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62-653: Oliver is a town near the south end of the Okanagan Valley in the southern Interior of British Columbia , Canada, with a population of nearly 5,000 people. It is located along the Okanagan River by Tuc-el-nuit Lake between Osoyoos and Okanagan Falls , and is labelled as the Wine Capital of Canada by Tourism British Columbia . It was once "The Home of the Cantaloupe " as well as the "Home of

124-411: A busy gold mine, attracting miners and merchants, and boasting a public transportation system. Fairview (just west of Oliver) miners found gold and fueled the growth of a boomtown but it lasted just a few years and no remnants of the town survive today, other than a heritage marker. Oliver has been characterized by waves of migrants from different parts of the world. The first non-Indigenous settlers in

186-587: A decade afterward. In 1859, the first European settlement was established when Father Charles Pandosy led the making of an Oblate mission at Okanagan Mission , now a neighbourhood of Kelowna. The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush of 1858 eventually encouraged more settlement as some prospectors from the United States took the Okanagan Trail route on their way to the Fraser Canyon , although at

248-491: A popular destination for vacationers and retirees. The area also attracts seasonal fruit-picking labourers, primarily from Quebec and Mexico . The population of the region was 403,950 as of the 2021 Canadian census . The three regional districts within the Okanagan and their populations were: Central Okanagan (222,162), North Okanagan (91,610) and Okanagan-Similkameen (90,178). The statistical figures below are based on

310-710: A recent shift in focus to vineyards and wine . The region stretches northwards via the Spallumcheen Valley to Sicamous in the Shuswap Country , and reaches south of the Canada–United States border , where it continues as Okanogan County . The Okanagan as a region is sometimes described as including the Boundary , Similkameen , and Shuswap regions, though this is because of proximity and historic and commercial ties with those areas. The name

372-781: A subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway , linking the Southern Mainline with the original transcontinental mainline at Sicamous: the SS Aberdeen from 1886 and then the SS Sicamous and SS Naramata from 1914, and others. The Sicamous and Naramata survive as a tourist attraction on Okanagan Beach on the north side of Penticton , the Sicamous serving both as a museum and also an event facility. Other steamboats operated on Skaha Lake to

434-719: Is about 15.0 °C (59.0 °F), which is the warmest in Canada. The average annual precipitation in this region is also the second driest in Canada outside of the Arctic , the driest being the Thompson River Valley west of Kamloops . The southern Okanagan is dominated by northern reach of the Columbia Plateau ecoregion and is the only xeric shrubland ecosystem in Canada. Dry forests of ponderosa pine and low grasses can be found at higher elevations to

496-944: Is bound to the history of English settlement of North America, and particularly New England, because of the resettlement of many Loyalists following the American Revolution in areas that would form part of Canada. Many of the fifty thousand Loyalists who were resettled to the north of the United States after 1783 came from families that had already been settled for several generations in North America and were from prominent families in Boston, New York and other east coast towns. Although largely of British ancestry, these settlers had also intermarried with Huguenot and Dutch colonists and were accompanied by Loyalists of African descent. Dispossessed of their property at

558-604: Is derived from the Okanagan-language place name ukʷnaqín . An alternative explanation from Washington is ‘People living where you can see the top’, ostensibly of Chopaka Peak in the Lower Similkameen. The area was occupied by Pleistocene glaciation , and a widespread mantle of glacial drift covers the underlying bedrock. At the end of the Pleistocene, marginal lakes formed along the sides of

620-574: Is home to the Syilx , commonly known as the Okanagan people, an Interior Salish people who live in the valley from the head of Okanagan Lake downstream to near the river's confluence with the Columbia River in present-day Washington , as well as in the neighbouring Similkameen Valley and the Upper Nicola to the north of that, though the whole of their traditional territory encompasses

682-496: Is light, averaging just 18 inches (46 cm). Oliver is amongst the warmest communities in Canada with an average daily mean of 50.5 °F (10.3 °C). Okanagan Valley The region is known for its sunny climate, dry landscapes and lakeshore communities and particular lifestyle. The economy is retirement and commercial-recreation based, with outdoor activities such as boating and watersports, skiing and hiking. Agriculture has been focused primarily on fruit orchards, with

