Spallumcheen is a

district municipality A district municipality is a designation for a class of municipalities found in several locations, including Canada, Lithuania, and South Africa. Canada British Columbia Under provincial law, municipalities in British Columbia are to be desi ...

in the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. Located in the

Okanagan The Okanagan ( ), also called the Okanagan Valley and sometimes the Okanagan Country, is a region in the Canadian province of British Columbia defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. It is part of ...

region between Vernon and Enderby, the township had a population of 5,055 and land area of in the

Canada 2011 Census The 2011 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population on May 10, 2011. Statistics Canada, an agency of the Canadian government, conducts a nationwide census every five years. In 2011, it consisted of a mandatory short for ...

. The district, whose official name is the Township of Spallumcheen and which is the oldest rural municipality in the

British Columbia Interior The British Columbia Interior, popularly referred to as the BC Interior or simply the Interior, is a geographic region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. While the exact boundaries are variously defined, the British Columbia Interior ...

(incorporated in 1892), consists primarily of agricultural land surrounding the separately incorporated City of Armstrong. Both Spallumcheen and Armstrong are member municipalities of the

Regional District of North Okanagan The Regional District of North Okanagan (RDNO) is a regional district in the Canadian province of British Columbia, Canada. The Canada 2011 Census population was 81,237. The land area is 7,512.58 km2 (2,900.62 sq mi). The regional distric ...

Etymology

The name is derived from a

Shuswap language The Shuswap language (; , ) is a northern Interior Salish language traditionally spoken by the Shuswap people (, ) of British Columbia. An endangered language, Shuswap is spoken mainly in the Central and Southern Interior of British Columbia b ...

word, either "spil-a-mi-shine" meaning "flat mouth", or "spal-lum-shin" meaning "meadow flat". Another word, ''spalmtsin'', which has an

Okanagan language Okanagan, Colville-Okanagan, or Nsyilxcən (n̓səl̓xcin̓ or n̓syilxčn̓) is a Salishan languages, Salish language which arose among the Indigenous peoples of the southern Interior Plateau region based primarily in the Okanagan River, Okanaga ...

cognate ''spelemtsin'', means "flat area along edge". Other variations include ''Spellmacheen'' and ''Spallamcheen'', which were the original names used for the

Shuswap River The basin of the Shuswap River (pronounced /ˈʃuːʃwɑːp/) lies northeast of the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, originating in the central Monashee Mountains. It is the upper part of the drainage better known to British Columbians as bel ...

, which exits the

Shuswap Highland The Shuswap Highland is a plateau-like hilly area of in British Columbia, Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the P ...

in this area and heads north to

Mara Mara or MARA may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Mara (''Doctor Who''), an evil being in two ''Doctor Who'' serials * Mara (She-Ra), fictional characters from the ''She-Ra and the Princesses of Power'' and ''The New Advent ...

and

Shuswap Lake Shuswap Lake (pronounced /ˈʃuːʃwɑːp/) is a lake located in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada that drains via the Little Shuswap River into Little Shuswap Lake. Little Shuswap Lake is the source of the South Thompson River ...

s. The same word is the source of the name of the

Spillimacheen River The Spillimacheen River is a tributary of the Columbia River in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Course The Spillimacheen River originates just east of Glacier National Park. Flowing southeast, it collects the waters of several tributa ...

and the settlement of the same name in the

Columbia Valley The Columbia Valley is the name used for a region in the Rocky Mountain Trench near the headwaters of the Columbia River between the town of Golden and Canal Flats. The main hub of the valley is the town of Invermere. Other towns include Rad ...

.Akrigg, Helen B. and Akrigg, G.P.V; British Columbia Place Names; Sono Nis Press, Victoria 1986 /or University of British Columbia Press 1997

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Spallumcheen had a population of 5,307 living in 2,036 of its 2,099 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 5,106. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Ethnicity

Religion

According to the 2021 census, religious groups in Spallumcheen included: *

Irreligion Irreligion is the absence or rejection of religious beliefs or practices. It encompasses a wide range of viewpoints drawn from various philosophical and intellectual perspectives, including atheism, agnosticism, religious skepticism, ...

(2,925 persons or 55.1%) *

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

(2,315 persons or 43.6%) **Catholic (345 persons or 6.5%) **United Church (215 persons or 4.1%) **Baptist (135 persons or 2.5%) **Reformed (110 persons or 2.1%) **Anabaptist (65 persons or 1.2%) **Lutheran (65 persons or 1.2%) **Other Christian (1,380 persons or 26.0%) *Other (50 persons or 0.9%)

Notes

References

External links

* {{authority control District municipalities in British Columbia Populated places in the Okanagan Country Populated places in the Regional District of North Okanagan