![Saskatchewan, Canada](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Saskatchewan%2C_Canada.svg)
History of Saskatchewan encompasses the study of past human events and activities of the
Canadian province
Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...
of
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 ...
, the middle of
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
's three
prairie provinces
The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada. It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie Provinces, namely Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These provin ...
.
Archaeological
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
studies give some clues as to the history and lifestyles of the Palaeo-Indian,
Taltheilei, and Shield Archaic Traditions who were the first occupants of the
prehistoric
Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...
era of this
geographical
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...
area. They evolved into the history of the first nations people who kept their history alive in
oral tradition
Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (1985 ...
. The
First Nation
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
band
Band or BAND may refer to:
Places
*Bánd, a village in Hungary
*Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran
* Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania
*Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...
s that were a part of this area were the
Chipewyan
The Chipewyan ( , also called ''Denésoliné'' or ''Dënesųłı̨né'' or ''Dënë Sųłınë́'', meaning "the original/real people") are a Dene Indigenous Canadian people of the Athabaskan language family, whose ancestors are identified ...
,
Cree
The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...
,
Saulteaux
The Saulteaux (pronounced , or in imitation of the French pronunciation , also written Salteaux, Saulteau and other variants), otherwise known as the Plains Ojibwe, are a First Nations band government in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Al ...
,
Assiniboine
The Assiniboine or Assiniboin people ( when singular, Assiniboines / Assiniboins when plural; Ojibwe: ''Asiniibwaan'', "stone Sioux"; also in plural Assiniboine or Assiniboin), also known as the Hohe and known by the endonym Nakota (or Nakoda ...
,
Atsina
The Gros Ventre ( , ; meaning "big belly"), also known as the Aaniiih, A'aninin, Haaninin, Atsina, and White Clay, are a historically Algonquian-speaking Native American tribe located in north central Montana. Today the Gros Ventre people are ...
, and
Sioux
The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations peoples in North America. The ...
.
[Sask Gen Web SGW First Nations Saskatchewan Genealogy Roots]
URL accessed 26 November 2006
Henry Kelsey
Henry Kelsey ( – 1 November 1724) was an English fur trader, explorer, and sailor who played an important role in establishing the Hudson's Bay Company in Canada.
He is the first recorded European to have visited the present-day provi ...
(1667–1724), was the first European (an
Englishman
The English people are an ethnic group and nation native to England, who speak the English language, a West Germanic language, and share a common history and culture. The English identity is of Anglo-Saxon origin, when they were known in ...
) to visit this area, and arrived 1690. Other European explorers also soon arrived followed by fur traders such as the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay (
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...
) and
North West Company
The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what is present-day Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario. With great weal ...
.
Clifford Sifton
Sir Clifford Sifton, (March 10, 1861 – April 17, 1929), was a Canadian lawyer and a long-time Liberal politician, best known for being Minister of the Interior under Sir Wilfrid Laurier. He was responsible for encouraging the massive amount o ...
,
Minister of the Interior
An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...
in charge of immigration, (1896–1905) induced a variety of
agriculturally inclined European emigrants to Canada to settle prairie land around the
transcontinental railway
A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous railroad trackage, that crosses a continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single ...
. The political boundaries of this area have changed several times evolving through
Rupert's Land
Rupert's Land (french: Terre de Rupert), or Prince Rupert's Land (french: Terre du Prince Rupert, link=no), was a territory in British North America which comprised the Hudson Bay drainage basin; this was further extended from Rupert's Land t ...
,
Provisional Districts of the
North-West Territories
The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...
, and finally a province. Saskatchewan has been a province of Canada since 1905.
Natural history
The history of this plains area actually began 2,000–2,100 million years ago wherein there were two continents separated by an ocean. The "
Churchill Continent" which would be Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and the "
Superior Continent" which would comprise Manitoba and Ontario. 1,830 – 1,800 million years ago these two land masses collided. The Northern shield area and western Rockies formed higher land from the collision.
[TIME TUNNEL Royal Saskatchewan Museum]
URL accessed 26 November 2006
The lower lands of today's parkland were covered by a shallow sea even in the Palaeozoic Era. It was not until the
Cretaceous Period
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of t ...
144 – 66 million years ago that the
inland sea
An inland sea (also known as an epeiric sea or an epicontinental sea) is a continental body of water which is very large and is either completely surrounded by dry land or connected to an ocean by a river, strait, or "arm of the sea". An inland se ...
began to drain. Here we begin to find the paleontological artifacts of various dinosaur species. The
ice age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...
of the
Quaternary Period
The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three period (geology), periods of the Cenozoic era (geology), Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spa ...
totally again re-shaped and re-shifted the landscape of Saskatchewan, occurring 2 million years ago.
Following these geological changes to this area, and the formation of the continent of North America as we know it, pre-history to the history of contemporary day can begin.
Pre-European
Archaeologists divide the time frame to study ancient findings into contemporary which would be from the 20th century on,
Protohistoric archaeology from 1620 to contemporary, and
Prehistoric archaeology
Prehistoric archaeology is a subfield of archaeology, which deals specifically with artefacts, civilisations and other materials from societies that existed before any form of writing system or historical record. Often the field focuses on ages s ...
is the study before early exploration to the area.
The prehistoric archaeology studies the findings and further classifies them according to traditions followed by the ancient peoples.
Palaeo-Indian Tradition of the Agate Basin finds date to as early as c. 6000 BC, Taltheilei Tradition c. 500 BC and Shield Archaic Tradition c. 4000 BC.
[Human History of Northern Saskatchewan](_blank)
, URL accessed 26 November 2006
The
Athapaskans,
Dene
The Dene people () are an Aboriginal peoples in Canada, indigenous group of First Nations in Canada, First Nations who inhabit the northern Boreal forest of Canada, boreal and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languag ...
, or Chipewyan First Nation lived in the shield area, and were caribou hunters. Their early archaeological history is documented around 1615.
Samuel Hearne
Samuel Hearne (February 1745 – November 1792) was an English explorer, fur-trader, author, and naturalist. He was the first European to make an overland excursion across northern Canada to the Arctic Ocean, actually Coronation Gulf, via the C ...
was one of the first early explorers to make contact with the Dene.
Algonkian or Woodland Cree (Kristinaux) lived above the treeline, whereas plains Cree lived in the open parkland area. Prairie buffalo hunters pre-dominated in southern Saskatchewan and were mainly of the first nation Siouan or
Assiniboine
The Assiniboine or Assiniboin people ( when singular, Assiniboines / Assiniboins when plural; Ojibwe: ''Asiniibwaan'', "stone Sioux"; also in plural Assiniboine or Assiniboin), also known as the Hohe and known by the endonym Nakota (or Nakoda ...
(Nakota).
Atsina
The Gros Ventre ( , ; meaning "big belly"), also known as the Aaniiih, A'aninin, Haaninin, Atsina, and White Clay, are a historically Algonquian-speaking Native American tribe located in north central Montana. Today the Gros Ventre people are ...
or Dakota (
Sioux
The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations peoples in North America. The ...
) were living on the outskirts of the area now known as Saskatchewan.
Early explorers
Some early explorers who made inroads to the
West
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...
are:
*
Louis de la Corne, Chevalier de la Corne
Louis de la Corne or Louis Chapt, Chevalier de la Corne (June 6, 1703 – November 15, 1761) was born at Fort Frontenac in what is now Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and began his career in the colonial regular troops as a second ensign in 1722 and was ...
*
Peter Fidler
Peter Fidler (16 August 1769 – 17 December 1822) was a British surveyor, map-maker, fur trader and explorer who had a long career in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in what later became Canada. He was born in Bolsover, Derbyshire, ...
*
Samuel Hearne
Samuel Hearne (February 1745 – November 1792) was an English explorer, fur-trader, author, and naturalist. He was the first European to make an overland excursion across northern Canada to the Arctic Ocean, actually Coronation Gulf, via the C ...
*
Anthony Henday
Anthony Henday ( fl. 1750–1762) was one of the first Europeans to explore the interior of what would eventually become western Canada. He ventured farther westward than any white man had before him.
As an employee of the Hudson's Bay Compan ...
*
Henry Kelsey
Henry Kelsey ( – 1 November 1724) was an English fur trader, explorer, and sailor who played an important role in establishing the Hudson's Bay Company in Canada.
He is the first recorded European to have visited the present-day provi ...
*
Pierre La Vérendrye
*
Peter Pond
Peter Pond (January 18, 1739 – 1807) was an American explorer, cartographer, merchant and soldier who was a founding member of the North West Company and the Beaver Club. Though he was born and died in Milford, Connecticut, most of his life ...
*
John Palliser
John Palliser (29 January 1817 – 18 August 1887) was an Irish-born geographer and explorer. Following his service in the Waterford Militia and hunting excursions to the North American prairies, he led the British North American Explorin ...
*
David Thompson
*
Philip Turnor Philip Turnor ( – c. 1799) was a surveyor and cartographer for the Hudson's Bay Company.
Turnor hired on for three years as an inland surveyor with the HBC and landed at York Factory (Man.) in August, 1778. After mapping York itself, he set o ...