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744-511: Is well distributed year round. Some regions of the Okanagan, most notably near Kelowna , border on an inland oceanic climate due to it having an average temperature slightly above −3.0 °C (26.6 °F) and below 0 °C (32 °F). Dry forests of ponderosa pine and low grasses dominate the valleys and mountains in this region. The Okanagan south of Kelowna has a semi-arid climate ( Köppen : Bsk ) with hot, dry summers and cool winters. The average daytime temperature in this region

806-607: The 2011 Canadian census , 2021 Canadian census , and the British Columbia Ministry of Communities, Sport and Cultural Development. Statistics Canada. 2017. Armstrong, CY [Census subdivision], British Columbia and Okanagan, RD [Census division], British Columbia (table). Census Profile. 2016 Census. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-316-X2016001. Ottawa. Released February 8, 2017. http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/index.cfm?Lang=E (accessed April 16, 2017). The Indian reserves of

868-643: The British Isles in what would become Canada comes from the Saga of Erik the Red and the Viking expedition of 1010 AD to Vinland (literally, the land of meadows), which is believed to refer to the island of Newfoundland . The Viking prince Thorfinn Karlsefni took two Scottish slaves to Vinland. When the longships moored along the coast, they sent the slaves ashore to run along the waterfront to gauge whether it

930-468: The British Isles , Central Europe , Southern Europe , and Southern Asia since non-Indigenous settlement began approximately 100 years ago. With the construction of an irrigation canal to encourage settlement at the behest of former premier John Oliver , the community was originally built for British immigrants and veterans returning from the First World War during the 1920s. Following

992-434: The British Isles , which includes the nations of England , Ireland , Scotland , Wales , and Northern Ireland . The term British Canadian is a subgroup of European Canadians and, according to Statistics Canada , can further be divided by nationality, such as English Canadian , Irish Canadian , or Scottish Canadian . As of 2016 , 11,211,850 Canadians had British Isles geographical origins , constituting 32.5% of

1054-767: The KIJHL , Osoyoos having won the 2010/11 KIJHL season. Penticton and Summerland are both home to Chicago Blackhawks and Edmonton Oilers Defenceman Duncan Keith . The area has been host to multiple junior hockey championships, including the Memorial Cup in Kelowna in 2004 and RBC Cup in Vernon in 1990 (then called the Centennial Cup) and 2014 . Kelowna is home to junior Canadian football team Okanagan Sun , and Jr. Baseball team Kelowna Falcons , including

1116-472: The Okanagan first peoples also form identifiable communities: The Osoyoos and Westbank Indian Reserves have large non-native populations because of band-governed residential and commercial development on their lands. The Osoyoos Indian Reserve leases large swathes of land to commercial vineyard developments and is where 40% of wine grapes used in the Okanagan come from. Ice hockey is a popular sport in

1178-478: The UBC Okanagan Heat university program. The continued growth and operation of the agricultural industry in the Okanagan absolutely depends on the employment of temporary migrant workers. In 2009, there were 3,000 Mexican migrant labourers working in the Okanagan. British Canadians British Canadians primarily refers to Canadians who were either born in or can trace their ancestry to

1240-536: The 2011 Census, 79.57% of Oliver's population have English as mother tongue ; Punjabi is the mother tongue of 5.21% of the population, followed by German (2.87%), Portuguese (2.55%), French (2.45%), Spanish (0.96%), Dutch (0.74%), Hungarian (0.74%), Russian (0.53%), and Ukrainian (0.53%). According to the 2021 census , religious groups in Oliver included: Oliver has a semi-arid climate ( BSk ) with hot, dry summers and cool winters. Annual snowfall

1302-845: The Central Interior to the north, to Fort Vancouver , the HBC's headquarters in the Columbia Department , for passing furs between New Caledonia and the Columbia River for shipment to the Pacific. The trade route lasted until 1846, when the Oregon Treaty laid down the border between British North America and the United States west of the Rocky Mountains on the 49th parallel. The new border cut across

