Famous Burnaby locals include Michael Bublé, Michael J. Fox, and NHL Hall of Famer Joe Sakic.
Canadian artist Charles van Sandwyk spent his teen years in Deep Cove. Actor Ben Affleck had a residence in Deep Cove in the early 2000s. Writer Malcolm Lowry lived as a squatter in nearby Dollarton in the 1940s. His cabin is now gone, but is remembered with a plaque in Cates Park. Darren Schemmer, the Canadian High Commissioner to Ghana, is also from Deep Cove.
Burnaby's Simon Fraser is the only Canadian university competing in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
The Playground of the Gods on Burnaby Mountain has more than a dozen totem poles carved by Japanese artist Nuburi Toko and his son Shusei.