Indian businesses and services in Vancouver, Canada

The Punjabi Market on Main Street, centred around 49th Avenue in South Vancouver, was for decades the commercial heart of the region's South Asian community, with fabric shops, jewellers and sweet shops. Many families and businesses have since moved east to Surrey, but the strip still has grocers, restaurants and textile stores, and the number 3 Main bus runs straight through it.

A short drive away, the Ross Street Sikh Temple of the Khalsa Diwan Society, near Marine Drive, is a landmark in its own right, a modernist building designed by Arthur Erickson. Each April it is the starting point of the Vancouver Vaisakhi parade, which winds through the surrounding streets with floats, kirtan and free food served from homes and tents along the route. Down at Coal Harbour, the Komagata Maru memorial recalls 1914, when a ship carrying passengers from Punjab was refused entry and forced to sail back, a piece of local history worth knowing.

Beyond the city, Richmond's No. 5 Road is lined with temples, churches, mosques and religious schools of many faiths, which has earned it the nickname Highway to Heaven. Burnaby has a mixed South Asian population, with grocers and restaurants spread along its main roads rather than in one district. The Canada Line runs from downtown to Richmond, though No. 5 Road itself lies east of the line and is easier to reach by car or bus. This page covers Vancouver, Burnaby and Richmond; Surrey and Delta have their own.