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1364-523: The East Kootenay, skirting the US border and crossing Osoyoos Lake at Osoyoos, which was a customs post and also the location of the gold commissioner 's office. The Dewdney Trail , surveyed and built by Edgar Dewdney , was constructed to prevent trade in the region from going north-south instead of remaining firmly under British control, and also for military mobility purposes should the need arise. In

1426-921: The International Horseshow." The community of Oliver is made up of land governed by three different bodies: the Town of Oliver, the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen and the Osoyoos Indian Band . Local industries include grape and fruit production, agritourism , wine production , ranching , golfing and recreation, retail and service trades. Some of the largest employers include Osoyoos Indian Band, School District #53, Interior Health and Okanagan Tree Fruit Cooperative. Named after John Oliver (1856–1927), Premier of British Columbia . "Honest John" and his government brought irrigation water and settlement lots to

1488-429: The area orchards and wineries. Coordinates: In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada , Oliver had a population of 5,094 living in 2,312 of its 2,445 total private dwellings, a change of 3.4% from its 2016 population of 4,928. With a land area of 5.49 km (2.12 sq mi), it had a population density of 927.9/km (2,403.2/sq mi) in 2021. Oliver has seen waves of immigration from

1550-625: The area with the South Okanagan Lands Project. The name of the area of this locality in the native Okanagan language is N̓k̓mip . The people of the Syilx Okanagan Nation have lived in the South Okanagan for hundreds if not thousands of years and traditionally moved throughout their large territory to follow seasonal food resources. Many of their camps and village sites were on the shores of

1612-596: The area, mostly war veterans and their families, came from the United Kingdom in the 1920s. This was followed by migration from Germany in the 1930s, and Hungarians in the 1940s and 1950s. Immigrants from Portugal arrived in Oliver starting in the 1950s, and soon owned most of the area wineries and orchards. The most recent migration has been of Sikh Canadians , many coming from the Lower Mainland and Calgary. As of 2017, Punjabi Sikhs own about 70 per cent of

1674-792: The decades following the gold rushes, ranchers, mostly on military land grants, came to settle on Okanagan Lake; notable ones included the Coldstream Ranch near Vernon, the Ellis Ranch , which formed the basis of the City of Penticton once subdivided, and the Richter Ranch , which continues in operation today, in the mountains between the Town of Oliver and the Village of Keremeos in the Similkameen. A mining industry began in

1736-572: The east. Despite being located in a xeric shrubland, areas near Osoyoos and Oliver claim to be part of Canada's only desert . Between 2000 BCE and 1900 CE, the climate and vegetation of the Okanagan had changed little. However, historical records from the Pacific Agrifood Research Station in Summerland indicate that the Okanagan climate had warmed by about 1 °C between 1908 and 1994. The Okanagan Valley

1798-711: The end of the Revolutionary War, the Loyalists arrived as refugees to settle primarily along the shores of southern Nova Scotia, the Bay of Fundy and the Saint John River and in Quebec to the east and southwest of Montreal. The colony of New Brunswick was created from western part of Nova Scotia at the instigation of these new English-speaking settlers. The Loyalist settlements in southwestern Quebec formed

1860-666: The end of this period, the population of the provinces of Canada was 2.4 million. Besides Upper Canada (Ontario), Lower Canada (Quebec), the Maritime colonies of Nova Scotia , Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick , especially Saint John , were arrival points. Not all remained; many out-migrated to the United States or to Western Canada in the decades that followed. Few returned to Ireland. The earliest English and Scottish settlements in Assiniboia (part of present-day Manitoba ) involved some 300 largely Scottish colonists under

1922-605: The entire Columbia River watershed and includes areas east of the Okanogan River in Washington, i.e. the Colville Reservation . At the height of Okanagan culture, about 3000 years ago, it is estimated that 12,000 people lived in this valley and surrounding areas. The Okanagan people employed an adaptive strategy, moving within traditional areas throughout the year to fish, hunt, or collect food, while in