[Grade Four Social Studies Heritage Explorers, Fur Traders, Early Immigrants, and Treaties]
URL accessed 26 November 2006
Fur trade era
![Trade with indians 1820](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Trade_with_indians_1820.jpg)
In May 1670, King
Charles II of
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
declared sovereignty over the lands which drained into the
Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay ( crj, text=ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, translit=Wînipekw; crl, text=ᐐᓂᐹᒄ, translit=Wînipâkw; iu, text=ᑲᖏᖅᓱᐊᓗᒃ ᐃᓗᐊ, translit=Kangiqsualuk ilua or iu, text=ᑕᓯᐅᔭᕐᔪᐊᖅ, translit=Tasiujarjuaq; french: b ...
watershed and granted those lands to "the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay", which later became the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC). The lands became known as Rupert's Land after the founder of the company. In 1774,
Cumberland House
Cumberland House was a mansion on the south side of Pall Mall in London, England. It was built in the 1760s by Matthew Brettingham for Prince Edward, Duke of York and Albany and was originally called York House. The Duke of York died in 1767 a ...
, the company's first trading post, was erected.
Travelling inland were the
French Canadian
French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fren ...
voyageurs of the North West Company arriving from
Eastern Canada
Eastern Canada (also the Eastern provinces or the East) is generally considered to be the region of Canada south of the Hudson Bay/Strait and east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces (from east to west): Newfoundland and Labrador, ...
, and from 1740 to about 1820 the Cree peoples were migrating westward as well, coming into contact with the Haaninin and Siksika nations already inhabiting the Saskatchewan river basins as they continued their role as intermediaries in the
fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...
. Canadian, European, and American
fur trader
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...
s set up forts and
trading post
A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded.
Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...
s and continued commerce with the
indigenous people
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
, however conflicts between the local Haaninin and the incoming Cree and Assiniboine were exacerbated because of the preference Europeans showed toward trading with the latter indigenous groups over the locals, culminating in attacks in 1794 against both North West Company and Hudson's Bay Company forts.
Local indigenous peoples including the
Métis
The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...
,
Haaninin, and
Siksika
The Siksika Nation ( bla, Siksiká) is a First Nation in southern Alberta, Canada. The name ''Siksiká'' comes from the Blackfoot words ''sik'' (black) and ''iká'' (foot), with a connector ''s'' between the two words. The plural form of ''Siks ...
were accustomed to the buffalo hunt, however, some Métis had arrived from the
Red River Valley
The Red River Valley is a region in central North America that is drained by the Red River of the North; it is part of both Canada and the United States. Forming the border between Minnesota and North Dakota when these territories were admitted ...
in the 1840s-60 precisely because the hunt was declining in that region, a sign of things to come further west. When Manitoba was established in 1870, many Métis were disappointed with what they felt was a disenfranchisement of their laws and way of life in the new province and migrated into the Saskatchewan River basin, establishing a settlement there and electing
Gabriel Dumont as the first president of the council of St Laurent in 1872, charged with governing the annual buffalo hunts and other local laws.
In 1875 local Métis hunters led by an HBC employee broke the hunting laws established by this council to protect the buffalo by hunting ahead of the main caravan. A fine was imposed by the local council on the hunters, who appealed to the local magistrate,
Lawrence Clarke. Clarke was, in fact, an officer of the HBC, so in siding with the hunters, he appealed for assistance from the North-West Mounted Police, who sent fifty officers to intimidate and undermine the authority of the local councils in favour of the HBC. Soon after, the seat of the government of the North-West Territories was transferred to
Battleford
Battleford ( 2011 population 4,065) is a small town located across the North Saskatchewan River from the City of North Battleford, in Saskatchewan, Canada.
Battleford and North Battleford are collectively referred to as "The Battlefords" by S ...
and a North-West Mounted Police fort was established at
Duck Lake.
In 1876 a treaty was concluded between the Government of Canada and the local Cree peoples (
Treaty 6
Treaty 6 is the sixth of the numbered treaties that were signed by the Canadian Crown and various First Nations between 1871 and 1877. It is one of a total of 11 numbered treaties signed between the Canadian Crown and First Nations. Specifica ...
), and though restrictions on the buffalo hunt and land ownership were tabled by some, they ultimately failed to materialize in the written version of the treaty.
The North-West Rebellion
In 1877, at the first council meeting in the new seat of government in Battleford, many of the laws of the previous council of St Laurent were adopted to protect the buffalo, however these hunting restrictions did not apply to non-Métis indigenous people as per the arrangement of Treaty 6, nor were they an effective means to reduce hunting by and for American markets. According to Gabriel Dumont, the leader of the South Saskatchewan River caravan, bison had become extinct in the region by 1878.
In the late 1870s and early 1880s, several appeals were made by
Métis
The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...
people to be better represented in government. The treaties established with aboriginal groups in the area gave a sense of voice at that time, and territorial government was dominated by the euro-Canadian minority, referring to themselves as 'white' in contrast to the Métis majority in many regions. In April 1883, a local council voted against a proposition to send a delegation to Ottawa to demand their rights, and instead supported an effort to bring
Louis Riel
Louis Riel (; ; 22 October 1844 – 16 November 1885) was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political leader of the Métis people. He led two resistance movements against the Government of Canada and its first ...
back to Canada.
Before the arrival of Louis Riel, a petition was sent from Bishop Gardin to Prime Minister Macdonald that presented all of the grievances and demands of the Métis in the South Saskatchewan river basin including the establishment of the province of Saskatchewan, proper surveying of the traditional river lots of the Métis, and the appointment of Riel as a member of the Territorial Council or Canadian Senate.
Louis Riel arrived in Saskatchewan in July 1884. A feast day was established on September 24 (later moved to July 24) along with the establishment of a patron saint of the Métis and Riel met with many councils and individuals before declaring the establishment of the
Provisional Government of Saskatchewan
The Provisional Government of Saskatchewan was an independent state declared during the North-West Rebellion of 1885 in the District of Saskatchewan of the North-West Territories. It included parts of the present-day Canadian provinces of Albe ...
on March 19, 1885. On March 26 Gabriel Dumont, adjunct-general of this provisional government captured Duck Lake with a small army, forcing back the
North-West Mounted Police
The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian para-military police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert’s Land and North-Western Territory ...
, thus began the North-West Rebellion.
Political boundaries
Rupert's Land became the first western area under English control in 1670 when King
Charles II of England
Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651, and King of England, Scotland and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685.
Charles II was the eldest surviving child of ...
granted the lands draining into Hudson's Bay to ''The Governor and Company of Adventurers Trading into Hudson's Bay'' (i.e., the
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...
). This area of land became known as "Rupert's Land" after King Charles' cousin,
Prince Rupert of the Rhine
Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, (17 December 1619 (O.S.) / 27 December (N.S.) – 29 November 1682 (O.S.)) was an English army officer, admiral, scientist and colonial governor. He first came to prominence as a Royalist cavalr ...
, who was the first governor of the company.
The North-West Territories was divided into districts in 1870. The Provisional Districts of
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
,
Assiniboia
Assiniboia District refers to two historical districts of Canada's Northwest Territories. The name is taken from the Assiniboine First Nation.
Historical usage
''For more information on the history of the provisional districts, see also Distric ...
,
Athabasca
Athabasca (also Athabaska) is an anglicized version of the Cree name for Lake Athabasca in Canada, āthap-āsk-ā-w (pronounced ), meaning "grass or reeds here and there". Most places named Athabasca are found in Alberta, Canada.
Athabasca may a ...
, and
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 ...
were
districts of the Northwest Territories
The vastness of Canada's Northwest Territories (spelled 'North-West Territories' from 1870 to 1906) meant that for much of its history it was divided into several districts for ease of administration. The number and size of these territorial dist ...
created in 1882. They were named ''provisional districts'' to distinguish them from the
District of Keewatin
The District of Keewatin was a territory of Canada and later an administrative district of the Northwest Territories. It was created in 1876 by the ''Keewatin Act'', and originally it covered a large area west of Hudson Bay. In 1905, it became a ...
which had a more autonomous relationship from the NWT administration. Due to the vastness of the NWT, it was divided into more administrative districts. 1895 saw the formation of the
District of Franklin
The District of Franklin was a regional administrative district of Canada's Northwest Territories. The district consisted of the Canadian high Arctic Islands, notably Ellesmere Island, Baffin Island, and Victoria Island. The district also co ...
,
District of Ungava
The District of Ungava was a regional administrative district of Canada's Northwest Territories from 1895 to 1920, although it effectively ceased operation in 1912. It covered the northern portion of what is today Quebec, the interior of Labrador ...
and the
District of Mackenzie
The District of Mackenzie was a regional administrative district of Canada's Northwest Territories. The district consisted of the portion of the Northwest Territories directly north of British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan on Canada's main ...
which were all part of the NWT. By this date, the Provisional District of Athabasca had extended as far west as the
first meridian.
