Matsqui Fraser Valley Regional District, British Columbia

Urban Community - A separately named area within the limits of an incorporated municipality In Abbotsford (City), New Westminster Land District

Mapped Location

Matsqui: The mapped location is an approximation and should not be used for navigation or wayfinding.

 

Information

General information on Matsqui

  • Feature Type: Place

 

Official, historical, colloquial and alternative toponyms for Matsqui

A brief list of names that this geographic feature has been named

Name Description
Matsqui Official

 

Origin Notes and History of Matsqui

References to Matsqui that document the origin of its place name

Matsqui (Post Office and Railway Station) adopted 12 December 1939. Form of name changed to Matsqui (Urban Community) 18 September 1995 on 92 G/1.

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office  |  Province of British Columbia

Named after a tribe of the Halkomaylem division, of the Cowichan group of the Salish stock, dwelling on the lower Fraser River and Sumas Lake. There were two villages: Ma'mak'ume on the south side of the Fraser opposite to the Matsqui reserve, and Kokoae'uk, situated on the south-west point of Sumas Lake near to the Fraser River. Population was 40 in 1911. The Matsqui Village map was deposited 26 September 1904 by John Maclure. "The name Matsqui is still pronounced by the few remaining [Indigenous people] "Mats-whey". My father was the first white settler on Matsqui prairie in 1867 at a point called by the [Indigenous People] "Saw-aqum" meaning "wild celery" which grew there. Later he called it Hazel Brae which sounded better in our ears and there were hazel nuts on the hill. Thomas Yorke was the first to come to Sumas, and our first and nearest neighbour, 1869-70." (4 July 1924 letter from J.C. Maclure to Nelson).

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
Nelson, Denys; Place Names of the Delta of the Fraser River; 1927, unpublished manuscript held in the Provincial Archives  |  Province of British Columbia

Ma'cQui. (See: "Indian Tribes of the Lower Fraser River" by Franz Boaz, published in the 64th Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science for 1890, pp 454-463.)

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
included with note  |  Province of British Columbia

 

Fraser Valley Regional District

Political Boundaries

Last updated: 2023-09-30