58.3)	17.4 (63.3)	19.9 (67.8)	23.5 (74.3)	23.4 (74.1)	20.9 (69.6)	14.9 (58.8)	8.9 (48.0)	6.0 (42.8)	14.5 (58.1)
Daily mean °C (°F)	2.5 (36.5)	4.7 (40.5)	6.8 (44.2)	9.7 (49.5)	12.6 (54.7)	15.1 (59.2)	17.9 (64.2)	18.0 (64.4)	15.6 (60.1)	10.9 (51.6)	6.1 (43.0)	3.5 (38.3)	10.3 (50.5)
Average low °C (°F)	−0.2 (31.6)	1.3 (34.3)	2.7 (36.9)	4.8 (40.6)	7.7 (45.9)	10.3 (50.5)	12.3 (54.1)	12.5 (54.5)	10.4 (50.7)	6.7 (44.1)	3.2 (37.8)	0.9 (33.6)	6.1 (43.0)
Record low °C (°F)	−14.4 (6.1)	−15.5 (4.1)	−12.2 (10.0)	−2.8 (27.0)	−2.2 (28.0)	2.2 (36.0)	4.4 (39.9)	5.0 (41.0)	0.6 (33.1)	−3.5 (25.7)	−13.3 (8.1)	−19.4 (−2.9)	−19.4 (−2.9)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	217.0 (8.54)	190.7 (7.51)	154.6 (6.09)	129.7 (5.11)	102.5 (4.04)	100.6 (3.96)	63.6 (2.50)	74.1 (2.92)	77.9 (3.07)	141.2 (5.56)	252.7 (9.95)	260.1 (10.24)	1,764.5 (69.47)
Average rainfall mm (inches)	197.3 (7.77)	178.8 (7.04)	151.2 (5.95)	129.5 (5.10)	102.5 (4.04)	100.6 (3.96)	63.6 (2.50)	74.0 (2.91)	77.9 (3.07)	141.1 (5.56)	249.1 (9.81)	242.9 (9.56)	1,708.5 (67.26)
Average snowfall cm (inches)	19.7 (7.8)	11.9 (4.7)	3.4 (1.3)	0.2 (0.1)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0.1 (0.0)	3.6 (1.4)	17.2 (6.8)	56.0 (22.0)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.2 mm)	19.3	16.9	18.0	15.0	15.6	14.4	9.7	9.6	9.8	15.4	20.7	21.6	186.0
Average rainy days (≥ 0.2 mm)	17.3	15.8	17.6	15.0	15.6	14.4	9.7	9.6	9.8	15.4	20.4	19.5	180.1
Average snowy days (≥ 0.2 cm)	4.2	2.3	1.1	0.17	0.03	0	0	0	0	0.06	0.82	3.7	12.4
Source: Environment Canada^[7]

Demographics[edit]

Mission offers few jobs, so many residents (more than 6 out of 10) commute to work in other locales. The community has a young population, with a median age of 36.4, according to the 2001 Canadian census,^[8] Mission's largest religious denomination is Protestant, followed by Catholic and no-denomination-declared other Christians, totalling 55.1%. The next largest religious group is Sikh, comprising 5.1% of the population.

The largest group is European Canadian, comprising approximately 74% of the population, but even within that Mission's ethnic makeup is very complex, with, in addition to British settlers, large numbers of Germans and Dutch, but also Finns, Norwegians and other Scandinavians, Italians, Hungarians, Poles, anglicized French-Canadians and others. The largest visible minority group in Mission are South Asians, primarily Indo-Canadians comprising 7.6% of the population. There is a sizeable First Nations community, forming 8.6% of the population. The Peckquaylis Indian Reserve, which is the former St. Mary's Residential School and its grounds, is a centre for services and governments of the Sto:lo communities in the area to the east.

Canada 2016 Census^[9]		Population	% of total population (2016)
Visible minority group	South Asian	2,940	7.6%
	Chinese	220	0.6%
	Black	260	0.7%
	Filipino	235	0.6%
	Latin American	305	0.8%
	Arab	40	0.1%
	Southeast Asian	175	0.5%
	West Asian	15	0%
	Korean	180	0.5%
	Japanese	120	0.3%
	Visible minority, n.i.e.	35	0.1%
	Multiple visible minorities	55	0.1%
Total visible minority population		4,590	11.8%
European Canadian		28,730	74%
Aboriginal group		3,350	8.6%
Total population		38,833	100%

Visible minority population[edit]

Mission's Indo-Canadian community was active since the early 1900s. An Indo-Canadian volleyball team, "Mission Sikhs", was active in the area. Naranjan Grewall became the first Indo-Canadian elected to public office when he took a position in Mission City's government.^[10] In 2006 2,220 South Asian visible minorities resided in Mission, making up 63.2% of the city's visible minorities, and 2,180 persons in Mission claimed South Asian ancestry, making up 3.8% of the total persons in the city.^[11]

