Essential English phrases

Say the province. There is a Surrey in England — a county, not a city — and a Surrey in North Dakota. Locals write it as Surrey BC on anything that leaves the province, and so should you on a courier label or a job application.

Surrey is officially organised around six of them — City Centre (Whalley), Guildford, Newton, Fleetwood, Cloverdale and South Surrey — rather than one downtown. It is a genuine planning structure, not a marketing device, and 'where in Surrey' is a much more useful question here than in most cities.

The old name for the area the City now calls City Centre, around King George and Surrey Central SkyTrain. Both names are in daily use, they mean the same place, and which one someone uses tells you roughly how long they have lived here.

The Surrey Police Service, which became the city's police of jurisdiction on 29 November 2024, ending seventy-three years of RCMP policing. The transition took years of council fights and referenda, and RCMP officers are still providing support while it completes.

The regional transit card. TransLink runs three fare zones and Surrey is in Zone 3, so a weekday SkyTrain trip to downtown Vancouver before 6:30 pm is a three-zone fare — but every bus trip is a one-zone fare at all times, and so is everything after 6:30 pm and at weekends.

The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia — a public monopoly on basic auto insurance that also issues your driver's licence. One organisation, both things, no shopping around for the basic coverage. It surprises everyone arriving from Ontario or Alberta.

The Agricultural Land Reserve — provincially protected farmland, and a large part of Surrey sits in it: the Serpentine and Nicomekl lowlands, and much of Cloverdale. It is why a city of this size still has berry fields in the middle of it, and why they are not going to be built on.

Two crossings into Washington State sit at the bottom of the city — Peace Arch at the end of Highway 99 and Pacific Highway at 176 Street. Wait times are a normal part of weekend conversation, and a NEXUS card is a genuinely common Surrey possession.

The collective term for Surrey, Delta, Langley and White Rock — the half of Metro Vancouver on the other side of the river. It carries a real edge of regional politics: transit, hospitals and provincial money have historically flowed the other way, and everyone here can tell you so.

The Medical Services Plan, BC's public health insurance. Unlike Ontario it has a real waiting period — the balance of the month you arrive plus two more — so you need private cover for the gap. Premiums were abolished in 2020; the enrolment is still compulsory.

Police, fire and ambulance. 811 is HealthLink BC, the provincial nurse line; 8-1-1 also gets you the Health Connect Registry for a family doctor. The police here are the Surrey Police Service, not the RCMP, which changed in November 2024.

Social Insurance Number. No employer can put you on payroll without one. Free, from Service Canada, and usually issued during the visit if you attend in person. It comes before the bank account and before the MSP application.