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Surrey, British Columbia

by Blas Delgado

The flag
City of Surrey

See also:

The flag

A crest divided by three wavy lines featuring five gold stars, a gold beaver and a building.

City of Surrey

Located at the crossroads of the Pacific Rim, Greater Vancouver and the United States, Surrey is accessible to all major cities in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. The recent addition of the Skytrain rapid transit line means Vancouver is less than 35 minutes away via public transit.

Surrey is traversed to five major highways, four railways, deep-sea docking facilities and an international airport. The Canada/U.S. border puts City Centre businesses within easy access of local, national and world markets.

As one of the fastest growing cities in Canada, Surrey City Centre has been touted as the Lower Mainland's Downtown for the Fraser Valley.

With 301.76 square km, Surrey is also the largest city in BC's Lower Mainland, second largest in population. The City of Surrey is encouraging developers and builders to utilize its available non-agricultural land for business and industrial purposes and has streamlined development approval to maintain a high level of service to business.

The 900 plus businesses which locate to Surrey each year also have access to a large consumer market as well as a talented and diversified labour pool capable of supporting a wide range of business needs.

City of Surrey

The building in base of the shield is white, and in the description, it should be identified as a depiction of the Peace Arch, a monument which stands at the Canada - U.S. border between Surrey and Blaine, Washington (where the border meets the Pacific Ocean, really a beautiful spot). The Peace Arch was constructed in 1921 with funds raised by local school children on both sides of the border, to commemorate a century of peace between the two countries.

"The Peace Arch ... was declared international territory so citizens of both countries may meet there on occasion without going through the formality of crossing the border. Celebrations include the exchange of flags between 2,000 Canadian and American school children each year."
Nicole Smith, The Greater Vancouver Book
"In the shield, a gold beaver was placed at the centre, as the historic emblem of the Corporation. On either side were two wavy bars of white and blue, representing the two main rivers in the municipality, the Serpentine and Nicomekl. In the upper part of the shield, five gold stars were set, one for each of Surrey's five historic town centres. At the base of the shield was a representation of the Peace Arch monument, symbolizing Surrey's southern border at the international boundary."
Robert G. Watt, Chief Herald of Canada, The Greater Vancouver Book

The shield is placed on a white flag, with the wavy bars extended the full width of the flag and counterchanged. There is no border to the shield as shown.

The Corporation of the District of Surrey was incorporated in 1879, and granted the status of a City on 12 September, 1993. The new coat of arms and flag were granted c.1987

Population (2001 census) 347,825. (second largest in BC) up from 245,173 in 1991.
Dean McGee 30 March 2003