Coquitlam
Coquitlam is a city in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. Mainly suburban, Coquitlam is the sixth-largest city in the province, with an estimated population of 174,248 in 2024, and one of the 21 municipalities comprising Metro Vancouver. The mayor is Richard Stewart.
History
The Coast Salish 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 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 in New Westminster access to the year-round port facilities in Port Moody.
The young municipality got its first boost in 1889 when Frank Ross and James McLaren opened what would become Fraser Mills, a $350,000, then state-of-the-art lumber mill on the north bank of the Fraser River. The Corporation of the District of Coquitlam was incorporated in 1891. In the late 1900s, a mill manager's residence was built that would later become Place des Arts. At the same time, Sikh immigrants also constructed a gurdwara.
Over the next two years, several contingents of French Canadian mill workers arrived from Quebec, and Maillardville was born. Named for Father Edmond Maillard, a young Oblate 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 programs, French-language Girl Guides and scouts, and celebrations such as Festival du Bois.
Following World War II, Coquitlam and the rest of the Lower Mainland experienced substantial population growth that continues today. The opening of Lougheed Highway in 1953 made the city more accessible and set the stage for residential growth. In 1971, Coquitlam and Fraser Mills were amalgamated, which gave the city a larger industrial base. The mill closed in 2001, and is now currently the subject of a proposed waterfront community.
Geography
Coquitlam is situated some east of Vancouver, where the Coquitlam River connects with the Fraser River and extends northeast along the Pitt River toward the Coquitlam and Pitt lakes. Coquitlam borders Burnaby and Port Moody to the west, New Westminster to the southwest, and Port Coquitlam to the southeast. Burke Mountain, Eagle Ridge, and tall Coquitlam Mountain form the northern boundary of the city. Coquitlam's area,, is about six times larger than either Port Moody or Port Coquitlam.Coquitlam is in the Pacific Time Zone, and the Pacific Maritime Ecozone.
Neighbourhoods
Coquitlam's geographic shape can be thought of as a tilted hourglass, 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, Chimo Aquatic and Fitness Centre, and sports fields located there, while City Hall was previously located further south in Maillardville.
The Austin Heights area contains Como Lake, a renowned urban fishing and recreation area, and headwaters for the Como watershed. The watershed represents one of the last urban watersheds in the Tri-Cities that supports wild stocks of coho salmon as well as other species at risk such as coastal cutthroat trout and bird species such as the great blue heron and green heron. It also contains Mundy Park, one of the largest urban parks in the Metro Vancouver area.
File:Coquitlam Lafarge Lake.jpg|thumb|Lafarge Lake at Coquitlam Town Centre
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 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, 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, was designated as a "Regional Town Centre" under the Metro Vancouver's Livable Region Strategic Plan. The concept of a town centre 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, an R.C.M.P. station, Coquitlam's main fire hall, the David Lam Campus of Douglas College, the Evergreen Cultural Centre, City Centre Aquatic Complex, Town Centre Park and Percy Perry Stadium.
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, 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 of the Millennium Line of the SkyTrain rapid transit 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.
Image:Westwood Plateau from Bby Mtn.JPG|thumb|right|Westwood Plateau, with Burke Mountain behind it and Golden Ears Provincial Park in the distance
Climate
Like much of Metro Vancouver, Coquitlam has an oceanic climate, experiencing mild temperatures and high precipitation; 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 air is forced to flow up the Coast Mountains causing it to cool and condense and fall as precipitation, this process is known as orographic precipitation. 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 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 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, 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 households 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: 76% were married 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 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%.