Tsawwassen is a suburban, mostly residential community in the southwestern part of the Corporation of Delta, British Columbia, Canada. The name means "looking toward the sea" in the local native language (Coast Salish). Tsawwassen provides the only road access to the community of Point Roberts, Washington via 56th Street. It is also the location of BC Ferries' flagship Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal, built in 1959 to provide foot-passenger and motor vehicle access from the Lower Mainland to the southern part of Vancouver Island and the Southern Gulf Islands. Because Tsawwassen touches a shallow bank, the ferry terminal is built at the southwestern end of a 3 km-long causeway that juts out into the Strait of Georgia. The ferry dock and causeway are part of Highway 17, and the ferry terminal is the largest in North America. Boundary Bay Airport, one of the busiest general aviation airports in Canada, is located ten minutes away. The Roberts Bank Superport is also located in Tsawwassen.

 

A large, mostly undeveloped but agricultural part of northwest Tsawwassen is designated as the Tsawwassen First Nation Reserve, where members have a Coast Salish ancestry. This land is bounded by the Strait of Georgia on the west, the 2600 block to the north, the 4800 block to the east, and the 1200 block to the south. A condominium development (Tsatsu Shores), the Tsawwassen First Nation Reserve longhouse, a church, cemetery, and several entertainment facilites - the Splashdown Waterslide Park, F440 Grand Prix Race Track, and an RV park - are located on the land, along with the residential Stahaken subdivision of Tsawwassen, leased to Delta in 1989 to use for 99 years.

 

Tsawwassen had a population of 21,090 in the 2001 census.