Immigration and settlement era
The settlements patterns were closely tied to the availability of transportation (especially railways) and the fertility of the soil. Ethnic groups tended to settle together, so they could built support networks for religion, language, customs, and finding marriage partners.
Travel routes
When the surveyors for the railways came through, they at first proposed a route following the early telegraph line. However, a number of historic factors changed this route. Travel from Winnipeg through to Calgary was easier through the southern prairies rather than going upwards to Battleford and Edmonton. The southern route of the railway, went through the village of Pile O' Bones in 1882. By 1903, the influx of settlers via the railway increased the population to city status, and Pile O' Bones was now known as
Regina. In 1905, when Saskatchewan became a province, Regina was named the capital city. Immigration was advertised in a massive campaign put forth by
Clifford Sifton
Sir Clifford Sifton, (March 10, 1861 – April 17, 1929), was a Canadian lawyer and a long-time Liberal politician, best known for being Minister of the Interior under Sir Wilfrid Laurier. He was responsible for encouraging the massive amount o ...
, Minister of the Interior in charge of immigration, (1896–1905)
[Impressions 250 Years of Printing in the Lives of Canadians]
, URL accessed 26 November 2006 who brought into being Canada's
homestead
Homestead may refer to:
*Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses
*Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres
*Homestead principle, a legal concept th ...
act, the ''
Dominion Lands Act
The ''Dominion Lands Act'' (long title: ''An Act Respecting the Public Lands of the Dominion'') was an 1872 Canadian law that aimed to encourage the settlement of the Canadian Prairies and to help prevent the area being claimed by the United Sta ...
'' in 1872. The railway brought life to settlements, which quickly grew to villages, and towns. Typically many small communities sprung up 10–12 miles apart a distance easily travelled by horse and cart in a day.
Immigration policy
Settlement policy, set by the federal government, the
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...
, the Hudson's Bay Company and associated land companies encouraged immigration. The key event was the decision to emulate the
American Homestead Law by offering, at no cost, 160 acres of farmland to any man over 18 (or to a woman head of family) who settled there. Dramatic advertising campaigns promoted the benefits of prairie living. Potential immigrants read leaflets information painted Canada as a veritable garden of Eden, and downplayed the need for agricultural expertise. Ads in ''The Nor'-West Farmer'' by the Commissioner of Immigration implied that western land was blessed with water, wood, gold, silver, iron, copper, and cheap coal for fuel, all of which were readily at hand. Reality was far harsher, especially for the first arrivals who lived in
sod house
The sod house or soddy was an often used alternative to the log cabin during frontier settlement of the Great Plains of Canada and the United States in the 1800s and early 1900s. Primarily used at first for animal shelters, corrals, and fences, ...
s. However eastern money poured in and by 1913, long term mortgage loans to Saskatchewan farmers had reached $65 million.
Ethnicity
The dominant groups comprised British settlers from
eastern Canada
Eastern Canada (also the Eastern provinces or the East) is generally considered to be the region of Canada south of the Hudson Bay/Strait and east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces (from east to west): Newfoundland and Labrador, ...
and Britain, who comprised about 50% of the population during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They played the leading role in establishing the basic institutions of plains society, economy, and government. About a tenth of the people were Irish, with the more numerous Protestants integrating with English and Scottish Protestants, and the less numerous Catholics taking control of the Catholic Church in the province.
Blocs and colonies
By 1930 there were 19 major ethno-religious
bloc settlements in Saskatchewan, chiefly in the north-central region. Seven were French, one German Catholic, two Mennonite, two Hutterite, three Ukrainian-Polish, one Russian
Doukhobor
The Doukhobours or Dukhobors (russian: духоборы / духоборцы, dukhobory / dukhobortsy; ) are a Spiritual Christian ethnoreligious group of Russian origin. They are one of many non-Orthodox ethno-confessional faiths in Russia an ...
, and two were Scandinavian. They differed greatly in size, from the small Hutterite colonies with a population of 75–150 each to St. Peter's Colony, which encompassed fifty-six townships (over two thousand square miles) and included about 9,500 Catholics of German descent.
In the north-west of the
provisional district of Saskatchewan, NWT, Interior Minister Clifton Sifton set up bloc colonies for 7400
Doukhobor
The Doukhobours or Dukhobors (russian: духоборы / духоборцы, dukhobory / dukhobortsy; ) are a Spiritual Christian ethnoreligious group of Russian origin. They are one of many non-Orthodox ethno-confessional faiths in Russia an ...
settlers from Russia in 1899.
Peter Verigin
Peter Vasilevich Verigin (russian: Пётр Васильевич Веригин) often known as Peter "the Lordly" Verigin ( - October 29, 1924) was a Russians, Russian philosopher, activist, and leader of the Community Doukhobors in Canada.
Bio ...
arrived in 1902 and became the leader. After their bizarre behaviour alienated public opinion (such as nude protest marches), the government in 1907 took away much of the land they had been awarded. Verigin led most of them to British Columbia.
The French Counts of St Hubert established Rolanderie Ranch and a gentleman lifestyle at
Whitewood in 1884. The Counts sought to establish a number of commercial ventures, including a chicory processing factory, a
Gruyere cheese factory, a
sugar beet
A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and which is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together wi ...
venture, and a
horse breeding
Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in ...
operation. They occasionally socialized with the English colonial outpost of Cannington Manor. In the 1880s Edward Pierce tried to transplant early Victorian living at Cannington Manor in the 1880s, now preserved as
Cannington Manor Provincial Park
Cannington Manor Provincial Park is an historic park in the RM of Moose Mountain in the south-east corner of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. An aristocratic English colony was established at the site in 1882 by Captain Edward Michell ...
.
The Barr Colonists ventured north in 1903 and settled in Brittania now known as
Lloydminster
Lloydminster is a city in Canada which has the unusual geographic distinction of straddling the provincial border between Alberta and Saskatchewan. The city is incorporated by both provinces as a single city with a single municipal administrati ...
, Saskatchewan.
Germans
![Censusdivisions-ethnic](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Censusdivisions-ethnic.png)
The
German settlers came primarily from Russia, and after 1914 from
German-American settlements in North and South Dakota. They came not as large groups but as part of a chain of family members, where the first immigrants would find suitable locations and send for the others. They formed compact German-speaking communities built around their Catholic or Lutheran churches, and continuing old-world customs. They were farmers who grew wheat. Arrivals from Russia,
Bukovina
Bukovinagerman: Bukowina or ; hu, Bukovina; pl, Bukowina; ro, Bucovina; uk, Буковина, ; see also other languages. is a historical region, variously described as part of either Central or Eastern Europe (or both).Klaus Peter BergerT ...
, and Romanian
Dobruja
Dobruja or Dobrudja (; bg, Добруджа, Dobrudzha or ''Dobrudža''; ro, Dobrogea, or ; tr, Dobruca) is a historical region in the Balkans that has been divided since the 19th century between the territories of Bulgaria and Romania. I ...
established their villages in a 40-mile-wide tract east of Regina.
The Germans operated
parochial school
A parochial school is a private primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathematics and language arts. The ...
s primarily to maintain their religious faith; often they offered only an hour of German language instruction a week, but they always had extensive coverage of religion. Most German Catholic children by 1910 attended schools taught entirely in English. In the 199x–1930 era, German Catholics generally voted for the Liberal ticket (rather than the Provincial Rights and Conservative tickets), seeing Liberals as more willing to protect religious minorities. Occasionally they voted for Conservatives or independent candidates who offered greater support for public funding of parochial schools. Nazi Germany made a systematic effort to proselytize among Saskatchewan's Germans in the 1930s. Fewer that 1% endorsed their message, but some did migrate back to Germany before anti-Nazi sentiment became overwhelming in 1939.
Ukrainians
![St Georges](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/St_Georges.jpg)
In 1911, 22,300 Ukrainians lived in Saskatchewan, and 28,100 in 1921. Only Manitoba had larger numbers. The 107,000 Ukrainians in 1921, nationwide, grew to 530,000 in 1981, including 101,000 in Saskatchewan.
Ukrainians—often called "Ruthenians" at the time—began arriving in numbers in the 1890s. They came as farmers, and actively built churches. Their requests for Ukrainian language public schools were often rejected by local officials.
Ukrainian men in 1914 were not Canadian citizens but were subjects of Austria-Hungary, an enemy nation. Many were unemployed. The government interned about 5,000 men, mostly those who were caught trying to cross the border into the U.S. (It was illegal for an enemy alien to leave the country). They were assigned work on federal and provincial public work projects as well as for the railways.
Religiously the Ukrainians were split between two Catholic and two Orthodox denominations. One of the latter was the "Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada", established in 1918 with the goal of defending the interests of the people as a bulwark against discrimination and oppression of the sort that Ukrainians had just experienced.
Since World War Two, Ukrainians have largely assimilated into Canadian culture.
Assimilation and nativism
In the 1910–1930 era, the provincial department of education led systematic efforts to place English-speaking teachers in every school to Canadianize the ethnic groups through the use of the English language and the teaching of British values. He envisioned the role of the teacher to be an educator, missionary, and model Canadian citizen.
