| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
| Contents | ||
The village of Abbotsford was incorporated in 1892. The village was named for a Maclure family friend, Harry Abbott, who was Western Superintendent of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The city was incorporated in 1995, through the merging the District of Abbotsford with the District of Matsqui. The City of Abbotsford is 359.18 square kilometres in size, with a population density of 321.5 persons per square kilometre.
The City of Abbotsford uses the current Council-Manager system of local government. The present Mayor and Council, was elected in November 2002. The current mayor is Mary Reeves .
Housing prices in Abbotsford are some of the highest in the Fraser Valley. In 2003, the average price of a single-family house was $309,267 CDN, a single detached home was $255,152 CDN, a townhouse was $196,503 CDN, and an apartment was $121,985 CDN. There are 41,352 dwellings in the city.
Abbotsford is the third most ethnically diverse city in Canada, after Toronto and Vancouver. Abbotsford now leads the country with the highest proportion of people of South Asian origin per capita, according to results from the 2001 census.
Abbotsford's largest religious group is Christian at 61.4%, of which the largest denomination is Protestant. The second largest religious group is SikhA Sikh is a follower of Sikhism, a religious faith originating in the Punjab. The word Sikh is derived from the Sanskrit word shishya which means disciple or student (although this is disputed by some). In the Punjabi language the word Sikh also means to, comprising 13.4% of the population. The city contains the first Sikh temple built in North AmericaNorth America is the third largest continent in area and the fourth ranked in population. It is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific Ocea.
The largest ethnic group is CaucasianWhites is a broad term used to describe people of ethnic European descent, especially those with fair skin. The term Caucasian is sometimes used with much the same meaning in the USA. It is often used in contrast with other racial color terms, such as bla, comprising approximately 79.6% of the population. The largest ethnic minority group in Abbotsford is South Asian (countries of IndiaThe Republic of India is a large multicultural country in South Asia, with a population of over one billion. The Indian economy is the fourth largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity, and is the world's second-fastest growing economy., PakistanIslami Jamhuria Pakistan ( In Detail) ( In Detail) National motto: Iman, Ittehad, Nazm( Urdu: "Faith, Unity, Discipline" Official Language(s) Urdu, English Capital Islamabad Largest City Karachi President General Pervez Musharraf Prime Minister Shaukat Az, BangladeshThe People's Republic of Bangladesh is a country in South Asia that forms the eastern part of the ancient region of Bengal. Bangladesh literally means "The Country of Bengal". Lying north of the Bay of Bengal, on land it borders India almost exclusively, and AfghanistanAfghanistan ( Dari/ Pashtu: Afgnistn is a country in Central Asia. It is bordered by Iran in the west, Pakistan in the south and east, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the easternmost part of the country. It is among the) comprising 14.9% of the population. In third place are Aboriginals, at 2.2% of the population.
English is the primary language spoken here, with 71.2% of the population having it as their first language.23.8% of the city's population was born outside of Canada. Of that percentage, a majority is from South Asia, followed by groups from Southeast Asia, China, Korea and Latin America. Immigrants from Europe include those of English, German, Dutch, Scottish and Irish backgrounds.
According to the 2001 Statistics Canada Census: