On 30 October 1946, Castlegar was incorporated into a village; and in 1966, became a town. It amalgamated with neighbouring Kinnaird into a city on 1 January 1974, effectively doubling its population. On 20 May 2004, the city's boundary was extended to include the Blueberry Creek Irrigation District. Indigenous peoples history Castlegar is in the border area between the Sinixt (Interior Salish) and Ktunaxa Indian bands. Experts cannot agree where one band's range ended and the other's began, as there was much overlapping of cultural and territorial activity between them. Most recent information suggests that the Sinixt were the area's original people, and that the Kootenai arrived several hundred years ago from central Canada. Kp'itl'els was an Indigenous settlement on the north side of the Kootenay River, just above the junction with the Columbia River. Implements such as arrowheads and pestles have been found along the nearby Arrow Lakes. A reconstructed kekuli dwelling was discovered on Zuckerberg Island, at the confluence of the Kootenay and Columbia rivers. Doukhobor history The Doukhobors operated a ferry near Brilliant on the Kootenay River in 1910, and the Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood (CCUB) applied to CPR for a railway station and siding to that point. Brilliant was the centre of the CCUB commercial enterprises, including the Brilliant Jam Factory, a grain elevator, and a flax mill. Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Castlegar had a population of 8,338 living in 3,549 of its 3,702 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 8,039. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. Population (2016): 9,023 Population (2011): 7,816 Population (2006): 7,259 Growth Rate: +7.7% Total Private Dwellings: 3,349 Population Density: 399.3 per km² Area: 19.8 km² Median Age: 46.1 Number of Immigrants: 725 Ethnicity Language Mother Tongue: English: 6,500 French: 65 Other: 1,010 Religion According to the 2021 census, religious groups in Castlegar included: Irreligion (4,875 persons or 60.5%) Christianity (2,855 persons or 35.4%) Sikhism (115 persons or 1.4%) Hinduism (65 persons or 0.8%) Buddhism (40 persons or 0.5%) Islam (30 persons or 0.4%) Judaism (10 persons or 0.1%) Other (70 persons or 0.9%) Climate Castlegar has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) or an inland oceanic climate (Cfb), bordering an inland warm-summer mediterranean climate (Köppen Csb). Summers are warm and sunny, with late summer being quite dry, while winters