The
Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
moved north into the prairies in 1926, and was especially strong among British residents of Saskatchewan. It built on ethnic prejudices, but had few major successes. Its peak came in 1927–30 when it shaped the vocabulary used to discuss issues of language, sectarianism, immigration, and control of natural resources. It over and over again warned of "Catholic plots," but faded away when the Great Depression hit and the conspiracy-minded turned their attention to eastern cities and bankers.
Families
Gender roles were sharply defined. Men were primarily responsible for breaking the land; planting and harvesting; building the house; buying, operating and repairing machinery; and handling finances. At first there were many single men on the prairie, or husbands whose wives were still back east, but they had a hard time. They realized the need for a wife. In 1901, there were 19,200 families, but this surged to 150,300 families only 15 years later. Wives played a central role in settlement of the prairie region. Their labour, skills, and ability to adapt to the harsh environment proved decisive in meeting the challenges. They prepared
bannock
Bannock may mean:
* Bannock (food), a kind of bread, cooked on a stone or griddle
* Bannock (Indigenous American), various types of bread, usually prepared by pan-frying
* Bannock people, a Native American people of what is now southeastern Oregon ...
, beans and bacon, mended clothes, raised children, cleaned, tended the garden, helped at
harvest time
Harvesting is the process of gathering a ripe crop from the field (agriculture), fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse (legume), pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. On smaller farms with minimal mechaniz ...
and nursed everyone back to health. While prevailing patriarchal attitudes, legislation, and economic principles obscured women's contributions, the flexibility exhibited by farm women in performing productive and nonproductive labour was critical to the survival of
family farm
A family farm is generally understood to be a farm owned and/or operated by a family; it is sometimes considered to be an Estate (land), estate passed down by inheritance.
Although a recurring conceptual model, conceptual and archetype, archet ...
s, and thus to the success of the wheat economy.
Population history
When Saskatchewan became a province in 1905, boosters and politicians proclaimed its destiny was to become Canada's most powerful province. Saskatchewan embarked on an ambitious province-building program based on its Anglo-Canadian culture and wheat production for the export market. Population quintupled from 91,000 in 1901 to 492,000 to 1911, thanks to heavy immigration of farmers from the U.S., Germany and Scandinavia. Efforts were made to assimilate the newcomers to British Canadian culture and values.
The population reached 758,000 in 1921 and peaked at 922,000 in 1931. It lost population in the Great Depression and war years, dropping to 830,000 in 1951, then slowly climbed back up, holding steady at about one million since 1986.
The ethnic history of the province was reflected in the ancestry data in 2006. The largest ethnic groups were
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
(30.0%), followed by English (26.5%), Scottish (19.2%), Irish (15.3%), Ukrainian (13.6%), French (12.4%),
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 ...
(12.1%), Norwegians (7.2%), Polish (6.0%),
Métis
The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...
(4.4%), Dutch (3.7%), Russian (3.7%) and Swedish (3.5%). Some 18.1% of all respondents also identified their ethnicity as "Canadian".
The largest denominations in 2001 were the Roman Catholic Church with 286,815 (30%); 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 ...
with 187,450 (20%); and the
Lutherans
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...
with 78,520 (8%). 148,535 (15.4%) responded "no religion".
1905–1930
Government structure
The provisional districts of
Assiniboia
Assiniboia District refers to two historical districts of Canada's Northwest Territories. The name is taken from the Assiniboine First Nation.
Historical usage
''For more information on the history of the provisional districts, see also Distric ...
, Saskatchewan and
Athabaska of the
North-West Territories
The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...
amalgamated into the province of Saskatchewan in 1905. The boundaries consist of: on the west is the
4th Meridian f_the_ f_the_Dominion_Land_Survey">Dominion_Land_Survey.html"_;"title="f_the_Dominion_Land_Survey">f_the_Dominion_Land_Survey_south_
.html"_;"title="Dominion_Land_Survey.html"_;"title="f_the_Dominion_Land_Survey">f_the_Dominion_Land_Survey">Dominion_Land_Survey.html"_;"title="f_the_Dominion_Land_Survey">f_the_Dominion_Land_Survey_south_49th_parallel_north">49th_parallel_Canada–United_States_border.html" ;"title="49th_parallel_north.html" ;"title="Dominion_Land_Survey.html" ;"title="Dominion_Land_Survey.html" ;"title="f the
f_the_Dominion_Land_Survey">Dominion_Land_Survey.html"_;"title="f_the_Dominion_Land_Survey">f_the_Dominion_Land_Survey_south_49th_parallel_north">49th_parallel_Canada–United_States_border">US-Canada_boundary_line,_to_the_north_the_North-West_Territories-Saskatchewan_boundary_line,_and_just_about_on_the_102nd_meridian_west.html" ;"title="Dominion Land Survey">f the Dominion Land Survey">Dominion_Land_Survey.html" ;"title="f the Dominion Land Survey">f the Dominion Land Survey south 49th parallel north">49th parallel Canada–United States border">US-Canada boundary line, to the north the North-West Territories-Saskatchewan boundary line, and just about on the 102nd meridian west">2nd Meridian on the eastern boundary with the province of
Manitoba
Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...
.
The early government formed local improvement districts (later re-organized into List of rural municipalities in Saskatchewan, rural municipalities) initially to protect against prairie fires, establish roads and bridges. As
homesteads were established, and agricultural methods perfected the community, slowly evolved. With supplemental monetary resources rural municipalities could now develop and establish schools for education, churches, cemeteries, and health care for their residents.
Political history 1905–1919
The long-term prosperity of the province depended on the world price of
wheat
Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...
, which headed steadily upward from the 1880s to 1920, then plunged down. Wheat output was increased by new strains, such as the "Marquis" strain which matured 8 days sooner and yielded 7 more bushels per acre than the previous standard, "Red Fife". The national output of wheat soared from 8 million bushels in 1896, to 26 million in 1901, reaching 151 million by 1921.
In the 1905 provincial elections, Liberals won 16 of 25 seats in Saskatchewan. The Saskatchewan government bought out
Bell Telephone Company
The Bell Telephone Company, a common law joint stock company, was organized in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 9, 1877, by Alexander Graham Bell's father-in-law Gardiner Greene Hubbard, who also helped organize a sister company – the New Englan ...
in 1909, with the government owning the long-distance lines and left local service to small companies organized at the municipal level. Premier
Thomas Walter Scott
Walter Scott (full name: Thomas Walter Scott) (October 27, 1867 – March 23, 1938) was the first premier of Saskatchewan from 1905 to 1916.
Scott was Saskatchewan's second longest-serving Premier, serving one continuous term from 1905 to 1 ...
preferred government assistance to outright ownership because he thought enterprises worked better if citizens had a stake in running them; he set up the
Saskatchewan Cooperative Elevator Company in 1911. Despite pressure from farm groups for direct government involvement in the grain handling business, the Scott government opted to loan money to a farmer-owned elevator company. Saskatchewan in 1909 provided bond guarantees to railway companies for the construction of branch lines, alleviating the concerns of farmers who had trouble getting their wheat to market by wagon.
Urban reform movements in Regina in the years just prior to the start of the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
in 1914 depended on support from business and professional groups. City planning, reform of local government, and municipal ownership of utilities were more widely supported by these two groups, often through such organizations as the Board of Trade. Protestant church-related and other altruistic organizations generally supported social welfare and housing reforms, but they were usually less successful in getting their reforms enacted.
The province responded to the First World War in 1914 with patriotic enthusiasm and enjoyed the resultant economic boom. The price of wheat tripled and acreage seeded doubled. The wartime spirit of sacrifice intensified social reform movements that had predated the war and now came to fruition. Saskatchewan gave women the right to vote in 1916 and at the end 1916 passed a referendum to prohibit the sale of alcohol.
Patriotism also created a demand for a common language—English—for everyone in the province. The war brought to the forefront a fear of ethnicities, and a survival instinct developed the need for a
Canadian identity
Canadian identity refers to the unique culture, characteristics and condition of being Canadian, as well as the many symbols and expressions that set Canada and Canadians apart from other peoples and cultures of the world. Primary influences on th ...
.
1919–1939
The economic crash after the war created an angry agrarian protest movement. Prairie farmers had long considered themselves the victims of powerful corporations—grain companies, banks, and railways—all based in Toronto and Montreal. Attacks on industrialists and financiers blamed high tariffs designed to protect manufacturers at the expense of farmers. During the war farmers felt doubly betrayed. The federal government first promised to exempt their sons from compulsory military service, then cancelled the exemption. It imposed a ceiling on wheat prices when they were high, but removed the floor when they were low. The farmers' pent-up frustration led to the formation of the
Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to:
Active parties
* Progressive Party, Brazil
* Progressive Party (Chile)
* Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus
* Dominica Progressive Party
* Progressive Party (Iceland)
* Progressive Party (Sardinia), Italy
...
in several provinces; it sent 64 to
Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
in the
1921 general election.
Eager to control the price of wheat, 46,000 farmers joined together in 1923–24 to set up the "Saskatchewan Co-operative Wheat Producers"—the
Saskatchewan Wheat Pool
The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool was a grain handling, agri-food processing and marketing company based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Pool created a network of marketing alliances in North America and internationally which made it the largest agricul ...