Mission's Japanese Canadian community began in 1904, when Kumekichi Fujino moved to the city. Many issei, or first time immigrants, included prospective farmers and "picture brides", or women who communicated with suitors through the mail for the purpose of marriage. Organizations established in Mission included the Japanese Farmer's Association (Nokai), established in 1916; the Mission Judo Club; the Mission Buddhist Church; and a Japanese Language School. The ethnic Japanese people in Mission had 979.304 acres (396.310 ha) of land on 103 properties by 1930. During the pre-World War II era 30% of Mission's public school enrollment consisted of ethnic Japanese. The Nokai had 79 members in 1942. The World War II-era Japanese Canadian internment disrupted Mission's ethnic Japanese community as their properties were confiscated, and productivity decreased as the farms were managed by their new non-Japanese. Many Japanese chose not to move back to Mission in the post-war era, even though they were permitted to come back in 1949.^[12] In 2006 there were 145 Japanese living in Mission, making up 4.1% of the city's visible minorities.^[11]

Education[edit]

School District 75 Mission operates public schools in the District of Mission and in the unincorporated areas to the east. Students from Deroche/Lake Errock, Dewdney, Nicomen Island, Hatzic Island and Hatzic Prairie/Durieu and McConnell Creek elementary schools attend post-secondary at Mission Secondary School.

The Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique operates one Francophone school: école des Deux-rives primary school.^[13]

Sports[edit]

Mission has a mix of sport offerings locally standard to any municipality in this region. One exception is the large outdoor trail network within the Tree Farm and Interpretive Forest. Mission is home to world-class mountain bike trails as well as plenty of backcountry hiking opportunities that lie within the District Limits.

Mission is home to a Pacific Junior Hockey League team - the Mission CityOutlaws.


Club	League	Sport	Venue	Established	Championships
Mission City Outlaws	PJHL	Ice hockey	Mission Leisure Centre	2003	1

Media[edit]

Main article: Media in the Fraser Valley

Notable people[edit]

1976 Olympic silver medalist swimmer Gary MacDonald
Big band era musician Mart Kenney and his wife, Norma Locke
singer-songwriter and Juno nominee Paul Janz
2005 CFOX Seeds winner Dave Faber and Ray Bull of 604 Records' recording artist Faber Drive
1988 Olympic short-track speedskater Eden Donatelli
Swimmer Brent Hayden (Canadian Record holder in the 50m, 100m, & 200m freestyle, 2007 100m freestyle World Champion, 3x Olympian (2004, 2008, 2012), and 2012 Olympic Bronze Medalist)
Actor Graham Wardle from Heartland
WNBA (Sacramento Monarchs) basketball player Kim Smith
1996 and 2000 Olympic swimmer Shannon Shakespeare
Pop singer and Canadian Idol finalist Carly Rae Jepsen
Electro-pop singer Lights Poxleitner and her husband, blessthefall vocalist Beau Bokan
High jump athlete Debbie Brill
Justice of the Superior Court of Justice, Ontario Todd Ducharme
Former logging company owner and British Columbia political figure Norman Jacobsen
Margaret Lyons, first female vice-president of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
hip-hop artist Powfu.
hip-hop artist Lil Windex.

Neighbourhoods[edit]

Mission's neighbourhoods include a number of rural localities which were part of the District Municipality before amalgamation and which still have some strong local identity. The following list is incomplete, due to the emergence of modern-era development neighbourhoods, but covers the historical localities (usually defined by a school and a store of the same name):

Non-Mission District neighbourhoods[edit]

Unincorporated communities and rural areas to the east of Mission are linked closely to Mission, partly because of School District No. 75 but also because Mission is the dominant service centre for the north side of the Fraser between Maple Ridge and Agassiz-Kent. These communities include:

Neighbouring communities[edit]

Sister cities[edit]

Oyama, Shizuoka, Japan,^[14] since October 1996

References[edit]

^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c "Order in Council 0187-2021". March 29, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
^ https://www.mission.ca/municipal-hall/elections/
^ https://missionmuseum.com/local-history/the-great-land-sale/
^ "Old Document Reveals Board Founded in '93", The Fraser Valley Record, Mission, BC, Canada, 19 April 1945.
^ Kask, Glen. "First board of trade in B.C.", The Fraser Valley Record, Mission, BC, Canada, 16 June 1993.
^ "From public display at the Mission Museum". Missionmuseum.com. 2012-04-14. Retrieved 2012-05-25.
^ Environment Canada—Canadian Climate Normals 1971–2000, accessed 24 November 2012
^ "2001 Community Profiles". 2.statcan.ca. 2002-03-12. Retrieved 2012-05-25.
^ Census Profile, 2016 Census: Mission, District municipality. Statistics Canada. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
^ Mahil, Lovleen. "Indo-Canadian Community in Mission" (Archive). Mission Community Archives, Mission Museum. Retrieved on March 16, 2015.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b "Profile of Diversity in BC Communities 2006 Mission" (Archive). Government of British Columbia. Retrieved on October 24, 2014.
^ Wong, Kathy. "Japanese-Canadian Community in Mission" (Archive). Mission Community Archives, Mission Museum. Retrieved on March 16, 2015.
^ "Carte des écoles." Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique. Retrieved on 22 January 2015.
^ "International Exchange". List of Affiliation Partners within Prefectures. Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR). Archived from the original on 24 December 2015. Retrieved 21 November 2015.

Schroeder, Andreas. Carved from Wood: Mission, B.C. 1861-1992 The Mission Foundation (1991). ISBN 1-55056-131-6
Cherrington, John. Mission on the Fraser Mitchell Press (1974). ISBN B0006CL344
"Mission City (Rescinded)". BC Geographical Names.
"District of Mission". BC Geographical Names.