Gravelbourg () is a small

multicultural The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for "Pluralism (political theory), ethnic pluralism", with the tw ...

town in south-central

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

, Canada. It is located just west of the Wood River at the junction of provincial Highway 43 and Highway 58, approximately 125 kilometres from

Moose Jaw Moose Jaw is the fourth largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. Lying on the Moose Jaw River in the south-central part of the province, it is situated on the Trans-Canada Highway, west of Regina. Residents of Moose Jaw are known as Moose Javians ...

Swift Current Swift Current is the fifth largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is situated along the Trans Canada Highway west of Moose Jaw, and east of Medicine Hat, Alberta. Swift Current grew 6.8% between 2011 and 2016, ending up at ...

, and the United States border. The region served as a path for

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

peoples many years ago, and was also integrated into the Redcoat Trail of the

19th century The 19th (nineteenth) century began on 1 January 1801 ( MDCCCI), and ended on 31 December 1900 ( MCM). The 19th century was the ninth century of the 2nd millennium. The 19th century was characterized by vast social upheaval. Slavery was abolis ...

. Gravelbourg is now a key link on the 21st century

Trans Canada Trail The Trans Canada Trail, officially named The Great Trail between September 2016 and June 2021, is a cross-Canada system of greenways, waterways, and roadways that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, Pacific to the A ...

. Gravelbourg is also referenced in the fourth verse of the North American version of "

I've Been Everywhere "I've Been Everywhere" is a song written by Australian country singer Geoff Mack in 1959, and popularised by Lucky Starr and Hank Snow in 1962. The song as originally written listed Australian towns. It was later adapted by Australian singer ...

", written by

Geoff Mack Albert Geoffrey McElhinney OAM (20 December 1922 – 21 July 2017), better known by his stage name Geoff Mack, was an Australian country singer, songwriter and aircraft mechanic. As a songwriter, he wrote the song "I've Been Everywhere" which w ...

and made popular in North America by

Hank Snow Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow (May 9, 1914 – December 20, 1999) was a Canadian-American country music artist. Most popular in the 1950s, he had a career that spanned more than 50 years, he recorded 140 albums and charted more than 85 singles on t ...

and more recently

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...

History

Canadian National Railway Station Building, Gravelbourg, SK

Gravelbourg was settled in the early 1900s and was one of the French

block settlements A block settlement (or bloc settlement) is a particular type of land distribution which allows settlers with the same ethnicity to form small colonies. This settlement type was used throughout western Canada between the late 19th and early 20th c ...

of the Gravelbourg- Lafleche-

Meyronne Meyronne (; oc, Mairona) is a commune in the Lot department in south-western France. See also *Communes of the Lot department The following is a list of the 313 communes of the Lot department of France France (), officially ...

area in southwestern Saskatchewan, In 1930 it became the cathedral city of the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

diocese of Gravelbourg. Gravelbourg carries the name of its founder Abbé

Louis-Pierre Gravel Louis-Pierre Gravel was a French Canadian missionary and colonizer who founded the town of Gravelbourg in Saskatchewan, Canada. He was born in Stanfold (now called Princeville), Quebec on August 8, 1868, and was ordained as priest on August 28, ...

. Louis-Pierre Gravel was designated a

Person of National Historic Significance Persons of National Historic Significance (National Historic People) are people designated by the Canadian government as being nationally significant in the history of the country. Designations are made by the Minister of the Environment on the re ...

in 1956. The inscription on the monument in Gravelbourg built in 1958 to honour him reads: Gravelbourg celebrated its

centennial {{other uses, Centennial (disambiguation), Centenary (disambiguation) A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century, a period of 100 years. Notable events Notable centennial events at a ...

in 2006. Gravelbourg celebrates its many cultures at its annua
Summer Solstice Festival d'été
.