—that bought nearly everyone's wheat and held it in elevators for the best price. The pool collapsed financially in 1931 and the federal government had to cover the losses; the co-op continued as a network of elevators owned by the farmers. It advanced the reform agenda for agricultural development, with full-time district representatives, or fieldmen, who promoted education, demonstrations of farm equipment, community picnics and rallies, and cooperative insurance, among other programs.
The
Roaring Twenties
The Roaring Twenties, sometimes stylized as Roaring '20s, refers to the 1920s decade in music and fashion, as it happened in Western society and Western culture. It was a period of economic prosperity with a distinctive cultural edge in the U ...
saw ethnic tensions and unprecedented prosperity.
Bootlegging activities, gangsters such as
Al Capone
Alphonse Gabriel Capone (; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the ...
, and the underground trade of
whisky
Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden c ...
smuggling
Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.
There are various ...
used the caves around
Cypress Hills, and the
Soo Line Railroad
The Soo Line Railroad is the primary United States railroad subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway , one of seven U.S. Class I railroads, controlled through the Soo Line Corporation. Although it is named for the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sa ...
which ended in
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 ...
, the "Sin City of the north", or "Little Chicago". The Bronfman family became rich during Prohibition by shipping liquor into the United States, where it was illegal. Under the leadership of brothers Sam and Harry, the family based most of its operations out of Yorkton and Regina, while maintaining a warehouse in Moose Jaw.
The
Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association
The Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association (SGGA) was a farmer's association that was active in Saskatchewan, Canada in the early 20th century.
It was a successor to the Territorial Grain Growers' Association, and was formed in 1906 after Saskatch ...
worked with the provincial Liberals and kept them in office until 1929, when a Conservative-led coalition was elected for a term. As wheat prices recovered the late 1920s were golden years. By 1927 Saskatchewan ranked first among the provinces in the production of wheat, oats, rye, and flax, and in sundry other areas. Most important, it ranked first in per capita wealth. With a population of 922,000 in 1931 ranked third in size, behind only Ontario and Quebec.
The
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
hit the prairies hard, especially when combined with the drought of the
Dirty Thirties
The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The phenomenon was caused by a combination of both natural factors (severe drought) an ...
. The world market for wheat collapsed and per capita money income fell 75%. Thousands emigrated away from the family homestead as it could no longer support the family nor the community. Relief expenditures in the province in 1937 exceeded $40 million, dwarfing the entire 1939 provincial budget of $23 million. The hard-pressed government imposed a new 2% sales tax to cover the promissory notes that had been given to teachers in lieu of salaries.
In 1930,
Saskatoon
Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...
initiated a series of "work for wages" schemes designed to provide the unemployed with unskilled manual jobs. Financed from municipal, provincial, and federal sources, but operated by the city, the projects kept unemployment to manageable levels at first. Before 1932, most experts saw the depression as a temporary anomaly, a short-term emergency requiring no more than short-term emergency measures. By 1932 the depression was getting much worse with no end in sight. By spring 1932, the federal and provincial governments, short of revenue, were forced to abandon expensive public works in favour of the cheaper, more efficient direct relief of giving out cash and foot baskets. Radical activism in the cities led to the
Estevan Riot
The Estevan riot, also known as the Black Tuesday Riot, was a confrontation between the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and striking coal miners from nearby Bienfait, Saskatchewan which took place in Estevan, Saskatchewan on September 29, 1931. T ...
and the
Regina Riot
The On-to-Ottawa Trek was a mass protest movement in Canada in 1935 sparked by unrest among unemployed single men in federal relief camps principally in Western Canada. Federal relief camps were brought in under Prime Minister R. B. Bennett’s ...
.
Finally prosperity returned after 1939, as farm prices rose and Saskatchewan plunged into the war effort.
Social structure, 1940s–1950s
As late as 1940, the province was heavily
rural
In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...
, dotted with many small service villages and towns. Two thirds of the people lived on farms. A tenth lived in towns or villages of more than 1,000 population. Another 15% lived in four small cities:
Regina, the capital, with a population of 58,000;
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 ...
, forty miles west of Regina, with 20,000; Saskatoon, the home of the
university
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
, with 43,000; and
Prince Albert in the north, with 13,000. The cities were merely larger versions of the country towns; they were primarily trading centres serving rural areas. Railroads, wholesale trade and retail trade employed most of the urban workers.
[Lipset, ''Agrarian Socialism'' (1971 edition) pp 49–50]
Little economic decision-making power was concentrated in the cities. The small urban upper-middle class was composed of professionals and branch managers of national banks and corporations or heads of small local manufacturing or trading organizations. The banks were mostly branch offices with headquarters far to the east; the leading stores were branches of national chains, especially
Eaton's
The T. Eaton Company Limited, later known as Eaton's, was a Canadian department store chain that was once the largest in the country. It was founded in 1869 in Toronto by Timothy Eaton, an immigrant from what is now Northern Ireland. Eaton's grew ...
,
Simpson's
The Robert Simpson Company Limited, commonly known as Simpson's until 1972, then as Simpsons, and in Quebec sometimes as Simpson, was a Canadian department store chain that had its earliest roots in a store opened in 1858 by Robert Simpson.
I ...
, the
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...
. To the farmer and urbanite alike, the names symbolize the world of eastern business that controls their fate, and became the target of political fears.
A pervasive social and economic equality characterized the rural areas. Sharp variations existed between the rich south and the poor north. Farmers in districts of good soil were generally wealthier; large farms of to dominated the rich Regina plains and in the
Rosetown district west of Saskatoon; small farms of to typified the poor-soil regions of the north with small outputs even in years with good weather. Within the province the average assessment per acre of land varied from an index of 9 for the poorest rural municipality to 76 for the wealthiest. Within any one rural community, however, variations in the value of land are small, for the great majority of farms have the same conditions of soil and rainfall. Differences in income did exist within individual rural communities, but they were not large enough to result in the emergence of distinct social classes. There were few hired hands, and tenant farmers were mostly men under age 40 who expected to eventually buy or inherit land.
Mechanization after 1945 thus changed the face of Saskatchewan.
Combines and mechanized farming were now available, farms became larger, and more folk moved into urban centres. The one-room school house closed down to make way for the more industrial or consolidated school in town which provided more resources for more technological development. Growth and improvements in technology paved the way for the contemporary society of Saskatchewan.
Tommy Douglas and CCF
A new political movement emerged, the
Cooperative Commonwealth Federation
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; french: Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif, FCC); from 1955 the Social Democratic Party of Canada (''french: Parti social démocratique du Canada''), was a federal democratic socialistThe follo ...
(CCF); its 1933 manifesto promised to eradicate capitalism and put in place a "full program of socialized planning which will lead to the establishment in Canada of the Co-operative Commonwealth."
Tommy Douglas
Thomas Clement Douglas (20 October 1904 – 24 February 1986) was a Scottish-born Canadian politician who served as seventh premier of Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961 and Leader of the New Democratic Party from 1961 to 1971. A Baptist min ...
(1904–86), a
Baptist minister
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
from working class origins, led the CCF to power in 1944 and kept it in power to 1961. Douglas headed the first socialist government elected in Canada, and is recognized as the father of
socialized medicine
Socialized medicine is a term used in the United States to describe and discuss systems of universal health care—medical and hospital care for all by means of government regulation of health care and subsidies derived from taxation. Because of ...
and the leader who put democratic socialism in the mainstream of Canadian politics.
The
Saskatchewan CCF
CCF can refer to:
Computing
* Confidential Consortium Framework, a free and open source blockchain infrastructure framework developed by Microsoft
* Customer Care Framework, a Microsoft product
Finance
* Credit conversion factor converts the a ...
won in June 1944 with a "Pocket Platform" calling for home ownership and debt reduction; increased
old age pensions
A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...
, mothers' allowances, and disability care; public medical, dental, and hospital services; equal education; free speech, and religion; collective bargaining; and the encouragement of economic co-operatives. The CCF, while rhetorically socialist, did not nationalize banking or industry; it sought a mixed economy, including public, private, and cooperative sectors, with a strong role for private ownership in innovation and competition, however with new controls. For example, In its first term the CCF passed a farm security act preventing banks and mortgage companies from foreclosing on family farms.
The CCF government also introduced the most pro-labour trade union act in North America. Saskatchewan became the first province to allow civil servants to organize unions (1944), the first to enshrine a bill of rights prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, colour, or creed (1947), the first to implement compulsory government automobile insurance (1946), and the first to institute a hospital insurance plan (1947).
The CCF was committed to efficiency-oriented planning. Douglas set up an Economic Advisory and Planning Board (EAPB), a cabinet committee with a supporting secretariat, charged with planning economic development strategies for the province and evaluating overall policies and programs. The EAPB evolved into two new agencies: the Budget Bureau and the Government Finance Office. The former was the secretariat for the Treasury Board, the committee of cabinet in charge of allocating budgetary expenditures. In addition, the Budget Bureau had an Organization and Methods unit, which surveyed the operations of various government departments and made recommendations on how they could be managed more effectively. Budgeting became more than the mechanical exercise of allocating money; it became the meeting point of the decision-making process, where all the Douglas government's diverse priorities were integrated.
