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 the area orchards and wineries. Administration of water SOLP (1919–1964) South Okanagan Lands Project – established by the Province of BC 1921 and run by provincial government employees for over forty years. In the spring of 1964 the Oliver/Osoyoos Fruit Growers' Association was informed that the province was getting out of the irrigation business. SOLID (1964–1989) South Okanagan Lands and Irrigation District – On June 25, 1964 the Fruit Growers' Association volunteered itself to be the cornerstone of the locally constituted South Okanagan Lands Irrigation District which operated the system until 1989. Oliver Water (1989 to present) Town of Oliver – The water district was divided into two parts to be run by municipal governments. The Towns of Oliver and Osoyoos now deliver nineteen billion imperial gallons—nearly one hundred billion litres—to the Valley's parched soils annually. 1990 saw the election of Water Councillors in both communities—a first in BC. Airport CAU3 Paved Hard Surface 3200 ft by 50 ft Elevation: 1015 ft VFR - Lighted strip Owned by Town of Oliver Coordinates: Lat 49-10.24 N Lon 119-33.04 W Home to Oliver Flying Club (terminal and hangars), Okanagan Kootenay Air Cadet Gliding Program, VMR Aviation, Transwest Helicopters, Oliver Fire Department, Oliver-Osoyoos Search and Rescue and Big Horn Squadron Royal Canadian Air Cadets Demographics 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 from its 2016 population of 4,928. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. Town of Oliver: 4928 Regional District Area 'C': 3473 Osoyoos Indian Band: 900 Ethnicity Oliver has seen waves of immigration from 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 the initial British migration wave were Germans and Hungarians who first migrated