Mission, British Columbia
| Mission | |
|---|---|
| District municipality | |
| District of Mission | |
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| Motto: "The Future Our Mission" | |
 Mission
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| Coordinates: 49°2′30″N 122°14′41″W / 49.04167°N 122.24472°W | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | British Columbia |
| Region | Central Fraser Valley |
| Regional District | Fraser Valley Regional District |
| Founded | 1868 |
| Incorporated | 1892 |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Randy Hawes |
| Area | |
| • Total | 227.65 km2 (87.90 sq mi) |
| Population (2016) | |
| • Total | 38,833 |
| • Density | 170.6/km2 (442/sq mi) |
| Time zone | PST |
| Area code(s) | 604/778 |
| Website | District of Mission |
Mission, the core of which was formerly a separate municipality known as Mission City, is a district municipality in the Lower Mainland region of the province of British Columbia, Canada. It is situated on the north bank of the Fraser River where it backs onto mountains and lakes overlooking the Central Fraser Valley eighty kilometres east-southeast of Vancouver. Mission is the 6th largest district municipality in British Columbia, with a population of 38,833 (2016).
Unlike the other Fraser Valley municipalities, Mission is mostly forested upland with only small floodplains lining the shore of the Fraser River. Some benches of farmland rise in succession northwards above the core developed area of the city. Mission was once the heart of the berry industry in the Fraser Valley, with "Home of the Big Red Strawberry" as Mission's slogan in the 1930s and into the 1940s.
The more southerly portion of the municipality is bounded on the west by the lower reaches of the Stave River, which consists mostly of the lakewaters of two hydroelectric reservoirs, Stave Lake and Hayward Lake. Although the vast majority of the population of Mission lives well to the east of the Stave, over 50% of the northern land area of the municipality is west and north of that river; its extreme northwest corner is on the far side of upper Alouette Lake. A small portion of the lower Stave still runs free in its last two miles before its confluence with the Fraser at Ruskin; its last three-quarters of a mile forms the border with the larger municipality of Maple Ridge to the west.
Over 40% of Mission is actually tree farm, making it only one of two communities with municipal tree farms. (Revelstoke BC, with a much smaller and newer farm, is the second.) Mission's tree farm celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2008. It comprises much of the northern part of the district, including the area west of the Stave River, up to the district's northern boundary near the foot of Mount Robie Reid; a small sliver of Mission District is at the head of Alouette Lake (normally thought of as being in Maple Ridge).
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Wikipedia