Terrace, British Columbia

In the 2021 Canadian census conducted by Statistics Canada, Terrace had a population of 12,017 living in 4,873 of its 5,200 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 11,643. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Religion

While many Sikhs in sawmill-based towns throughout the interior relocated to urban areas during the 1990s and 2000s, Terrace experienced growth in the Sikh population between 2011 and 2021 after two decades of decline.

{| class="wikitable"

|+ Religious groups in the City of Terrace (1991−2021)

! rowspan="2" |Religious<br>group

! colspan="2" |2021

! colspan="2" |2001

{| class="wikitable"

|+ Panethnic groups in the City of Terrace (1986−2021)

! rowspan="2" |Panethnic<br>group

! colspan="2" |2021

! colspan="2" |2016

! colspan="2" |2011

! colspan="2" |2006

! colspan="2" |2001

! colspan="2" |1996

! colspan="2" |1991

! colspan="2" |1986

| European

| 7,940

| 7,820

| 8,080

| 7,930

| 9,525

| 10,475

| 9,025

| 8,475

| Indigenous

| 2,600

| 2,690

| 2,560

| 2,380

| 1,775

| 1,280

| 1,390

| 1,440

| SouthAsian

| 700

| 375

| 385

| 690

| 475

| 560

| 690

| 435

| EastAsian

| 255

| 120

| 90

| 100

| 45

| 145

| 90

| 40

| SoutheastAsian

| 195

| 145

| 40

| 95

| 105

| 115

| 40

| African

| 60

| 95

| 15

| 30

| 70

| 75

| 10

| 15

| LatinAmerican

| 20

| 60

| 10

| 20

| 25

| 0

| 10

| 5

| MiddleEastern

| 10

| 15

| 0

| Other/multiracial

| 20

| 10

| 0

| 15

| 0

! Total responses

! 11,825

! 11,400

! 11,310

! 11,195

! 12,020

! 12,660

! 11,330

! 10,450

|- class="sortbottom"

! Total population

! 12,017

! 11,643

! 11,486

! 11,320

! 12,109

! 12,779

! 11,433

! 10,532

|- class="sortbottom"

| colspan="17" |

{| class="wikitable"

! colspan=3 | Major ethnic groups in the City of Terrace (2021 Canadian census)

! Ethnic group

! Population

! Percentage

| English

| 3,090

| First Nations

| 2,280

| Scottish

| 2,190

| Irish

| 1,795

| German

| 1,710

| Nordic & Scandinavian

| 1,185

| French

| 1,105

| Dutch

| 755

| Portuguese

| 515

| Indian

| 510

| Ukrainian

| 440

| Italian

| 425

| Polish

| 380

| Métis

| 335

| Welsh

| 215

| Filipino

| 175

| Russian

| 150

| Chinese

| 140

| Swiss

| 130

| Hungarian

| 105

|- class="sortbottom"

! Total responses

! 11,825

|- class="sortbottom"

! Total population

! 12,017

|- class="sortbottom"

| colspan="5" |

Education

In 1911–12, the Kitsumkalum School opened, which also served Terrace.

In 1920–21, three classrooms were added. In 1924–25, the Kitsumkalum School rose to superior school status. In 1925–26, the Kitsumkalum Superior School rose to high school status.

In 1938–39, the high and elementary schools were renamed Terrace.

The 1946 implementation of the 1945 Cameron Report into BC school financing and administration created centralized larger districts. The establishment of School District 53 (Terrace) included the dissolving of such local school boards. Later mergers created School District 82 Coast Mountains.

In 1953, Skeena Secondary School was built. In 1955, Riverside became the elementary school name. This school had been housed in former army buildings since 1948. In 1956, Uplands Elementary opened. In January 1958, 270 pupils from Riverside moved into the new eight-classroom Cassie Hall Elementary.

In November 1963, further Riverside pupils moved into the new four-classroom Clarence Michiel Elementary. In 1967, E.T. Kenney Elementary opened. In September 1968, Caledonia Senior Secondary School opened. In 1969, Parkside Elementary opened and Riverside closed.

In 2010, E.T. Kenney closed and the students moved to Clarence Michiel (later renamed Suwilaawks). That year, a never used and vacant for years school building opened as École Mountainview.

Operating at the secondary level are Caledonia Secondary School (grades 10–12), Parkside Secondary School (alternate), and Skeena Middle School (grades 7–9).

At the elementary level (grades K–6) are Cassie Hall Elementary School, École Mountainview (French Immersion), Suwilaawks Community School, and Uplands Elementary School.

