Development and Growth
West Kelowna has shared in the rapid growth experienced in the Okanagan area in the last decade. Between 2001 and 2006 alone, the population of the census area encompassing the municipality grew by 11.4%.
Traditional shopping areas in West Kelowna are downtown Westbank, Lakeview Heights Shopping Centre and the Highway 97 Industrial Area. However, in the 1990s, Canadian federal grant money enabled the Westbank First Nation to bring in water from Okanagan Lake, allowing the band to open its reserves to major development. This has created competition for West Kelowna's commercial sector. Starting with a shopping centre near downtown Westbank, the Westbank First Nation began building large commercial developments along Highway 97. In the fall of 2006, a second big-box shopping centre was opened on Westbank First Nation land. The shopping mall was called the "Hub Centre" in honour of the former occupant of the site, a hubcap shop. Nearby developments include the Two Eagles Golf Course and attendant housing, other major on-reserve housing developments and another major shopping centre on the west side of the highway.
| Canada 2006 Census | Population | % of Total Population | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visible minority group |
Chinese | 155 | 0.5% |
| South Asian | 280 | 1% | |
| Black | 95 | 0.3% | |
| Filipino | 30 | 0.1% | |
| Latin American | 55 | 0.2% | |
| Southeast Asian | 65 | 0.2% | |
| Arab | 10 | 0% | |
| West Asian | 15 | 0.1% | |
| Korean | 35 | 0.1% | |
| Japanese | 230 | 0.8% | |
| Other visible minority | 20 | 0.1% | |
| Mixed visible minority | 95 | 0.3% | |
| Total visible minority population | 1,090 | 3.8% | |
| Aboriginal group |
First Nations | 1,095 | 3.8% |
| Métis | 0 | 0% | |
| Inuit | 0 | 0% | |
| Total Aboriginal population | 1,095 | 3.8% | |
| White | 26,665 | 92.4% | |
| Total population | 28,850 | 100% | |
Read more about this topic: West Kelowna
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—H.A.L. (Herbert Albert Laurens)
“Hence, the less government we have, the better,—the fewer laws, and the less confided power. The antidote to this abuse of formal Government, is, the influence of private character, the growth of the Individual; the appearance of the principal to supersede the proxy; the appearance of the wise man, of whom the existing government, is, it must be owned, but a shabby imitation.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)