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1984-659: The form of a fur trading expedition voyaging north out of Fort Okanogan , a Pacific Fur Company outpost at the confluence of the Okanogan and Columbia Rivers. Within fifteen years, fur traders established, known as the Brigade Trail via the Cariboo Plateau and Thompson Country to Fort Kamloops and through the Okanagan, from Fort Alexandria at the southern end of the New Caledonia fur district in

2046-856: The founding of Fort Victoria in 1843 and the subsequent creation of the Colony of Vancouver Island in 1849. The capital, Victoria developed during the height of the British Empire and long self-identified as being "more English than the English". During the Great Famine of Ireland (1845–1852), Canada received the most destitute Irish Catholics, who left Ireland in grave circumstances. Land estate owners in Ireland would either evict landholder tenants to board on returning empty lumber ships, or in some cases pay their fares. Others left on ships from

2108-473: The height of the rush the American adventurers who used the route did not settle because of outright hostilities from the Syilx , whom a few of the parties traversing the trail had harassed and brutalized. A few staked claims around the South Okanagan and Similkameen valleys and found gold and copper in places, with another trail from Fort Hope to newer goldfields at Rock Creek and Wild Horse Creek in

2170-620: The home for many Scots. In 1761, a Highland regiment garrisoned Fort Frederick . The surrounding lands surveyed by Captain Bruce in 1762 attracted many Scottish traders when William Davidson of Caithness arrived to settle two years later. Their numbers were swelled by the arrival of thousands of loyalists of Scottish origin both during and after the American Revolution. One of the New Brunswick and Canada's most famous regiments

2232-501: The initial British migration wave were Germans and Hungarians who first migrated to Oliver between the 1930s and 1950s, followed by Portuguese immigrants between the 1950s and the 1970s, and finally Punjabi Sikhs from the 1980s into the contemporary era. Today, Oliver's major communities – Indigenous, Portuguese, Caucasian, and Sikhs live in cultural and social silos, with little or no informal social interaction other than in schools, shopping centres and work places. According to

2294-570: The lakes and glacial benches throughout the area. They relied on the river , creeks and valley lakes of the Southern Okanagan for their daily lives. The first encroachment from European immigrants came circa 1811, when fur traders came to the area with the establishment of Fort Okanagan (now in the US) and first explored the area for trade. In the 1880s, free gold-bearing quartz was found at Camp McKinney (east of Oliver) which became

2356-486: The melting ice lobe and streams deposited their loads in them as deltas and accumulations of silt. These accumulations now form the white cliffs which are particularly prominent along the southern end of Okanagan Lake . Geographic features include: The Okanagan has a mild, relatively dry climate that varies depending on latitude. Most of the Okanagan lies within the rain shadow of the Cascade Mountains to

2418-620: The nineteenth century, and was on the front lines in the War of 1812 between the British Empire and the United States . Another large group of Scottish Gaels immigrated to Canada and settled in Prince Edward Island in 1803. This migration, primarily from the Isle of Skye , was organized by the Earl of Selkirk , Lord Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk . The Earl, who was sympathetic to

2480-523: The northern part of the province and to Cape Breton Island , but this began only with the arrival of the Hector in 1773. After the fall of New France to the British in 1759, a colonial governing class established itself in Quebec City . Larger numbers of English-speaking settlers arrived in the Eastern Townships and Montreal after the American Revolution. A large group of Ulster Scots , many of whom had first settled in New Hampshire , moved to Truro, Nova Scotia in 1761. New Brunswick became

2542-450: The nucleus of what would become the province of Upper Canada and, after 1867, Ontario . At the end of the 18th century, Cape Breton Island had become a centre of Scottish Gaelic settlement, where only Scottish Gaelic was spoken. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, Canadian Gaelic was spoken as the first language in much of "Anglophone" Canada, such as Nova Scotia , Prince Edward Island , and Glengarry County in Ontario. Gaelic

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2604-538: The overcrowded docks in Liverpool and Cork. Most of the Irish immigrants who came to Canada and the United States in the nineteenth century and before were Irish speakers , with many knowing no other language on arrival. The French-English tensions that marked the establishment of the earliest English-speaking settlements in Nova Scotia were echoed on the Prairies in the late 19th century. In 1902, Welsh immigrants arrived from Patagonia , which had been incorporated into Argentina in 1881. Compulsory military service and

