Our region is a cultural and recreational hub

The metro Vancouver region is a hub of culture in our province.

• The bulk of BC’s workers in performing arts and spectator sports (68%) live in our region and employment in this category increased 36% in 2009. The recession cut into other related industries — employment dropped 11% in the film industry and 27% in publishing.
  Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey
• Our region knows how to celebrate, hosting 77 recurring major arts and culture festivals in 2010.
• As a region, our attendance at cultural events was lower than other Canadian metropolitan areas in 2005.
• But in 2008, residents of the city of Vancouver attended more classical concerts, theatre, opera, galleries and museums than people living in the cities of Toronto and Montreal.
  Hill Strategies and Statistics Canada

Although we are more active, household spending on recreational facilities is way down, which means we get our exercise in other ways. However such a large drop in recreation centre spending could become an issue for the viability of our facilities.

• Spending on recreation centre use dropped 54% from 2002 to 2008.
• Only 9% of our households pay to use our recreational facilities.
• In 2002, we were among the highest users of recreational facilities but in 2008 we hit a new low. Nearly 19% of households in Calgary use recreational facilities, 17% in Montreal and 14% in Toronto, and recreation centre use is declining in all cities except Toronto.

Statistics Canada, Survey of Household Spending 2010
• Even if we aren’t using our rec centres, our level of physical activity increased 4% in 2009, but hasn’t increased much overall since 2003. Of our residents, 61% are at least moderately active, compared to 50% in Montreal and only 45% in Toronto.

Canadian Community Health Survey 2009

Our First Nations languages are on the brink of extinction

Our province is losing its indigenous languages. All 32 First Nations languages in BC are endangered and three have no known living speakers.

• Only 5% of BC First Nations peoples are fluent in their own languages.
• Over half of the fluent speakers are over age 65.
• Less than 2% of fluent speakers are under age 24.

• The number of visitors to our parks increased steadily from 1995 to 2009, when the Metro Vancouver regional park systems recorded 9.5 million visitors.
  Metro Vancouver Sustainability report, 2009