Sumas was a district municipality

District municipality

A district municipality is a designation for a class of municipalities found in several locations, including Canada, Lithuania, and South Africa.-Usage in British Columbia:...

 in the Fraser Valley

Fraser Valley

The Fraser Valley is the section of the Fraser River basin in southwestern British Columbia downstream of the Fraser Canyon. The term is sometimes used to refer to the Fraser Canyon and stretches upstream from there, but in general British Columbian usage of the term refers to the stretch of the...

 region of British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, Canada, located between the then-Village of Abbotsford

Abbotsford, British Columbia

Abbotsford is a Canadian city located in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, adjacent to Greater Vancouver. It is the fifth largest municipality in British Columbia, home to 123,864 people . Its Census Metropolitan Area, which includes the District of Mission, is the 23rd largest in Canada,...

 (W) and Chilliwack

Chilliwack, British Columbia

Chilliwack is a Canadian city in the Province of British Columbia. It is a predominantly agricultural community with an estimated population of 80,000 people. Chilliwack is the second largest city in the Fraser Valley Regional District after Abbotsford. The city is surrounded by mountains and...

 (E). It was amalgamated with the Village of Abbotsford in 1972 into the City of Abbotsford.

It, prior to amalgamation and after, until 1995, was a member municipality of the now-abolished Central Fraser Valley Regional District

Central Fraser Valley Regional District

The Central Fraser Valley Regional District was a regional district in the province of British Columbia, Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region, south of the Fraser River and west of Chilliwack...

. Notable distinct communities with the municipality were Kilgard

Kilgard, British Columbia

Kilgard is a neighbourhood of Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada, located a few kilometres east of that city's core, on the north side of the Trans-Canada Highway at the foot of Sumas Mountain...

 and Huntingdon

Huntingdon, British Columbia

Huntingdon is a community within Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada. It is located immediately north of the Canada - US Border. The main road through the community is Highway 11. The name of the community is also the present name of the border crossing connecting to Sumas, Washington...

, the latter being the Canadian side of the Sumas Border Crossing into the United States. Most of the municipality was farmland - its dominant landform was the rich agricultural land of Sumas Prairie

Sumas Prairie

Sumas Prairie is a landform in British Columbia, Canada and the State of Washington, United States. Part of the Fraser Lowland, it was created by the draining of Sumas Lake early in the 20th Century, and extends from the Vedder Canal southwestwards into northern Whatcom County, Washington...

, which was created through the draining of Sumas Lake

Sumas Lake

Sumas Lake was a body of water between Sumas and Vedder mountains, midway between the present-day cities of Chilliwack and Abbotsford, British Columbia. Its name means "a big level opening" and is a reference to the site of the lake, which lay between Sumas Mountain and its American counterpart,...

early in the 20th Century.