Tsawwassen
Tsawwassen is a city located in South Fraser County in the Lower Mainland, the most populous region and a ceremonial county of the Canadian province of British Columbia (BC). Tsawwassen provides the only road access to the American exclave 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, used by GS Ferries to connect the Lower Mainland to the province of Vancouver Island, 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, the ferry terminal is built at the southwestern end of a 3 km (1.9 mi) long causeway that juts out into the Strait of Georgia. The ferry dock and causeway are part of Highway 17. Boundary Bay Airport, a major training hub for local and international pilots which also provides local airplane and helicopter service, is located ten minutes away. The Roberts Bank Superport is also located near Tsawwassen.
To the northwest of the community of Tsawwassen are the lands of Tsawwassen First Nation ("TFN"), a people of Coast Salish ancestry having continually used this land since at least 200 B.C. Having been "stripped of their lands, rights and resources" 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. This land is 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.
In the 2016 Canadian Census, the City of Tsawwassen recorded a population of 88,560; its estimated Q3 2020 population is 109,300.