The CCF set up eleven small
Crown corporation
A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...
s including power and telephone utilities, bus and airline companies, and ventures into
sodium sulfate
Sodium sulfate (also known as sodium sulphate or sulfate of soda) is the inorganic compound with formula Na2SO4 as well as several related hydrates. All forms are white solids that are highly soluble in water. With an annual production of 6 milli ...
mining, a woolen mill, and a shoe factory. By 1949, most of the non-utility corporations had been unable to turn a profit and ceased operations.
Prosperity returned after 1945, and the population increased gradually. More dramatic was the movement from farms to towns and cities as farming became more mechanized and capital intensive. Increased production of oil, gas, and uranium, and the beginnings of a potash industry helped diversify the economy beyond just wheat.
Native policies
Douglas brought First Nations delegates together in 1946 to form a single organization to represent Indian interests. Three existing organizations merged into the Union of Saskatchewan Indians, which later became the
Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations
The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN), formerly known as the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, is a Saskatchewan-based First Nations organization. It represents 74 First Nations in Saskatchewan and is committed to honouri ...
(FSIN). Douglas's EAPB prepared an in-depth analysis of the demographic, social, and economic challenges facing the First Nation population. In the 21st century the FSIN is a strong policy-making and program-delivery organization, arguably one of the most effective of its kind in Canada.
CCF initiatives included encouraging northern aboriginals to trade their semi-nomadic lifestyles for lives in urban settings. The establishment of
Kinoosao
Kinoosao is an isolated community in northern Saskatchewan, Canada on the east side of Reindeer Lake. It is accessible by road only over Manitoba Provincial Road 394 and Saskatchewan Highway 994, coming from the closest town, over 95 km a ...
on
Reindeer Lake
Reindeer Lake is a lake in western Canada located on the border between north-eastern Saskatchewan and north-western Manitoba, with the majority in Saskatchewan. The name of the lake appears to be a translation of the Algonquian name. It is ...
provides an example of how CCF planners established new villages; community development processes excluded local people. Yet, in spite of considerable resistance, various incentives and coercive measures resulted in the movement of nearly all northerners to permanent settlements.
Socialized medicine
In 1959, Douglas promised
universal medical care insurance, based on pre-payment, quality service and government administration, and through a scheme acceptable to both doctors and patients. The election of 1960 was fought on this issue; the doctors campaigning against it, but the CCF won.
The CCF comprised two contradictory traditions – a group aligned with a rational, bureaucratic,
statist
In political science, statism is the doctrine that the political authority of the state is legitimate to some degree. This may include economic and social policy, especially in regard to taxation and the means of production.
While in use since ...
approach to government and a faction dedicated to the
populist
Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed ...
ideals of democratic participation. The struggle between these two sometimes overlapping factions ended, at least temporarily, with the resignation of Douglas and the succession of
Woodrow S. Lloyd (1913–72) as premier in November 1961. Lloyd's statist approach to government dominated the CCF and its policies during the critical period of the introduction of a province-wide system of state-sponsored medical insurance. No referendum or local control through community clinics was permitted in the implementation of the medical insurance plan (in part due to doctors' opposition to community clinics). The plan was presented to the public not for its approval but for its acceptance. The CCF did consider community involvement necessary. After twenty years in office, a centrist-bureaucratic ideology dominated the party and the anti-statist decentralist in the Saskatchewan CCF was in retreat.
The Saskatchewan Medical Care Insurance Bill became law in November 1961, and the medical society announced doctors would refuse to participate, complaining that it would bring regimentation and would interfere with the doctor-patient relationship. The doctors even went on strike for a few weeks in July 1962, but returned when new legislation allowed them to practise outside the system. Eventually the Saskatchewan plan was so popular that in 1968 the federal government extended it nationwide.
Douglas became leader of the federal
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* t ...
(formed by a merger of the CCF and organized labour). The party was unsuccessful in its first election, the federal election of 1962, due to the backlash against the CCF's medical care program and to Canadians' general historic reluctance to vote for progressive change.
In the 1964 Saskatchewan provincial election, the Liberal party, led by
Ross Thatcher
Wilbert Ross Thatcher, (May 24, 1917 – July 22, 1971) was the ninth premier of Saskatchewan, serving from May 22, 1964 to June 30, 1971. He led the Saskatchewan Liberal Party in four general elections, in 1960, 1964, 1967 and 1971. Thatch ...
(1917–71), swept to victory, ending 20 years of CCF government. The Liberals had launched a strong party membership drive and engaged in vigorous campaigning on a platform demanding more private enterprise and industrial development; it promised substantial tax cuts. The CCF's internal factionalism, together with lingering reaction to the medical care crisis of 1962 and the
separate school
In Canada, a separate school is a type of school that has constitutional status in three provinces (Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan) and statutory status in the three territories ( Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut). In these Canadi ...
issue, contributed to the CCF defeat.
The impact of the Douglas government on the rest of the country was profound, both in public policy and the bureaucratic machinery devised to implement it. After the defeat in 1964, the former administration's influence continued to ripple out from Regina, as senior civil servants left the province and became influential elsewhere.
Recent history
NDP government 1971–1982
Thatcher and his Liberals were
re-elected in 1967, but were defeated in a landslide by
Allan E. Blakeney (1925–2011)
[Se]
''Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan''
/ref> and the NDP in 1971 *
The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6).
The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history.
Events
Ja ...
. The NDP was re-elected in 1975, as the long-dormant Progressive Conservative party made a comeback.
Blakeney's government practised state-led economic intervention in the economy. The farmers were a high priority, as globalization began transforming agriculture, weakening the traditional family farm through consolidation, mechanization, and corporatization. The NDP promised a "revitalized rural Saskatchewan," and Blakeney's introduced programs to stabilize crop prices, retain transportation links, and modernize rural life. Looking back he lamented his lack of success: "We were, it seems, King Canute trying
to hold back the tide."
The NDP decided to nationalize the potash industry in 1976–78 by buying out 45% of the mining interests. The government created a Crown corporation
A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...
in the potash
Potash () includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form. industry in an attempt to further diversify the province's agrarian economy and threatened expropriation of private potash mines within the province. Blakeney pointed out that the sums paid for these mines were slightly in excess of their appraised "book" value. However, the mere threat of expropriation created a political firestorm that involved even the U.S. government. By 1979 the Crown Investments Corporation, the holding company for the crowns, had assets of $3.5 billion and revenues of over $1 billion.
Blakeney also created a state-owned oil and gas corporation (SaskOil
Saskatchewan Oil & Gas Corporation, also known as SaskOil, was a Canadian Crown corporation owned by the Government of Saskatchewan from 1973 to 1986, whem the company went public under the name Wascana Energy Inc. In 1987, the last remaining gove ...
) to handle oil exploration and production. The private oil industry had essentially abandoned Saskatchewan following the NDP's imposition of high royalty rate policy of the early 1970s. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau ( , ; October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000), also referred to by his initials PET, was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada
The prime mini ...
's policies (to centralize control of natural resources in Ottawa) outraged Blakeney, and he moved closer to Alberta's position of open hostility. Blakeney joined Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
Progressive Conservative Premier Peter Lougheed
Edgar Peter Lougheed ( ; July 26, 1928 – September 13, 2012) was a Canadian lawyer and Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta, Progressive Conservative politician who served as the tenth premier of Alberta from 1971 to 1985, presiding ...
in a fight for provincial rights over minerals, oil and gas.
Nationalization was the central issue in the 1978 elections; the NDP held its own but the Liberals were wiped out and the Progressive Conservative party grew. Prosperity was at hand, with good prices for wheat and expansion of oil and uranium. The NDP spent resource revenues to build on the social welfare legacy of the CCF. It introduced a guaranteed income supplement for senior citizen
Old age refers to ages nearing or surpassing the life expectancy of human beings, and is thus the end of the human life cycle. Terms and euphemisms for people at this age include old people, the elderly (worldwide usage), OAPs (British usage ...
s, a family income plan for the working poor, a children's dental service, and a prescription drug
A prescription drug (also prescription medication or prescription medicine) is a pharmaceutical drug that legally requires a medical prescription to be dispensed. In contrast, over-the-counter drugs can be obtained without a prescription. The rea ...
plan.
Since 1982
Voters went to the polls in 1982
Events January
* January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00).
* January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...
as the economy started slipping, with falling prices for wheat, oil, potash, and uranium. The NDP was routed after a dozen years in power, dropping from 45 seats to 9 while the Progressive Conservative Party took all the other 55 seats. The new premier was 37-year-old economist Grant Devine
Donald Grant Devine, SOM (born July 5, 1944) was the 11th premier of Saskatchewan from May 8, 1982 to November 1, 1991.
Early life
Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, he received a BSc in Agriculture degree specializing in Agricultural Economics i ...