The two private schools are Veritas School (Roman Catholic) (grades K–9) (1959) and Centennial Christian School (interdenominational) (preschool–grade 12) (1969). Spring Creek Adventist School (1951) appears to have closed in the later 2010s.

Tertiary institutions are the main campus of the Coast Mountain College (1968) and a regional campus of the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) (2000).

Transport

Railway

thumb|South end of George Little House, Terrace railway station, 2011

In late October 1910, the eastward advance of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway rail head from Prince Rupert reached the Kitsumkalum River. In early November 1910, tracklaying passed over this completed bridge at Mile 91 and through mile 100 (Vanarsdol).

In 1911, the standard-design Plan 100‐152 (Bohi's Type E) station building was erected. The next year, when a roadmaster riding eastward on a railway motorcycle collided with an oncoming locomotive, he was fatally flung into the Skeena.

In 1927, a falling rock about one mile east of Terrace crashed through the roof of a westbound Canadian National Railway (CN) baggage car killing an employee. In 1929, an addition to the station enlarged the waiting room and the agent accommodation.

In June 1955, a Prince Rupert–Kitimat passenger shuttle began on a trial basis, which replaced the Kitimat mixed train. The line officially opened the next month, and the Kitimat station was completed later in the year.

In April 1957, the shuttle discontinued west of Terrace. In April 1958, when passenger rail was discontinued to Kitimat, a private bus operator took over the route. In 1988, Via Rail erected a stationette.

Built around 1914 and designated a national historic site in 1982, the George Little House was moved to its present location in 2004. The next year, the renovated main floor became tourism facilities and the Via Rail waiting room, replacing the stationette.

The Terrace station serves Via Rail's Jasper–Prince Rupert train.

Road transport

In 1920, a Terrace–Lakelse bus service began. By the early 1920s, wagon roads extended north to Kitsumkalum Lake, south to Lakelse Lake, west to Remo, and east to Copper River. Trails existed beyond these points.

The highway grew east and west of Terrace over the following decades, the key event being the completion of the Prince Rupert–Prince George route in 1944.

By 1955, a Prince Rupert–Terrace–Smithers bus service existed. In November 1957, when Highway 25 to Kitimat officially opened, the final were unfinished. A Caterpillar D9 dragged the first vehicle over this section. In 1958, a stretch of the Stewart–Cassiar Highway was completed, which connected the Nass Valley and Terrace. That year, Western Coach Lines inaugurated a Prince Rupert–Prince George bus service, which included a scheduled stop at Terrace. The next year, the company withdrew the service.

In 1960, when Prince Coach Lines assumed the Prince Rupert–Prince George route, only was paved. In 1966, when Canadian Coachways bought the company, only was still gravel.

In 1970, Greyhound Canada purchased Canadian Coachways.

Prior to ceasing all intraprovincial services in October 2018, Greyhound had eliminated the Prince Rupert–Prince George run that June. BC Bus North immediately assumed the route.

The current passenger transit providers are BC Bus North and BC Transit.

Ferries and road bridges

Around 1907, the Braun's Island bridge was built. Prior to completion of the Kitsumkalum River rail bridge in late 1910, a ferry operator used a rope to pull a rowboat ferry at the crossing. In 1911, a road bridge was constructed.

In 1912, a bridge was built to connect Ferry Road (now called Haugland Avenue) and Ferry Island, and a ferry was installed across the main channel of the Skeena. In June 1913, high water swept away the bridge. The Thornhill–Terrace cable ferry crossed the Skeena from near the mouth of Thornhill Creek to the island. The replacement bridge built the following winter was a howe truss.

In 1921, the cable snapped sending the ferry downstream where the four people on board had a narrow escape. The badly damaged vessel appears to have been repaired.

In July 1925, the single-lane Old Skeena Bridge officially opened, and the ferry was discontinued.

In 1936, high water washed out four timber spans of the trestle approach on the south side of the bridge, which required the installation of a temporary catwalk.

The building of the adjacent railway bridge for the Kitimat branch in 1953 prompted a major reconstruction and renovation of the highway bridge. On realignment, many new spans and concrete piers were added, a new hardwood deck was installed, and the approaches changed.

thumb|Skeena River (Dudley Little) bridges, 2017

The new (Dudley Little) Skeena River Bridge,

In 2001, a grated steel deck replaced the wooden one on the Old Skeena Bridge. Up to that time, the structure had been the longest one-lane, wood-decked, curved bridge in North America. In 2005, the bridge was designated a national historic site.

Agriculture

Early settlers placed limited value on timber, believing agriculture was the future. Orchards of apples, pears, plums, cherries, and berries flourished. Various vegetables thrived, while much of the timber was burned as waste.

