Canada’s
First Premier of Dutch Ancestry
The Hon. William Vander
Zalm, born in Noordwykerhout, Holland, immigrated to Canada, with his parents,
1947, attending high school in Abbotsford, British Columbia, before becoming
president of his own nursery business, 1956. Entering politics a decade
later as an alderman for the Surrey Municipal Council, Mr. Vander Zalm,
before being elected to the B.C. Provincial Legislature, 1975, served as
Mayor of Surrey, B.C., 1969-1975. In 1986, he was sworn in as the Social
Credit Premier for British Columbia, and served in this capacity until
1991. In this view, Premier Vander Zalm is seen with Queen Beatrix of the
Netherlands when she visited Victoria in 1988.