Historic buildings

A number of heritage buildings are located within the community. Our Lady of the Assumption Roman Catholic Cathedral, the former Convent of Jesus and Mary and the former Bishop's Residence were designated the Gravelbourg Ecclesiastical Buildings National Historic Site of Canada in 1995. Gravelbourg Court House, College Mathieu Pavilion, Gravelbourg Post Office, Gaiety Theatre and Canadian National Railway Station are also listed heritage sites.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), 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 cultur ...

, Gravelbourg had a population of 986 living in 438 of its 482 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 1,083. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. In the 2011 Canada Census, out a total of 1,116 residents 625 chose English while 300 chose French as their mother tongue. Thirty nine percent or 430 residents spoke both English and French. Gravelbourg's French-language

Fransaskois Fransaskois (), (cf. Québécois people, Québécois), Franco-Saskatchewanais () or Franco-Saskatchewanians are French Canadians or Canadian francophones living in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Saskatchewan. According to t ...

community is the subject of a short documentary ''Les Fransaskois'', produced for the documentary series '' The Grasslands Project''. Other languages spoken in Gravelbourg were: Bisayan languages (5), Chinese (10), Dutch (5), German (15), Korean (5), Lao (5), Spanish (5), Swahili (5) and Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino) (50).

Climate

Education

École Gravelbourg School (Grades K to 12) is located on 1st ave in Gravelbourg. The principal is Jody Lehmann. The Convent of Jesus & Mary ( Past: Gravelbourg Elementary School, is now home to the GCMC (Gravelbourg Community Music Centre). The town has for the past four decades been noteworthy for College Mathieu, a francophone

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

for boys and girls who wish to acquire or retain fluency in French. The school has attracted students from throughout the southern part of the province as well as other areas of Canada and overseas. It offers classes from Grade 8 to 12. École Beau-Soleil offers K to Grade 7 in French.

Churches

Former Catholic bishopric

The town was from 1930 to 1998 the cathedral city of the

diocese of Gravelbourg headed by a Francophone

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

. In 1998, Pope John Paul II suppressed the residential diocese, so that it is now a

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbish ...

. The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption was at that time designated a "co-cathedral" of the

Archdiocese of Regina The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Regina ( la, Archidioecesis Reginatensis) is a Roman Catholic archdiocese comprising the southern part of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, as far north as the 30th township, or about 51°30' lat. The metropo ...

Protestants

The

United Church of Canada The United Church of Canada (french: link=no, Église unie du Canada) is a mainline Protestant denomination that is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in Canada and the second largest Canadian Christian denomination after the Catholi ...

in Gravelbourg had as its minister,

Lorne Calvert Lorne Albert Calvert (born December 24, 1952) was the 13th premier of Saskatchewan, from 2001 to 2007. Calvert served as leader of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party from 2001 to June 6, 2009, when he was succeeded by Dwain Lingenfelter. Ear ...

, the 13th

Premier of Saskatchewan The premier of Saskatchewan is the first minister and head of government for the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The current premier of Saskatchewan is Scott Moe, who was sworn in as premier on February 2, 2018, after winning the 2018 Saskatch ...

. There are also the Gravelbourg Lutheran Church and the Church of Christ.

Notable people

Larry Hornung Larry John Hornung (November 10, 1945 – May 8, 2001) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played 48 games in the National Hockey League and 371 games in the World Hockey Association. He was born in Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan and pl ...

, played in the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

for the

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the s ...

Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, pl ...

, and in the WHA for the

San Diego Mariners The San Diego Mariners were an ice hockey team based in San Diego that played in the World Hockey Association from 1974 to 1977 at the San Diego Sports Arena. Previous to being in San Diego, the team was known as the New York Raiders, New York ...

* Gord Sherven, played in the

for the

Hartford Whalers The Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its existence in Hartford, Connecticut. The club played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 until 1979, and in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1979 to ...

, and

Minnesota North Stars The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the team's colors for ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Designated places in Saskatchewan Towns in Saskatchewan Gravelbourg No. 104, Saskatchewan French communities Division No. 3, Saskatchewan