Terrace possesses the most favourable climatic conditions for agriculture in the Prince Rupert hinterland. The location is sufficiently close to the ocean to have the summer advantages of a marine climate offering a long frost-free period and higher night-time temperatures, yet sufficiently inland to experience relatively high day-time temperatures.

By 1920, this climate advantage had created a reputation for fine strawberries, fruit, and potatoes.

Forestry

The forest industry drove the development of Terrace. The small Lillesberg sawmill opened in 1908, burned down in 1909, and was not rebuilt. That year, George Little established a small mill in the area, During and following World War I, numerous small sawmills came and went.

When fire destroyed the Little's mill in 1921, most of the lumber and logs were saved. The mill was immediately rebuilt. During the 1920s, Terrace was known as the "pole capital of the world". Over 50,000 poles were manufactured annually to supply many parts of North America with telephone and electric power poles. The world's tallest pole, long, was cut in Terrace and stands in New York City.

In 1936, Little, Haugland and Kerr (LH&K) bought the George Little mill, which by 1940 was the largest employer in Terrace.

In 1943, fire completely gutted the mill. In 1948, Columbia Cellulose was granted logging rights covering near Terrace, where its woodlands division was established, creating a post-war development boom. The Sandes mill, which employed 100 workers at its peak, operated 1946–1968.

In 1952, the Pohle Lumber mill relocated to Terrace. In 1956, Joslyn Manufacturing and Supply Co bought LH&K but closed the Terrace mill soon after purchase. In 1959, fire consumed the Pohle sawmill, planer mill, several boxcars, and stacks of finished lumber. The 1960 rebuild was an electrically powered modern mill.

By the mid-1960s, concerns were expressed about Terrace being totally dependent upon the lumber industry. In 1969 Columbia Cellulose purchased the Pohle Lumber mill operations.

In 1981, Canadian Cellulose was renamed BC Timber. In 1984, BC Timber was renamed Westar Timber. In 1986, Skeena Cellulose, a subsidiary of Repap Industries, bought the Westar assets. In 1988, Repap opened a new $45 million sawmill on the Pohle site in Terrace, which closed in 2001. Terrace Lumber Co ran this mill intermittently during 2005–2006.

Healthcare

During the railway construction, Foley, Welch and Stewart (FW&S), the GTP prime contractor, established rudimentary medical facilities to treat injured workers along the route. Dr. Seymour Traynor, who arrived in 1910, had premises on Kalum Street. After GTP construction activities moved on, he remained until 1916. During World War I, the Terrace Hotel at Kalum Street and Greig Avenue was converted into a temporary hospital, where patients from the Spanish flu epidemic were treated by volunteer nurses.

After the war, several doctors practised from a small wooden medical building near the foot of Kalum Street, which Dr. Traynor built during a brief return to Terrace in 1919. The facility became a one-bed hospital with an x-ray machine in 1927. Dr. Stanley Gordon Mills, one of the first permanent doctors, arrived around 1930. His wife, Edith, a registered nurse, partnered in the medical care. During the 1936 Skeena flood, the United Church manse was converted into a temporary hospital. During World War II, a 300-bed military hospital was erected on the bench, on property now partly occupied by Terraceview Lodge.

After the war, the buildings were used for senior care and psychiatric patients but were considered too distant for a community hospital. In 1948, a 10-bed Red Cross outpost hospital opened on Haugland Ave. In 1951, the community assumed control, and the capacity soon doubled to 20 beds. In 1961, the 40-bed Terrace and District Hospital officially opened. The next year, the facility was renamed the Mills Memorial Hospital. In 1968, beds increased and an intensive care unit and a new laboratory and X-ray department were added. In 1977, a $6.3 million expansion was undertaken.

In 2021, Northern Health started building a 78-bed replacement for the current hospital at the northern end of the site. The new and larger Seven Sisters regional mental-health facility will increase from 20 beds to 25. Substantial completion and occupation was completed in 2024. However, final completion of the project will be in 2025.

In November 2024, Mills Memorial Hospital was renamed the Ksyen Regional Hospital. It officially opened its doors to patients on November 24, 2024.

Culture and leisure

The McColl Playhouse (former Zion Baptist Church) has housed the Terrace Little Theatre since 1953. The REM Lee Theatre and the Pacific Northwest Music Festival have hosted regional artists since 1955.

The Kermodei Tourism Society (KTS) is the co-ordinator that promotes the development and marketing of tourism opportunities in Terrace and the surrounding region. The value of heritage visitors is especially recognized, who are drawn by both indigenous cultural heritage and historic locations within the city. The outdoor lifestyle is also emphasized.