(1944– ), who won with a simple populist message: the people should share in the wealth of the province rather than watch it contribute to the expansion of the 24 Crown corporations. The new government ended the 20% tax on gasoline and lower interest rates on mortgages. It was re-elected in 1986 and began selling off crown corporations. The government said the companies would operate more profitably as private businesses. The opposition NDP warned that the sales would result in loss of control over the province's key economic sectors.
After taking over balanced books in 1982, the Progressive Conservatives spent liberally on a number of voter-friendly initiatives, including tax rebates and mortgage subsidies, as well as investing millions in several money-losing megaproject
A megaproject is an extremely large-scale investment project.
According to the ''Oxford Handbook of Megaproject Management'', "Megaprojects are large-scale, complex ventures that typically cost $1 billion or more, take many years to develop and ...
s. The provincial deficit peaked at $1.2 billion in 1986–87, and the accumulated debt rose from $3.5 billion to $15 billion. The Progressive Conservatives, based in rural areas and small towns, lost many rural voters after pushing through the unpopular U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement in 1989. As a result, the NDP was returned to power in 1991.
Scandals involving top officials ruined the Progressive Conservative party, which suspended operations in 1997; conservative voters moved to the new Saskatchewan party
The Saskatchewan Party is a centre-right political party in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Since 2007, it has been the province's governing party; both the party and the province are currently led by Premier Scott Moe. The party was esta ...
at the provincial level, and to the Reform Party of Canada
The Reform Party of Canada (french: Parti réformiste du Canada) was a right-wing populist and conservative federal political party in Canada that existed under that name from 1987 to 2000. Reform was founded as a Western Canada-based protes ...
at the national level. The NDP won re-election in 1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
and 1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...
, and (in coalition with the Liberals) again in 2003
File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
. 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 ...
(1952– ), an ordained minister, served as NDP premier 2001–2007.
Brad Wall
Bradley John Wall (born November 24, 1965), is a Canadian former politician who served as the 14th premier of Saskatchewan from November 21, 2007 until February 2, 2018. He is the fourth longest-tenured premier in the province's history. His so ...
(1965– ) became premier as his centre-right Saskatchewan Party took over from the NDP after a landslide victory in the November 2007 election. The landslide grew after 4 years of solid economic management, nearly wiping out the NDP (losing 11 of 20 seats) in the 2011 election in which NDP party leader Dwain Lingenfelter even failed to retain his own seat (what was once considered a "safe seat" for the NDP, Regina-Elphinstone). Lingenfelter resigned immediately, and the party elected Cam Broten as leader in 2013. He was first elected as an MLA in 2007 and re-elected in 2011. He was elected as Leader of Saskatchewan's New Democrats on March 9, 2013
Social and economic trends
In 2005 two-thirds of the province's population lived in urban areas, there was a diverse economic base, and citizens enjoyed a rich cultural life. The economic future based on high-priced oil and wheat looks bright. Saskatchewan is the ninth biggest supplier of oil to the U.S., shipping them more than Kuwait. The province has 1.2 billion barrels of recoverable conventional oil
Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...
and an estimated 1.5 billion barrels of potential oil sands reserves (which create troublesome high carbon emissions
Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and larg ...
when processed).
The rural towns have evolved from a very large number of widely dispersed grain delivery points in 1900, through a period of expansion over the first thirty years of the 20th century, to a pattern of relatively concentrated population and businesses in an urban-based economy by 2000. Mechanization, especially the rapid replacement of horses by tractors after 1945, meant one family could operate a much larger farm, so some farmers bought out their neighbors, who then moved to town along with the surplus children. The rural economy diversified far beyond its exclusively agricultural base, with service employment in education and medicine important, as well as small-scale factories. Better highways, along with cell phones
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...
and internet coverage encouraged a concentration in fewer, larger centres, which drew customers and clients from a wide radius. Most rural communities declined continuously over the second half of the 20th century, but some grew in population, expanded their economic base, and experienced an increase in their market areas for a limited range of goods and services. These communities also became centres of employment for their own and surrounding (farm and nonfarm) population.
The Wheat Pool continues in operation as Viterra
Viterra began as a Canadian grain handling business, the nation's largest grain handler, with its historic formative roots in prairie grain-handling cooperatives, among them the iconic Saskatchewan Wheat Pool.
Viterra Inc grew into a global agr ...
, having taken over Agricore United
Agricore United was a farmer-directed agribusiness in Canada. It supplied crop nutrition and crop protection products, and offered grain handling and marketing services. It was created on November 1, 2001 by the merger of Agricore and United Grai ...
(based in Manitoba) in 2007. With soaring wheat prices, Viterra's revenues in the first quarter (three months) of 2008 reached $1.3 billion, triple the total the year before.
Military history
Military history
Military history is the study of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, cultures and economies thereof, as well as the resulting changes to local and international relationships.
Professional historians norma ...
of Saskatchewan includes the early conflicts between conflicting First Nations. Prior to European settlement many battles were fought between the Blackfoot
The Blackfoot Confederacy, ''Niitsitapi'' or ''Siksikaitsitapi'' (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or " Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Bla ...
, Atsina
The Gros Ventre ( , ; meaning "big belly"), also known as the Aaniiih, A'aninin, Haaninin, Atsina, and White Clay, are a historically Algonquian-speaking Native American tribe located in north central Montana. Today the Gros Ventre people are ...
, Cree
The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...
, Assiniboine
The Assiniboine or Assiniboin people ( when singular, Assiniboines / Assiniboins when plural; Ojibwe: ''Asiniibwaan'', "stone Sioux"; also in plural Assiniboine or Assiniboin), also known as the Hohe and known by the endonym Nakota (or Nakoda ...
, Saulteaux
The Saulteaux (pronounced , or in imitation of the French pronunciation , also written Salteaux, Saulteau and other variants), otherwise known as the Plains Ojibwe, are a First Nations band government in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Al ...
, Sioux
The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations peoples in North America. The ...
, and Dene
The Dene people () are an Aboriginal peoples in Canada, indigenous group of First Nations in Canada, First Nations who inhabit the northern Boreal forest of Canada, boreal and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languag ...
. Many place names hearken back to these early conflicts such as the Battle River
Battle River is a river in central Alberta and western Saskatchewan. It is a major tributary of the North Saskatchewan River.
The Battle River flows for and has a total drainage area of . The mean discharge is 10 m³/s at its mouth.
His ...
: so named due to Cree-Blackfoot fighting in the area. The Blackfoot Confederacy, and Atsina or Gros Ventre were pushed out of Saskatchewan following decades of warfare with the Cree, Saulteaux, and Assiniboine. In the boreal forest
Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces, ...
conflicts raged between the Woods Cree and Dene or Chipewyan up until the late 19th century.
The creation of the Métis
The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...
added a new dimension to conflicts in what is now Saskatchewan. In addition to violence related to the fur trade between the North West Company
The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what is present-day Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario. With great weal ...
and Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...
(which ended with the merger of the two in 1821), the Métis took part in battles with the Sioux and Gros Ventre across the plains. The last battles fought in Saskatchewan, and the last battles fought in what is now Canada occurred in 1885 during the North-West Rebellion
The North-West Rebellion (french: Rébellion du Nord-Ouest), also known as the North-West Resistance, was a resistance by the Métis people under Louis Riel and an associated uprising by First Nations Cree and Assiniboine of the District of S ...
. Although small by global standards this short war had a profound effect on Canadian French-English relations, and was a defining moment in the history of the West and the Métis.
Since Saskatchewan became a province in 1905, its people have contributed heavily to wars fought by the Canadian state. Saskatchewan Regiments were raised for the second Boer War
The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...
, First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, and Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
. In addition many Saskatchewan citizens have served in United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
peacekeeping operations
Peacekeeping comprises activities intended to create conditions that favour lasting peace. Research generally finds that peacekeeping reduces civilian and battlefield deaths, as well as reduces the risk of renewed warfare.
Within the United N ...
, and in the Afghan War
War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to:
*Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC)
*Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709)
*Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see als ...
.
Some current Saskatchewan regiments in the Primary Reserve
The Primary Reserve of the Canadian Armed Forces (french: links=no, Première réserve des Forces canadiennes) is the first and largest of the four sub-components of the Canadian Armed Forces reserves, followed by the Supplementary Reserve, the ...
of the Canadian Forces
}
The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force.
...
include the North Saskatchewan
The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows from the Canadian Rockies continental divide east to central Saskatchewan, where it joins with the South Saskatchewan River to make up the Saskatchewan River. Its water flows eventua ...
, and the Royal Regina Rifles.
Inland waterways
Travel by boat and canoe along the waterways of what is now Saskatchewan was historically an important mode of transport. During the early fur trading era from the 17th century through to the 19th century, travel to the inland of North America could be facilitated by waterways as there were no roads nor railways at this time. The First Nations and French fur traders from the East relied on birch bark
Birch bark or birchbark is the bark of several Eurasian and North American birch trees of the genus ''Betula''.
