Saskatchewan () is a
prairie province in
Canada, which has an area of and a population of 1,023,810 (according to 2009 estimates), mostly living in the southern half of the province. Of these, 233,923 live in the province's largest city,
Saskatoon, while 194,971 live in the provincial capital,
Regina. Other major cities, in order of size, are
Prince Albert,
Moose Jaw,
Yorkton,
Swift Current and
North Battleford. The province's name comes from the
Saskatchewan River, whose name comes from its
Cree designation:
kisiskāciwani-sīpiy, meaning "swift flowing river".
Geography
From a great scale, Saskatchewan appears to be somewhat a
quadrilateral. However, because of its size, the 49th parallel boundary and the 60th northern border appear curved. Additionally, the eastern boundary of the province is partially crooked rather than following a line of longitude, as
correction lines were devised by surveyors prior to the homestead program (1880–1928). Saskatchewan is bounded on the west by
Alberta, on the north by the
Northwest Territories, on the east by
Manitoba, and on the south by the
American states of
Montana and
North Dakota. Saskatchewan has the distinction of being the only
Canadian province for which no borders correspond to physical geographic features (i.e. they are parallels and meridians). Saskatchewan is also one of only two provinces that is
land-locked, the other one being Alberta.
The overwhelming majority of Saskatchewan's population is located in the southern third of the province, south of the 53rd parallel.
Saskatchewan contains two major natural regions: the
Canadian Shield in the north and the
Interior Plains in the south. Northern Saskatchewan is mostly covered by
boreal forest except for the
Lake Athabasca Sand Dunes, the largest active sand dunes in the world north of 58°, adjacent to the southern shore of
Lake Athabasca. Southern Saskatchewan contains another area with sand dunes known as the
"Great Sand Hills" covering over . The
Cypress Hills, located in the southwestern corner of Saskatchewan and Killdeer Badlands (
Grasslands National Park) are areas of the province that remained unglaciated during the last
glaciation period. The province's highest point at 1,468 metres (4,816 ft) is located in the Cypress Hills and is the highest geographical point
above sea-level between the
Rocky Mountains and
Quebec. The lowest point is the shore of Lake Athabasca, at 213 metres (700 ft). The province has fourteen major
drainage basins made up of various rivers and watersheds draining into the
Arctic Ocean,
Hudson Bay and the
Gulf of Mexico.
Climate
Saskatchewan lies far from any significant body of water. This, combined with its northerly latitude, gives it a warm summer version of
humid continental climate (
Köppen type Dfb) in the central and most of the eastern part, drying off to a
semi-arid steppe climate (Köppen type
BSk) in the southern and southwestern part of the province. The northern parts of Saskatchewan — from about
La Ronge northward — have a
subarctic climate (Köppen
Dfc). Summers can be very hot, with temperatures sometimes above 31 °C (90 °F) during the day, and humidity decreasing from northeast to southwest. Warm southern winds blow from the
United States during much of July and August. While winters can be bitterly cold, with high temperatures not breaking −17 °C (0 °F) for weeks at a time, warm
chinook winds often blow from the west, bringing periods of mild weather. Annual precipitation averages 30 to 45 centimetres (12 to 18 in) annually across the province, with the bulk of rain falling in June, July, and August.
Average Temperatures in Cities
History
Prior to
European settlement, Saskatchewan was populated by various
indigenous peoples of North America including members of the
Athabaskan,
Algonquian,
Atsina,
Cree,
Saulteaux and
Sioux tribes. The first European to enter Saskatchewan was
Henry Kelsey in 1690, who travelled up the Saskatchewan River in hopes of trading fur with the province's indigenous peoples. The first permanent European settlement was a
Hudson's Bay Company post at
Cumberland House founded by
Samuel Hearne in 1774.
In 1803 the
Louisiana Purchase transferred part of what is now
Alberta and Saskatchewan from France to the United States. In 1818 it was ceded to the United Kingdom.
Part of
Alberta and Saskatchewan was bought by the United States
In the late 1850s and early 1860s, scientific expeditions led by
John Palliser and
Henry Youle Hind explored the prairie region of the province.
In 1870, Canada acquired the Hudson's Bay Company's territories and formed the
North-West Territories to administer the vast territory between
British Columbia and
Manitoba. The Crown also entered into a series of
numbered treaties with the indigenous peoples of the area, which serve as the basis of the relationship between
First Nations, as they are called today, and the Crown.
In 1885, post-Confederation Canada's first "naval battle" was fought in Saskatchewan, when a steamship engaged the
Métis at Batoche in the
North-West Rebellion.