During the summer, Terrace offers many outdoor activities, such as fishing for a wide range of freshwater fish, mountain biking, hiking, kiting and hunting in the surrounding areas. In the fall, many of Terrace's inhabitants go out to search for pine mushrooms (Tricholoma magnivelare), and pick berries. There is a variety of winter sports available in Terrace and the surrounding region including skiing and snowboarding at nearby Shames Mountain, as well as snowmobiling, ice fishing, curling, and ice skating.

In 2000, the Grand Trunk Pathway officially opened. In 2023, the western extension of the pathway was nearing completion.

In May 2024, the Grand Trunk Pathway was renamed the Xpilaxha – Charles and Emma Nelson Trail in honour of the couple's contributions to the region.

Media

Newspapers

In 1914, plans were announced for the Terrace News Letter but its launch is unclear. During 1915–1917, the Terrace Dispatch newspaper was published.

Established in early 1920, the Terrace News existed at least until 1922. The interpretation of a 1934 mention of the Terrace News is uncertain.

By the early 1940s, the Omineca Herald at Hazelton had been renamed the Omineca Herald & Terrace Times. In 1949, the name changed to the Terrace Omineca Herald and the paper moved from New Hazelton. By the early 1960s, the title was the Terrace Herald. In 1984, the paper ceased publication.

The Terrace Review published 1985–1992. In 1988, the first issue of the Terrace Standard was printed.

The Terrace Daily Online existed from about 2007 to 2012.

Joining the mainstay Terrace Standard, the Skeena Reporter was launched in 2023.

Radio

AM 590 – CFTK, adult contemporary
FM 92.1 – CFNR-FM, First Nations community / classic rock
FM 95.3 – CBTH-FM, CBC Radio One (repeats CFPR, Prince Rupert)
FM 96.9 – CBUF-FM-3, Ici Radio-Canada Première (repeats CBUF-FM, Vancouver)
FM 103.1 – CJFW-FM, country

Television

Channel 3 – CFTK-TV, CTV 2 owned-and-operated station.

Notable people

William Anderson, (1950– ), religious leader, resident.
Robin Austin, (1958– ), businessman and politician, resident.
Ian Bagg, (1969– ), comedian, place of birth and resident.
Rachel Blaney, (1974– ), politician, place of birth and resident.
Ambur Braid, soprano, place of birth and resident.
Caleb Brousseau, (1988– ), para-alpine skier, place of birth and resident.
Roxanne Chow, (1979– ), soccer player, place of birth and resident.
Paul Clark (1957– ), paralympic athlete, resident.
Glen Cochrane, (1958– ), ice hockey player, resident.
Eddie Evans, (1964– ), rugby union player, resident.
Wade Flaherty, (1968– ), ice hockey player, place of birth and resident.
Alayne Fleischmann, (197?– ), lawyer, place of birth and resident.
Darril Fosty, (1968– ), author and journalist, place of birth.
Helmut Giesbrecht, (1943–2020), politician, resident.
Larry Guno, (1940–2005), lawyer and politician, resident and place of death.
Jason Haldane, (1971– ), volleyball player, resident.
Michelle Hendry, (1970– ), basketball player, place of birth and resident.
Frank Howard, (1925–2011), politician, resident.
Edward Tourtellotte Kenney, (1888–1974), politician, resident.
David Kozier, (1978– ), ice hockey player, place of birth and resident.
Dale Kushner, (1966– ), ice hockey player, place of birth and resident.
Craig Levie, (1959– ), ice hockey player, resident.
Dudley George Little, (1914–1972), politician, place of birth, resident, and place of death.
Peter Mallon, (1929–2007), religious leader, resident.
Bradley Mills, (1983– ), ice hockey player, place of birth.
Brooks McNiven, (1981– ), baseball player, place of birth.
Dave Parker, (1940– ), politician, resident.
Crystal Pite, (1970– ), choreographer, place of birth.
Rudy Poeschek, (1966– ), ice hockey player, resident.
Aaron Pritchett, (1970– ), country music singer, place of birth.
Joe Ruelle, (1978– ), author, place of birth.
Jeff Sharples, (1967– ), ice hockey player, place of birth and resident.
Brenda Silsbe, (1953– ), children's author, place of birth and resident.
George Stanley, (1934– ), poet, resident.

Terrace, British Columbia

Religion

Education

Transport

Railway

Road transport

Ferries and road bridges

Agriculture

Forestry

Healthcare

Culture and leisure

Media

Newspapers

Radio

Television

Notable people

Notes

See also

Footnotes

References

External links