Tsawwassen | |
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Neighbourhood | |
![]() Tsawwassen Mills Outlet | |
Coordinates: 49°01′N 123°05′W / 49.017°N 123.083°W[1] | |
Country | Canada |
Province | British Columbia |
Regional district | Metro Vancouver |
City | Delta |
Area | |
• Total | 12.91 km2 (4.98 sq mi) |
Population | |
• Total | 21,588 |
• Density | 1,700/km2 (4,300/sq mi) |
Website | www |
Tsawwassen (English: /təˈwɑːsən/ tə-WAH-sən) is a suburban, mostly residential community on a peninsula in the southwestern corner of the City of Delta in British Columbia, Canada. It provides the only road access to the American territory on the southern tip of the peninsula, the community of Point Roberts, Washington, via 56th Street. It is also the location of Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal, part of the BC Ferries, built in 1959 to provide foot-passenger and motor vehicle access from the Lower Mainland to the southern part of Vancouver Island and the southern Gulf Islands. Because Tsawwassen touches a shallow bank (Roberts Bank), the ferry terminal is built at the southwestern end of a 3 km (1.9 mi) causeway (part of Highway 17) that juts into the Strait of Georgia. Boundary Bay Airport, a major training hub for local and international pilots[4] which also provides local airplane and helicopter service, is ten minutes away. The Roberts Bank Superport is also nearby.
To the northwest of the community are the lands of Tsawwassen First Nation ("TFN"), a people of Coast Salish ancestry who have used this land since at least 200 B.C. Having been "stripped of their lands, rights and resources"[5] by European colonizers throughout the 19th century, and in accordance with a 2009 treaty with British Columbia, their territory now consists of approximately 724 ha (1,790 acres) of treaty settlement land,[6] bounded by the Strait of Georgia on the west, the 2600 block to the north, the 4800 block to the east, and the 1200 block to the south. While also part of TFN lands, the 92-lot residential subdivision of Stahaken was leased for use by the (then) Tsawwassen Indian Reserve to Staheken Developments Ltd. in 1989 for a 99-year term. It was then developed in a partnership between Stahaken Development Ltd. and the Municipality of Delta. As such it is commonly thought of and serviced in the same manner as other subdivisions in the community of Tsawwassen. Stahaken residents are represented by the Stahaken Homeowners Association.[7]
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