A seminal event in the history of what was to become
Western Canada was the 1874 "March West" of the federal government's new
North-West Mounted Police. Despite poor equipment and lack of provisions, the men on the march persevered and established a federal presence in the new territory. Historians have argued that had this expedition been unsuccessful, then the
expansionist United States would have been sorely tempted to expand into the political vacuum. And even had it not, then the construction of the
Canadian Pacific Railway would have been delayed or taken a different, more northerly route, stunting the early growth of towns like Brandon, Regina, Medicine Hat and Calgary — had these existed at all. Failure to construct the railway could also have forced
British Columbia to join the United States.
Settlement of the province started to take off as the Canadian Pacific Railway was built in the early 1880s, and the Canadian government divided up the land by the
Dominion Land Survey and gave free land to any willing settlers.
The North-West Mounted Police set up several posts and forts across Saskatchewan including
Fort Walsh in the Cypress Hills, and
Wood Mountain Post in south central Saskatchewan near the United States border.
In 1876, following the
Battle of Little Bighorn Lakota chief
Sitting Bull led several thousand of his people to Wood Mountain. Wood Mountain Reserve was founded in 1914.
Many
Métis people, who had not been signatories to a treaty, had moved to the
Southbranch Settlement and
Prince Albert district north of present-day Saskatoon following the
Red River Resistance in Manitoba in 1870. In the early 1880s, the Canadian government refused to hear the Métis' grievances, which stemmed from land-use issues. Finally, in 1885, the Métis, led by
Louis Riel, staged the
North-West Rebellion and declared a provisional government. They were defeated by a Canadian militia brought to the
Canadian prairies by the new Canadian Pacific Railway. Riel surrendered and was convicted of treason in a packed Regina courtroom. He was hanged on November 16, 1885.
As more settlers came to the prairies on the railway, the population grew, and Saskatchewan became a province on September 1, 1905; inauguration day was held September 4.
The Homestead Act permitted settlers to acquire one quarter of a square mile of land to homestead and offered an additional quarter upon establishing a homestead. Immigration peaked in 1910, and in spite of the initial difficulties of frontier life, distance from towns, sod homes, and backbreaking labour, a prosperous
agrarian society was established.
In 1913, the was established as Saskatchewan's first ranchers' organization. Three objectives were laid out at the founding convention in 1913 have served as a guide: to watch over legislation; to forward the interests of the Stock Growers in every honourable and legitimate way; and to suggest to parliament legislation to meet changing conditions and requirements.
Its farming equivalent, the Saskatchewan Grain Growers Association, was the dominant political force in the province until the 1920s and had close ties with the governing Liberal party.
In the late 1920s, the
Ku Klux Klan imported from the United States and Ontario and gained brief popularity in
WASP nativist circles in Saskatchewan and Alberta. The Klan, briefly allied with the provincial Conservative party because of their mutual dislike for Premier
James G. "Jimmy" Gardiner and his Liberals (who ferociously fought the Klan) enjoyed about two years of prominence, then disappeared, the victim of widespread political and media opposition plus scandals involving their own funds.
In 1970, the first annual Canadian Western Agribition was held in Regina. This farm industry trade show, with a heavy emphasis on livestock, is rated as one of the five top livestock shows in North America, along with those in
Houston,
Denver,
Louisville and
Toronto.
Demographics
According to the 2006
Canadian census, the largest
ethnic group in Saskatchewan is
German (30.0%), followed by
English (26.5%),
Scottish (19.2%),
Irish (15.3%),
Ukrainian (13.6%),
French (12.4%),
First Nations (12.1%),
Norwegian (7.2%),
Polish (6.0%),
Métis (4.4%),
Dutch (3.7%),
Russian (3.7%) and
Swedish (3.5%) - although 18.1% of all respondents also identified their ethnicity as "Canadian".
Saskatchewan's population since 1901
[ from Statistics Canada]Religion
The largest denominations by number of adherents according to the 2001 census were the
Roman Catholic Church with 286,815 (30 %); the
United Church of Canada with 187,450 (20 %); and the
Lutherans with 78,520 (8 %).
Economy
Saskatchewan's economy is associated with
agriculture; however, increasing diversification has meant that now agriculture,
forestry,
fishing, and
hunting together make up only 6.8% of the province's GDP. Saskatchewan grows 45% of Canada's grain.
Wheat is the most familiar crop and the one most often associated with the province (there are bushels of wheat depicted on the
Coat of Arms of Saskatchewan), but other grains like
canola,
flax,
rye,
oats,
peas,
lentils, canary seed, and
barley are also produced.
Beef cattle production in the province is only exceeded by Alberta.
