New Westminster

New Westminster

Nestled on a picturesque hillside where history meets elegance along the Fraser River

New Westminster, located on a hillside overlooking the Fraser River, is the oldest incorporated city in BC, was once the provincial capital, and remains an urban hub of the Lower Mainland. The Royal City, as it is still known, began as a pioneer settlement and evolved into a stately Victorian city, and today remains graced with many grand Victorian and Edwardian heritage buildings.

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New Westminster resides on the traditional, ancestral and unceded shared territories of the qʷɑ:nƛən [Kwantlen] and Qayqayt [key-kite] First Nations, and is home to the North Fraser Métis Association.

Area Facts

Location

New Westminster, located on a hillside overlooking the Fraser River, is the oldest incorporated city in BC, was once the provincial capital, and remains an urban hub of the Lower Mainland. The Royal City, as it is still known, began as a pioneer settlement and evolved into a stately Victorian city, and today remains graced with many grand Victorian and Edwardian heritage buildings.

Population

Nearly 80,000 residents call the city of New Westminster home.

School & Education

New Westminster has a number of public and private schools from kindergarten through to grade 12.

Post-secondary and higher education is available through a Douglas College campus, the Justice Institute of British ColumbiaBoucher Institute of Naturopathic Medicine, a campus of West Coast College of Massage Therapy and a number of continuing education and workplace skills training programs.

Key Industries

New Westminster is one of western Canada’s busiest ports, a major rail junction, and one of the province’s largest industrial and marketing centres. Known for the manufacturing of forest products, New Westminster also has other thriving industries, including food processing (fruit and vegetables), distilling, brewing, shipbuilding, oil refining, and film/television.

Things To Do

Go for a stroll along the waterfront Quayside Esplanade and Boardwalk as you make your way towards the River Market at Westminster Quay – a culinary destination where you can explore local artisan shops and learn about the culture of the city. Spend the day browsing through The Royal Westminster Regiment Historical Society and Museum, perusing all the Brewery District has to offer, or relaxing in one of its many picturesque parks found throughout the city. Being centrally located in the Greater Vancouver area also allows New Westminster easy access to major highways to escape the hustle and bustle of the city. Explore the nearby mountains and provincial parks of neighbouring communities.

Explore Our Region

New Westminster is located on the north side of the Fraser River with several bordering municipalities in each direction (Burnaby, Coquitlam, Surrey and Delta), making it the centre of the Greater Vancouver region. The city is only about 30 minutes (20 km) from Vancouver’s city centre.

Royal Columbian Hospital

Royal Columbian Hospital is a provincial referral hospital (stroke/cardiac/trauma/neurosurgery) located in New Westminster, BC, with 439 acute beds, with nearly 80,000 visits annually.

Services include 24/7 emergency, outpatient, ambulatory care and a range of inpatient services which are supported by a range of community services. Some referral services include a variety of medical and surgical specialties which include mental health and substance use, internal medicine, cardiology, gastroenterology, nephrology, orthopedics, otolaryngology, gynecology, urology, ophthalmology, plastic surgeries and a very well-established maternal, infant, child/youth program offering levels one, two and three obstetrical care, levels one and two nursery, neonatal intensive care and pediatric inpatient service.
 
In addition to being one of the busiest hospitals in the province, Royal Columbian also serves as a clinical academic campus providing training to University of British Columbia (UBC) medical students as well as residents from some UBC residency programs.

Royal Columbian Hospital Redevelopment Project

The Royal Columbian Hospital redevelopment is a multi-year, multi-phase project to increase the hospital’s capacity, beds and services by about 50 per cent. Phase one is complete and includes a new mental health and substance use wellness centre with more outpatient clinics. Phase two will add an acute care tower with more beds for intensive care, cardiac intensive care, obstetrics, medical and surgical beds and a new larger emergency department.

Royal Columbian Hospital

Royal Columbian Hospital
330 E Columbia St, New Westminster, BC, V3L 3W7, Canada

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Fraser Health is generously supported by a network of health care foundations. Donations to our health care foundations build upon government health care funding to help support priority equipment, education, research, facility enhancements and/or other projects in our hospitals and surrounding communities.

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