Maple Ridge is a city in British Columbia, Canada. It is located in the northeastern section of Greater Vancouver between the Fraser River and the Golden Ears, which is a group of mountain summits which are the southernmost of the Garibaldi Ranges of the Coast Mountains. Maple Ridge's population in 2021 was 90,990. Its downtown core area was once known as Haney.
History
Maple Ridge was incorporated as a district municipality on September 12, 1874. It covered an area of yet was home to only approximately 50 families. Maple Ridge is British Columbia's fifth-oldest municipality (after New Westminster, Victoria, Langley, and Chilliwack). From the creation of British Columbia's regional districts in 1965 until the expansion of Metro Vancouver in 1995, it was part of the now-defunct Dewdney-Alouette Regional District with the City of Pitt Meadows and District of Mission and other north-side communities east to Chehalis. Maple Ridge has been part of Metro Vancouver since 1995.
On March 26, 2014, Maple Ridge residents voted to change the community's status from district municipality to city. Subsequently, Maple Ridge Council submitted its request for status change to the Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development. The status change became official on September 12, 2014, which coincided with Maple Ridge's 140th anniversary of municipal incorporation.
Geography
Communities
Maple Ridge is made up of several different historical areas, including: Albion Haney (which is now also the downtown area of Maple Ridge) Iron Mountain Kanaka Creek Port Hammond Ruskin Silver Valley Thornhill Webster's Corners Whonnock Yennadon
Some of these areas are identified with a cultural group. For instance, Albion and Webster's Corners are represented by the many Finnish families that settled in the area. Port Hammond is known for its small cottage-like mill houses originally built by the local mill to house its workers, Ruskin is the location of a community hall of the Sons of Norway, although the area was founded by English followers of John Ruskin, and Kanaka Creek originally was a community for Kanaka employees of Fort Langley.
Port Haney, located adjacent to the Fraser River to the southwest of downtown Haney, and the site of the West Coast Express commuter rail station, is a heritage district created to protect some of the remaining buildings from earlier times. In addition to buildings already on-site when this was the steamboat landing as well as the CPR station, other heritage buildings from around the City of Maple Ridge were relocated to Port Haney to preserve them and enhance the heritage flavour of the location.
Climate
Maple Ridge exhibits an oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb)
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Maple Ridge had a population of 90,990 living in 33,103 of its 34,254 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 82,256. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
Ethnicity
Note: Totals greater than 100% due to multiple origin responses.
Religion
According to the 2021 census, religious groups in Maple Ridge included: Irreligion (50,135 persons or 55.8%) Christianity (33,120 persons or 36.9%) Islam (2,105 persons or 2.3%) Sikhism (1,925 persons or 2.1%) Hinduism (890 persons or 1.0%) Buddhism (520 persons or 0.6%) Judaism (145 persons or 0.2%) Indigenous Spirituality (80 persons or 0.1%)
Language
78.5% of residents spoke English as their mother tongue in 2021. The next most common first languages were Chinese languages (2.5%), Punjabi (1.5%), Tagalog (1.5%), Persian (1.5%), Spanish (1.2%), Korean (1.1%), French (1.0%). 2.2% of residents listed both English and a non-official language as mother tongues.
Economy
Early settlers in Maple Ridge engaged in forestry and agriculture. Forestry companies continue to be the largest private-sector employers in the district. They include Interfor and companies that manufacture building materials, yachts and poles.
Maple Ridge hosted the only North American high-volume manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries, E-One Moli Energy. However, the factory suffered major layoffs due to the 2008 recession and now only hosts a small product testing team.