Mining is also a major industry in the province, with Saskatchewan being the world's largest exporter of
potash and
uranium. In the northern part of the province, forestry is also a significant industry.
Oil and
natural gas production is also a very important part of Saskatchewan's economy, although the
oil industry is larger. Only Alberta exceeds the province in overall oil production. Heavy crude is extracted in the Lloydminster-Kerrobert-Kindersley areas. Light crude is found in the Kindersley-Swift Current areas as well as the Weyburn-Estevan fields. Natural gas is found almost entirely in the western part of Saskatchewan, from the
Primrose Lake area through Lloydminster, Unity, Kindersley, Leader, and around Maple Creek areas.
Saskatchewan's GDP in 2006 was approximately C$45.922 billion, with economic sectors breaking down in the following way:
A list of the companies includes The
Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, Federated Cooperatives Ltd. and IPSCO.
Major Saskatchewan-based
Crown corporations are
Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI),
SaskTel,
SaskEnergy (the province's main supplier of natural gas), and
SaskPower.
Bombardier runs the NATO Flying Training Centre at 15 Wing, near
Moose Jaw. Bombardier was awarded a long-term contract in the late 1990s for $2.8 billion from the
federal government for the purchase of military aircraft and the running of the training facility.
SaskPower since 1929 has been the principal supplier of electricity in Saskatchewan, serving more than 451,000 customers and managing $4.5 billion in assets. SaskPower is a major employer in the province with almost 2,500 permanent full-time staff located in 71 communities.
Provincial finances
The Tabulated Data covers the previous fiscal year (e.g. 2008 covers April 1, 2007 - March 31, 2008).
All data is in $1,000s.
1 These values reflect estimates made after the mid-year fiscal update (April 1 - September 30).
2 These values reflect the estimated population at the end of the previous fiscal year.
3 These values reflect the debt of the General Revenue Fund alone. It does not reflect the debt of Government Service Organizations (Health Authorities, Crop Insurance Corporation, etc.) or Government Service Enterprises (Crown Corporations).
Source: Government of Saskatchewan.Government and politics
Saskatchewan has the same form of government as the other Canadian provinces with a
lieutenant-governor (who is the representative of the
Crown in Right of Saskatchewan),
premier, and a unicameral
legislature.
For many years, Saskatchewan has been one of Canada's more progressive provinces, reflecting many of its citizens' feelings of alienation from the interests of large capital. In 1944
Tommy Douglas became premier of the first avowedly
socialist regional government in North America. Most of his
Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) represented rural and small-town ridings. Under his
Cooperative Commonwealth Federation government, Saskatchewan became the first province to have
Medicare. In 1961, Douglas left provincial politics to become the first leader of the federal
New Democratic Party.
Provincial politics in Saskatchewan is dominated by the
New Democrats and the
Saskatchewan Party. Numerous smaller political parties also run candidates in provincial elections, including the
Green Party,
Liberal Party, and the
Progressive Conservative Party, but none is currently represented in the
Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan. After 16 years of New Democratic governments under premiers
Roy Romanow and
Lorne Calvert, the recent
2007 provincial election was won by the Saskatchewan Party under
Brad Wall.
Federally, the province has been a stronghold of the New Democratic Party, although recent elections have been dominated by the
Conservative Party. The Conservative Party of Canada currently represents 13 of 14 federal ridings in Saskatchewan and the Liberal Party of Canada represents one federal riding.
Politically, the province is characterized by a dramatic
urban-
rural split — the federal and provincial New Democratic Party dominate in the cities, while the Saskatchewan Party and the federal Conservatives are stronger in the rural parts of the province. While both Saskatoon and Regina (Saskatchewan's largest cities) are roughly twice the population of an urban riding in Canada, both are split into multiple ridings that blend them with rural communities.
Municipalities
Ten largest municipalities by populationThis list does not include
Lloydminster, which has a total population of 24,028 but straddles the Alberta-Saskatchewan border. As of 2006, only 8,118 people lived on the Saskatchewan side, which would make it Saskatchewan's 11th largest municipality. All of the listed communities are considered cities by the province, with the exception of Corman Park, which is a
rural municipality. Municipalities in the province with a population of 5,000 or more can receive official city status.
Education
The first education on the prairies was learned within the family group of the first nation or early
fur trading family settlers. There were only a few missionary or trading post schools established in
Rupert's Land later known as the
North West Territories.
The first 76
Northwest Territories school districts and the first Board of Education meeting formed in 1886. The pioneering boom formed
ethnic bloc settlements. Communities were seeking education for their children similar to the schools of their home land.
Log cabins, and dwellings were constructed for the assembly of the community, school, church, dances and meetings.
