Tsawwassen, British Columbia, is a suburban community nestled on a peninsula in the southwestern corner of the City of Delta. This mostly residential area provides the only road access to the American territory on the southern tip of the peninsula, the community of Point Roberts, Washington, via 56th Street.
The Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal, part of the BC Ferries, was built in 1959. It provides foot-passenger and motor vehicle access from the Lower Mainland to the southern part of Vancouver Island and the southern Gulf Islands. The ferry terminal is built at the southwestern end of a 3 km causeway that juts into the Strait of Georgia.
To the northwest of Tsawwassen are the lands of the Tsawwassen First Nation ("TFN"), a people of Coast Salish ancestry who have used this land since at least 200 B.C. Their territory now consists of approximately 724 ha of treaty settlement land, bounded by the Strait of Georgia on the west.
Tsawwassen is derived from the Halkomelem word sc̓əwaθən, meaning "land facing the sea".
Tsawwassen is on the northern end of a peninsula flanked by the Strait of Georgia to the west and Boundary Bay to the east. Tsawwassen's southern boundary is the Canada–United States border, following the 49th parallel north.
Tsawwassen and surrounding lands are the ancestral home, and traditional lands, of the Tsawwassen First Nation, a Coast Salish people, who may have lived in the area for over 4,200 years. The first group of Europeans to see Tsawwassen was the expedition of Spanish explorer José María Narváez in 1791.
Tsawwassen is arranged in a grid, with streets running north/south and east/west. Tsawwassen's main arterial street is 56th Street, which connects Highway 17 with the exclave of Point Roberts, in Washington, U.S. Tsawwassen is served by buses from TransLink.
Since 2001, Tsawwassen has played an integral part of the Tour de Delta, one-day bicycle races that take place over a July weekend. Every year on the August long weekend, Tsawwassen hosts the Sun Festival, which usually includes a parade, live music, and a variety of activities.
Tsawwassen is home to several unique neighbourhoods, including Boundary Bay, The Southlands, Beach Grove, The Highlands, Pebble Hill, Tsawwassen Heights, The Terrace, English Bluff, Stahaken, The Village, Tsatsu Shores, Imperial Village, Forest-by-the-Bay, and Tsawwassen Springs.
Tsawwassen contains many community and regional parks; Boundary Bay Regional Park is run by the Metro Vancouver Regional District. The following parks are maintained by Delta Parks & Recreation, an arm of the municipal government: Diefenbaker Park, Pebble Hill Park, Fred Gingell Park, Winskill Park, Dennison Park, Village Park, Brandrith Park, Highland Park, Grauer Park, Jackson Way Park, Beach Grove Park, Imperial Park, Beach Grove Mini-Park, View Crescent Park, Wildwood Crescent Mini-Park, Woodland Park, and Tsawwassen Nature Reserve.
Tsawwassen has a rich history, reflected in its historic street names. Some of these include Summer Avenue, Autumn Avenue, Rawlins Road, Allen Road, Cemetery Road, Raitt Road, Brandrith Road, Herd Road, Imperial Road, Point Roberts Road, and Slough Road.
Tsawwassen is known for its relatively dry and sunny climate compared with other locations in Metro Vancouver. It has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate with cooler summers and milder winters than other areas on the Canada–U.S. border.
Due to being part of the Greater Vancouver area, which is the third-largest film and television production centre in North America after New York and Los Angeles, Tsawwassen has also appeared in numerous high-profile movies and television shows over the years. North Vancouver punk band d.b.s. named a song "Tsawwassen" on their 1999 album If Life Were a Result, We'd All Be Dead.
