"Vancouver is a significant metropolis in Western Canada, specifically in British Columbia's Lower Mainland area. According to the 2021 Canadian census, there were 662,248 residents in the city, which is the largest in the province, compared to 631,486 in 2016. With 2.6 million people in 2021, the Metro Vancouver region is the third-largest metropolis in Canada. The Lower Mainland, which includes the Fraser Valley and Greater Vancouver, has a regional population of over 3 million people. With more than 5,700 people per square kilometer (15,000/sq mi), Vancouver has the highest population density in Canada and the fourth highest in North America, behind New York City, San Francisco, and Mexico City. Vancouver is one of the most linguistically and ethnically diverse cities in Canada, with 54.5% of its population belonging to visible minority groups, 49.3% not being native English speakers, and 47.8% not speaking either French or English as their first language. It has consistently been listed among the most livable cities in Canada and the globe. Vancouver is also one of the priciest cities in the world and Canada when it comes to the affordability of housing. The urban planning design ideology of the city is known as Vancouverism. Numerous international conferences and events have been held in Vancouver, including the 1954 Commonwealth Games, UN Habitat I, Expo 86, APEC Canada 1997, the World Police and Fire Games in 1989 and 2009; several matches of 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, including the finals at BC Place in downtown Vancouver,and the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, which were held in Vancouver and Whistler, a resort town 125 kilometers (78 miles) north of the city. Greenpeace was established in Vancouver in 1969. In 2014, TED talks were established in the city as a permanent fixture. The city's name comes from George Vancouver, who gave several locations British names after he surveyed Burrard Inlet's inner harbor in 1792. The Dutch ""van Coevorden"" translates to someone from the town of Coevorden in the Netherlands, which is where the family name ""Vancouver"" comes from. The explorer's forebears ""from Coevorden"" came to England, giving rise to the name that would eventually become ""Vancouver."" Prior to 1850 According to archaeological records, the Vancouver region was already inhabited by Aboriginal people between 8,000 and 10,000 years ago. Numerous villages belonging to the Squamish, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh (Burrard) tribes of the Coast Salish group were located in different areas of modern Vancouver, including Stanley Park, False Creek, Kitsilano, Point Grey, and the mouth of the Fraser River. Although José María Narváez of Spain discovered the coast of present-day Point Grey and portions of Burrard Inlet in 1791, Europeans first learned about the site of the future Vancouver during that expedition.

In British Columbia, Canada's Squamish-Lillooet Regional District sits the resort town of Whistler.About 125 kilometers (78 miles) north of Vancouver and 36 kilometers (22 miles) south of Pemberton, it is situated in the southern Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains. In addition to a larger but fluctuating number of seasonal workers, it has a permanent population of about 13,982 (2021). Alpine skiing, snowboarding, and summer mountain biking at Whistler Blackcomb are the main draws for the more than two million visitors to Whistler each year. Since the mid-1990s, prominent ski magazines have ranked Whistler as one of the best places to visit in North America, and its pedestrian village has won multiple design accolades. The majority of the alpine, Nordic, luge, skeleton, and bobsled competitions at the 2010 Winter Olympics were held in Whistler. Approximately 58 kilometers (36 miles) north of Squamish and 125 kilometers (76 miles) from Vancouver, Whistler is situated on British Columbia Highway 99, popularly referred to as the ""Sea to Sky Highway."" Through Pemberton-Mount Currie to Lillooet and connections to the Trans-Canada and Cariboo Highways beyond, the roadway links Whistler to the interior of British Columbia. Only the Rocky Mountaineer, which uses Canadian National Railway tracks from North Vancouver via Whistler and Prince George, offers passenger rail service between Vancouver and Jasper at the Whistler railway station. In the Southside neighborhood, between Nita and Alpha Lakes, lies the station for tour travelers leaving Whistler. The Whistler and Valley Express offers local bus transportation service, including service to Pemberton. The Whistler Shuttle and YVR Skylynx offer a shuttle bus service from the Vancouver Airport and Downtown Vancouver.Situated 140 kilometers (87 miles) to the south, Vancouver International Airport serves as the primary international airport for both residents and visitors to Whistler. Whistler's public schools are run by the School District 48 Sea to Sky. Myrtle Phillip Elementary and Spring Creek Elementary are the two elementary schools. Whistler Secondary School is the only high school in the neighborhood. La Passerelle is the only Francophone primary school run by the Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique in that city. In the summer, Whistler is renowned for its mountain biking and hiking, and in the winter, for its skiing and snowboarding. Cross-country skiing, skate skiing, ice skating, snowshoeing, backcountry skiing, telemark skiing, and tobogganing are some of the other winter sports that people in Whistler love. Golfing, fishing, trail jogging, mountain biking, outdoor yoga, and hiking are among the popular summertime activities in Whistler. The four run difficulties for skiing, which is undoubtedly Whistler's major draw, are green (circle), blue (square), black (diamond), and double black (diamond). The difficulty of each run remains constant throughout the year. ""Expert only"" markers at the bottom of several chairlifts indicate that the majority of the runs available from that chair are black diamonds or double black diamonds, and there are numerous signs around the mountain that indicate the severity of the runs.