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False Creek () is a short narrow inlet in the heart of Vancouver, separating the Downtown and West End neighbourhoods from the rest of the city. It is one of the four main bodies of water bordering Vancouver, along with English Bay (of which it is an inland extension), Burrard Inlet, and the Fraser River. Granville Island is located within the inlet.
Sir George Henry Richards named False Creek during his hydrographic survey of 1856–1863. While travelling along the south side of the Burrard Inlet, Richards thought he was traversing a Stream; upon discovering his error, he gave the inlet its current name.
The inlet opens into the English Bay to its northwest, and is surrounded by the Downtown and West End neighbourhoods in the north, Strathcona in the east, and Mount Pleasant, Fairview and Kitsilano in the south. Science World is located at its easternmost end, along with BC Place Stadium and the Georgia Viaduct. Proceeding east to west, it is crossed by the Cambie Bridge, Granville, and Burrard bridges. The Canada Line rapid transit tunnel crosses underneath False Creek just west of the Cambie Bridge. In 1986, it was the location of the Expo 86 World's Fair.
False Creek South is a neighbourhood that runs along south shore roughly between the Granville and Cambie bridges. Further east, Southeast False Creek (Olympic Village) runs roughly from Cambie Street to Main Street.
First contact between Europeans and the indigenous peoples of present-day Vancouver occurred in June 1792. By 1812, Halkomelem peoples had survived three large epidemics from foreign illnesses such as smallpox, introduced through trading routes, including a 1782 outbreak that killed two-thirds of the population. It has been estimated that shortly before the time of first contact and these epidemics, the indigenous population of the Lower Fraser was over 100,000.
Shortly after that, a group of Squamish people led by Khatsahlano, a leader from Lil'wat (near present-day Pemberton), occupied present-day False Creek. At this time, there were large Shoal at its entrance. False Creek, which lies in Musqueam territory, was a shared waterway; in addition to the Squamish, the Tsleil-Waututh inhabited False Creek as well, occupying it year-round.
Before European settlement, False Creek extended as far east as what is now Clark Drive. With land reclamation extending into Burrard Inlet and False Creek for port and industrial uses, the landscape began to change dramatically. Once a vital source for Tsleil-Waututh, Musqueam, and Squamish food supplies such as Salicornia, berries, Camassia, oysters, clams, wild cabbage, and mushrooms, False Creek became polluted with sewage and toxic effluent from sawmills and other industries. As a result, one nickname for False Creek was "Shit Creek".Delgado, James P. Waterfront: the Illustrated Maritime History of Greater Vancouver. North Vancouver: Stanton Atkins & Dosil Publishers, 2010. pp. 58–59
From 1894 to 1905 Alfred Wallace built ships on the north shore of False Creek next to Granville Street Bridge.
In 1913, the Squamish residents of the Senakw, on the False Creek sandbar, were forced to relocate."Mapping Tool: Kitsilano Reserve." Susan Roy. Indigenous Foundations. First Nations Studies Program, University of British Columbia. 2009. Web. Nov. 1, 2015. n.p. http://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/home/land-rights/mapping-tool-kitsilano-reserve.html According to Maracle, the settlement was burned down following the forced evacuation. In 1916, the sandbar on which this settlement was located was built into Granville Island to create new industrial land. In 1917, the eastern basin of False Creek was infilled to create land for the Canadian Northern Railway's Pacific Central Station. Talk of draining and filling the inlet to Granville Street continued into the 1950s, but that never occurred.
Walter Hardwick, a geography professor at UBC, first elected to City Council in 1968, led the City's redevelopment team and helped secure the participation of the Federal Government, which owned Granville Island. A major public involvement and co-design process followed which established public priorities for an accessible waterfront seawall; mixed-tenure housing including market condominiums, co-op and low-income housing and live-aboard marinas; and a vibrant waterfront market. These plans were formalized in a 1972 Official Development Plan. The form and mix of development were revolutionary for Vancouver at the time. A third of the site was set aside for 40 units/acre housing with the balance converted to park, waterfront and community uses.
The 1991 Official Development Plan enabled significant new density commensurate with the provision of significant public amenities including street front shops and services, parks, school sites, community centres, daycares, co-op and low-income housing. Since then, most of the north shore has become a new neighbourhood of dense housing (about 100 units/acre), adding some 50 000 new residents to Vancouver's downtown peninsula.
On December 1, 1998, Vancouver City Council adopted a set of Blue ways policies and guidelines stating the vision of a waterfront city where land and water combine to meet the environmental, cultural and economic needs of the City and its people in a sustainable, equitable, high quality manner.
Southeast False Creek (SEFC) is the neighbourhood designated by Cambie, Main, West 2nd Avenue, and False Creek. The 2010 Olympic Village, for athlete housing and logistics of the Winter Olympics, is found in Southeast False Creek. As of 2021, the population exceeded 3,000.
Because of connections between Vancouver's storm-sewer and sanitary-sewer systems, heavy rains may cause raw sewage to discharge directly into False Creek.
Factors working against the further return of wildlife include residual industrial contaminants, spillage from the sewer overflow system into the creek, and the seawall that constrains much of the shoreline with little habitat value. The city has attempted to recreate the natural shoreline in some areas and is working to phase out the antiquated sewer overflow system.
The result is a medium-density area with a variety of architectural designs, ownership opportunities, recreational activities, and modes of transportation, which allows for easier mobility within the community and a more picturesque landscape.
False Creek south is home to False Creek Elementary School.
False Creek consists of 70% social housing and 30% leasehold apartments and condos.
All of False Creek South is on Leasehold land which is owned by the City of Vancouver.
Southeast False Creek (Olympic Village) consists mostly of market-rate apartments and modern condos with a few co-ops and social housing.
False Creek North is home to Crosstown Elementary School as well as Elsie Roy Elementary School.
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