2666-487: The permanent settlement in Newfoundland by Irish in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, overwhelmingly from County Waterford , increased immigration of the Irish elsewhere in Canada began in the decades following the War of 1812 and formed a significant part of The Great Migration of Canada . Between 1825 and 1845, 60% of all immigrants to Canada were Irish; in 1831 alone, some 34,000 arrived in Montreal. Between 1830 and 1850, 624,000 Irish arrived; in contextual terms, at

2728-422: The plight of the dispossessed crofters (tenant farmers in the Highlands), brought 800 colonists to Prince Edward Island. In 1811, he founded the Red River Colony as a Scottish colonization project on an area of 300,000 square kilometres (120,000 sq mi) in what would later be the province of Manitoba — land that was granted by the Hudson's Bay Company , in what is referred to as the Selkirk Concession . After

2790-506: The present day province of Nova Scotia was contested by the British and French in the eighteenth century. French settlements at Port Royal , Louisbourg and what is now Prince Edward Island were seized by the British. After the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht ceded the French colony of Acadia (today's mainland Nova Scotia and New Brunswick ) to Great Britain, efforts to colonize the province were limited to small settlements in Canso and Annapolis Royal . In 1749, Colonel Edward Cornwallis

2852-426: The region with WHL team Kelowna Rockets playing in the region's most populated city. The Jr. A teams are the Vernon Vipers , West Kelowna Warriors and the Penticton Vees of the BCHL . Penticton were the 2012 national Jr. A champions, after they ousted the Woodstock Slammers for the title. Jr. B sides Kelowna Chiefs , Sicamous Eagles , Summerland Steam , Osoyoos Coyotes and North Okanagan Knights play in

2914-514: The ship Hector brought 200 Gaels to Pictou , beginning a new stream of Highland emigration — the town's slogan is "The Birthplace of New Scotland". At the end of the 18th century, Cape Breton Island had become a centre of Scottish Gaelic settlement, where only Scottish Gaelic was spoken. Furthermore, a number of Scottish loyalists to the British crown, who had fled the United States in 1783, arrived in Glengarry County (in eastern Ontario ) and Nova Scotia. Prince Edward Island (PEI)

2976-474: The sixteenth century. The first English settlement in present-day Canada was at St. Johns Newfoundland, in 1583. Newfoundland's population was significantly influenced by Irish and English immigration, much of it as a result of the migratory fishery in the decades prior to the Great Famine of Ireland . The first recorded Irish presence in the area of present-day Canada dates from 1536, when Irish fishermen from Cork traveled to Newfoundland. The area that forms

3038-416: The south of that city. The club lounge and wheelhouse, without any keel or hull, of the SS Okanagan are in the same park as the Sicamous and Naramata . While the last half-century has grown several resource-based enterprises in the region, primarily forestry, though mining had played an important role in earlier times. Favoured by its sunny climate, lakes, and winery attractions, the valley has become

3100-419: The southern Okanagan region, with Fairview , now an empty benchland on the western side of Oliver , the best-known and largest of the boomtowns created in the later part of the 19th century. More farmers, as well as a small service industry, came to meet the needs of the miners. Fruit production is a hallmark of the Okanagan Valley today, but the industry began with difficulty. Commercial orcharding of apples

3162-428: The southwest. Areas in the north end of the valley receive more precipitation and cooler temperatures than areas to the south. Generally, Kelowna is the transition zone between the drier south and the wetter north. The Okanagan north of Kelowna has a humid continental climate ( Köppen : Dfb ) with warm, sometimes hot summers and cold winters with highs around freezing, though mild by Canadian standards. Precipitation

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3224-465: The sponsorship of Thomas Douglas, Lord Selkirk in 1811. One of the first efforts to encourage Welsh emigration to Canada began in 1812, when Welsh native John Mathews endeavoured to bring his family to Canada. Mathews left home at a young age and went on to become a successful businessman in the United States. When he returned to Wales, he found his family living in poverty and became convinced they should emigrate to Canada. In 1817 his family settled in