The
roaring twenties and established farmers who have successfully proved up on their homesteads helped provide funding to standardize education. Text books, normal schools for formally educated teachers, school curricula, state of the art
school house architectural plans, provided continuity throughout the province. English as the school language helped to provide economic stability because one community could communicate with another and goods could be traded and sold in a common language. The number of one-room school house districts across Saskatchewan totalled approximately 5,000 at the height of the one-room school house educational system in the late 1940s.
Following
World War II, the transition from many one room school houses to fewer and larger consolidated modern technological town and city schools occurred as a means of ensuring technical education. School buses, highways, and family vehicles create ease and accessibility of a population shift to larger towns and cities. Combines and tractors mean that the farmer could successfully manage more than a quarter section of land, so there was a shift from
family farms and
subsistence crops to
cash crops grown on many sections of land.
School vouchers have been newly proposed as a means of allowing competition between rural schools and making the operation of
co-operative schools practicable in rural areas.
Provincial symbols
Flag
The
flag of Saskatchewan was officially adopted on 22 September 1969. The flag features the
provincial shield in the upper quarter nearest the staff, with the
floral emblem, the
Prairie Lily, in the fly. The upper green (in
forest green) half of the flag represents the northern Saskatchewan forest lands, while the golden lower half of the flag symbolizes the southern wheat fields and prairies. A province-wide competition was held to design the flag, and drew over 4,000 entries. The winning design was by Anthony Drake, then living in
Hodgeville.
Fish
In 2005, Saskatchewan Environment held the province-wide vote to recognize Saskatchewan's centennial year, receiving more than 10,000 on-line and mail-in votes from the public.
The
walleye was the overwhelming favourite of the six native fish species nominated for the designation, receiving more than half the votes cast. Other species in the running were the
lake sturgeon,
lake trout,
lake whitefish,
northern pike and
yellow perch.
Tartan
Saskatchewan's official
tartan was registered with the Court of
Lord Lyon King of Arms in
Scotland in 1961. It has seven colours: gold, brown, green, red, yellow, white and black.
Licence plates
The provincial licence plates display the slogan "Land of Living Skies", indicating the rapid changes in weather that frequently occur in Saskatchewan.
Centennial celebrations
The Saskatchewan Centennial Coin.
In 2005, Saskatchewan celebrated its centennial. To honour it the
Royal Canadian Mint issued a commemorative five-dollar coin depicting Canada's wheat fields as well as a circulation
25-cent coin of a similar design.
Queen Elizabeth II and the
Duke of Edinburgh visited
Regina,
Saskatoon and
Lumsden, and the Saskatchewan-reared
Joni Mitchell issued an album in Saskatchewan's honour.
Healthcare
Saskatchewan's medical health system is widely and inaccurately characterised as "socialized medicine": medical practitioners in Saskatchewan, as in other Canadian provinces, are not civil servants but remit their accounts to the publicly funded Saskatchewan Medical Care Insurance Plan rather than to patients. Unlike in
Medicare in Australia and private medicine in the UK, Saskatchewan sets a statutory tariff for medical services which may not be exceeded.
Popular culture
Canadian television sitcoms
Corner Gas and
Little Mosque on the Prairie, are both set in small Saskatchewan towns. The novels of
W. O. Mitchell,
Sinclair Ross,
Frederick Philip Grove,
Guy Vanderhaeghe,
Michael Helm and
Gail Bowen are also frequently set in Saskatchewan, as are children's novels of
Farley Mowatt. The English naturalist "
Grey Owl" spent much of his life living and studying in what is now
Prince Albert National Park.
The Arrogant Worms song
The Last Saskatchewan Pirate about a disgruntled farmer who takes up piracy on the namesake river, mentions various parts of the province such as Saskatoon, Regina and Moose Jaw. Popular
Québécois band
Les Trois Accords recorded a song in
French called Saskatchewan on their first album
Gros Mammouth Album. It was the third single of that album and met moderate success in
French Canada.
The
Saskatchewan Roughriders are the province's only major professional sports franchise, and are extremely popular across Saskatchewan. The team's fans are also found to congregate on game days throughout Canada, and collectively they are known as "Rider Nation".
In 2006, the founder of
One Red Paperclip, Kyle MacDonald, ended his trading-game after swapping a movie role in the film 'Donna on Demand' for a two-story farmhouse in
Kipling, Saskatchewan.
Arts and culture
Museums and galleries
Artist-Run centres
Artists
- Rob Bos, paintings of multi-coloured trees.
Law and order
Police agencies
- File Hills First Nation Police Service
- Prince Albert Police Service
- RM of Corman Park Police Service
Correctional facilities
See also