3286-669: The total Canadian population and 44.6% of the total European Canadian population. However, this number is likely an undercount due to the "Canadian" ethnic origin category on the census being the sole choice for many Canadians of British Isles descent who are several generations removed from their country of origin. "British Canadians" may include: Cornish Canadians ; English Canadians (meaning either ethnic origin and heritage, or English-speaking (Anglophone) Canadians of any ethnic origin); Irish Canadians ; Manx Canadians; Scottish Canadians ; Scotch-Irish Canadians and Welsh Canadians . The first documented source of individuals from

3348-587: The township of Southwald, near what is now London, Ontario . By 1812, he had brought over more relatives who built homes on the 100-acre (0.40 km ) lots granted to them by Colonel Thomas Talbot. English, Scottish, and Irish communities established themselves in Montreal in the 1800s. Montreal would become Canada's largest city and commercial hub in Canada. A continual influx of immigrants from Scotland and Ulster meant that by 1843 there were over 30,000 Scots in New Brunswick. Broader English, Scottish, and Irish settlement of British Columbia began in earnest with

3410-403: The valley, bisecting Osoyoos Lake. To avoid paying tariffs , British traders forged a newer route that bypassed Fort Okanogan via the Fraser Canyon from Spuzzum up over the Cascade Mountains , then via the Nicola, Coldwater and Fraser rivers to Fort Langley instead of to Fort Vancouver, which had come into being in American territory. The Okanagan Valley did not see many more outsiders for

3472-402: The winter months, they lived in semi-permanent villages of kekulis , a type of pithouse. Today the member bands of the Okanagan Nation Alliance are sovereign nations, with vibrant natural resource and tourism based economies. Their annual August gathering near Vernon is a celebration of the continuance of Syilx life and culture. In 1811, the first non-natives came to the Okanagan Valley, in

3534-439: Was "The King's First American Regiment" founded in 1776. It was composed mostly of Highlanders, many of whom fought with their traditional kilts to the sound of bagpipes . The regiment distinguished itself when it defeated Washington's forces at the Battle of Brandywine . When it disbanded after the War, most of its members settled in New Brunswick. In 1772, a wave of Gaels began to arrive in Prince Edward Island , and in 1773,

3596-409: Was also heavily influenced by Scottish Gaelic settlers. One prominent settler in PEI was John MacDonald of Glenaladale , who conceived the idea of sending Gaels to Nova Scotia on a grand scale after Culloden. The name Macdonald still dominates on the island, which received a large influx of settlers, predominantly Catholics from the Highlands, in the late 18th century. The history of English Canadians

3658-423: Was first tried there in 1892, but a series of setbacks prevented the major success of commercial fruit crops until the 1920s. In 1936, the grower-owned BC Tree Fruits Cooperative was established to store, package and sell Okanagan fruit. Until the 1930s, the demand for shipping fruit and other goods did drive a need for ongoing operations of the sternwheeler steamboats that serviced Okanagan Lake , operated by

3720-586: Was given command of an expedition for the settlement of Chebucto by some three thousand persons, many of whom were Cockney . Cornwallis' settlement, Halifax , would become the provincial capital, the primary commercial centre for the Maritime provinces , a strategic British military and naval outpost and an important east coast cultural centre. To offset the Catholic presence of Acadians, foreign Protestants (mainly German) were given land and founded Lunenburg . Nova Scotia itself saw considerable immigration from Scotland, particularly to communities such as Pictou in

3782-429: Was safe for the rest of the crew to follow. After the Scots survived a day without being attacked, by either human or animal, the Vikings deemed it safe to spend the night ashore. The expedition was abandoned three years later; the original sagas were passed on in an oral tradition and then written down 250 years later. English Canadian history starts with the attempts to establish English settlements in Newfoundland in

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3844-477: Was the third most commonly spoken language in Canada. Welsh mapmaker David Thompson was one of the great explorers of the North West Company in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and is often called "Canada's Greatest Geographer". He covered 130,000 kilometres on foot and surveyed most of the Canada–United States border in the early days of exploration. Upper Canada was a primary destination for English , Scottish and Scots-Irish settlers to Canada in

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