The strong and water-resistant cardboard-like bark can be easily cut, bent, and sewn, which has made it a valuable building, crafti ...
canoes to traverse the main rivers, and the English fur trader from the Hudson's Bay Company travelled by York boat
The York boat was a type of inland boat used by the Hudson's Bay Company to carry furs and trade goods along inland waterways in Rupert's Land, the watershed stretching from Hudson Bay to the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. It was named aft ...
.
During the late 19th century steamboats were used to navigate immigrants and goods along the Saskatchewan River
The Saskatchewan River (Cree: ''kisiskāciwani-sīpiy'', "swift flowing river") is a major river in Canada. It stretches about from where it is formed by the joining together of the North Saskatchewan and South Saskatchewan Rivers to Lake Winn ...
. This only continued until 1896 when the last steamboat ceased operations. The ice flows of the winter months and the shallow sand bars made this form of navigation impractical. The most notable highlight of the steamboat era was the impact steamboats made upon the North-West Rebellion
The North-West Rebellion (french: Rébellion du Nord-Ouest), also known as the North-West Resistance, was a resistance by the Métis people under Louis Riel and an associated uprising by First Nations Cree and Assiniboine of the District of S ...
.
Since this time the main use of travel by boat are the 13 seasonal ferries which are still operational and started use in Saskatchewan in the late 19th century. Barges are used to transport freight on the larger northern lakes, Wollaston and Athabasca
Athabasca (also Athabaska) is an anglicized version of the Cree name for Lake Athabasca in Canada, āthap-āsk-ā-w (pronounced ), meaning "grass or reeds here and there". Most places named Athabasca are found in Alberta, Canada.
Athabasca may a ...
for the northern mining industry
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...
.
Archontology of Saskatchewan
Archontology is the study of historical Saskatchewan offices and important positions in various organizations and societies. This list cannot be comprehensive but rather an introduction to those who have contributed to the shaping of Saskatchewan. There are a few who are highlighted through the events of history, who have helped to mould and build Saskatchewan as it is today.
''see also'' :People from Saskatchewan
Louis Riel
Louis Riel (; ; 22 October 1844 – 16 November 1885) was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political leader of the Métis people. He led two resistance movements against the Government of Canada and its first ...
– (October 22, 1844 – November 16, 1885) was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba
Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...
, and leader of the Métis
The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...
people of the Canadian prairies
The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada. It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie Provinces, namely Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These provin ...
.
Honourable Sir Frederick William Alpin Gordon Haultain K.B., November 25, 1857 – January 30, 1942. Sir Frederick W. A. G. Haultain, Chief Justice of Saskatchewan, and Commissioner of Education, who developed the early school system on the rugged frontier.
The Right Reverend
The Right Reverend (abbreviated The Rt Revd, The Rt Rev'd, The Rt Rev.) is a style (manner of address), style applied to certain religion, religious figures.
Overview
*In the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholicism in the United Kingdom, ...
George Lloud MA DD, Bishop of the Diocese of Saskatchewan (January 6, 1861, leader of the British Barr Colony, and founder of Emmanuel College, Saskatoon
Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...
.
Edgar Dewdney
Edgar Dewdney, (November 5, 1835 – August 8, 1916) was a Canadian surveyor, road builder, Indian commissioner and politician born in Devonshire, England. He emigrated to British Columbia in 1859 in order to act as surveyor for the Dewdney T ...
moved the NWT capital from Battleford to Regina.
Reverend James Nisbet, (September 8, 1823 – September 30, 1874) settled in the Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
Prince Albert is the third-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada, after Saskatoon and Regina. It is situated near the centre of the province on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River. The city is known as the "Gateway to the North" because ...
area and was founder of First Presbyterian Church (1872) where English and Cree Sunday School
A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West.
Su ...
services were provided.
William Richard Motherwell
William Richard Motherwell, (January 6, 1860 – May 24, 1943) was a Canadian politician serving at both the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly and the Canadian Parliament. He served as Agriculture Minister for both levels of government duri ...
who was Saskatchewan's first minister of agriculture as well as federal minister of agriculture
An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...
for the Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A Li ...
administration.
Thomas Clement Douglas, PC, CC, SOM, MA, LL.D
Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation refers to the earl ...
( hc) (October 20, 1904 – February 24, 1986) was a leader of the Saskatchewan Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; french: Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif, FCC); from 1955 the Social Democratic Party of Canada (''french: Parti social démocratique du Canada''), was a federal democratic socialism, democra ...
(CCF) from 1942 and the seventh 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 ...
from 1944 to 1961, who led the first socialist government in North America and introduced universal public medicare to Canada.
John George Diefenbaker, CH, PC, QC, BA, MA, LL.B
Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...
, LL.D
Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation refers to the earl ...
, DCL, FRSC, FRSA
The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...
, D.Litt
Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Doctor ...
, DSL
Digital subscriber line (DSL; originally digital subscriber loop) is a family of technologies that are used to transmit digital data over telephone lines. In telecommunications marketing, the term DSL is widely understood to mean asymmetric dig ...
, (18 September 1895 – 16 August 1979) was the 13th Prime Minister of Canada
The prime minister of Canada (french: premier ministre du Canada, link=no) is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the Confidence and supply, confidence of a majority the elected Hou ...
(1957–1963).
Art history
Art history
Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...
of Saskatchewan is complex and diverse as it follows the changes and social context of art in this prairie province. Petroglyph
A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...
s are the earliest studied artforms which are located in archaeological
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
sites of Saskatchewan. As early as the 17th century, explorer
Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians.
Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
s depicted the early North West
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
in both written, painted and drawn artforms. Frederick Verner, W.G.R. Hind, Peter Rindisbacher
Peter Rindisbacher (12 April 1806 – 12 or 13 August 1834) was a Swiss artist who specialized in watercolors and illustrations dealing with First Nation tribes of mid-Western Canada and the United States, mostly depictions of the Anishinaabe, ...
, Edward Roper
Edward Roper (8 April 1851 – 27 April 1921) was an English amateur first-class cricketer, who played thirty six first-class games from 1876 to 1893. He played twenty eight games for Lancashire County Cricket Club from 1876 to 1878, and fiv ...
and Paul Kane
Paul Kane (September 3, 1810 – February 20, 1871) was an Irish-born Canadian painter, famous for his paintings of First Nations peoples in the Canadian West and other Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans in the Columbia Dis ...
are some of the earliest artists. Followed by William Kurelek
William Kurelek, (March 3, 1927 – November 3, 1977) was a Canadian artist and writer. His work was influenced by his childhood on the prairies, his Ukrainian-Canadian roots, his struggles with mental illness, and his conversion to Roman Catho ...
, C. W. Jefferys, Robert Hurley and Dorothy Knowles. Margaret Laurence
Jean Margaret Laurence (née Wemyss; July 18, 1926 – January 5, 1987) was a Canadian novelist and short story writer, and is one of the major figures in Canadian literature. She was also a founder of the Writers' Trust of Canada, a non-pr ...
, W.O. Mitchell
William Ormond Mitchell, (March 13, 1914 – February 25, 1998) was a Canadian writer and broadcaster. His "best-loved" novel is '' Who Has Seen the Wind'' (1947), which portrays life on the Canadian Prairies from the point of view of a smal ...
, Nellie McClung
Nellie Letitia McClung (; 20 October 18731 September 1951) was a Canadian author, politician, and social activist, who is regarded as one of Canada's most prominent suffragists. She began her career in writing with the 1908 book ''Sowing Seeds ...
captured the prairie spirit in words.
In the 1920s, the Group of Seven
The Group of Seven (G7) is an intergovernmental political forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States; additionally, the European Union (EU) is a "non-enumerated member". It is official ...
formed a group of Canadian landscape
A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...
painters
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
, made up of Franklin Carmichael
Franklin Carmichael (May 4, 1890 – October 24, 1945) was a Canadian artist and member of the Group of Seven. Though he was primarily famous for his use of watercolours, he also used oil paints, charcoal and other media to capture the Ontario ...
, Lawren Harris
Lawren Stewart Harris LL. D. (October 23, 1885 – January 29, 1970) was a Canadian painter, best known as a leading member of the Group of Seven. He played a key role as a catalyst in Canadian art and as a visionary in Canadian landscape art. ...
, A. Y. Jackson
Alexander Young Jackson LL. D. (October 3, 1882April 5, 1974) was a Canadian painter and a founding member of the Group of Seven. Jackson made a significant contribution to the development of art in Canada, and was instrumental in bringing toget ...
, Frank Johnston, Arthur Lismer
Arthur Lismer, LL. D. (27 June 1885 – 23 March 1969) was an English-Canadian painter, member of the Group of Seven and educator. He is known primarily as a landscape painter and for his paintings of ships in dazzle camouflage.
Early life ...
, J. E. H. MacDonald
James Edward Hervey MacDonald (1873–1932) was an English-Canadian artist, best known as a member of the Group of Seven who asserted a distinct national identity combined with a common heritage stemming from early modernism in Europe in the ear ...
, Frederick Varley
Frederick Horsman Varley (January 2, 1881 – September 8, 1969) was a member of the Canadian Group of Seven.
Career Early life
Varley was born in Sheffield, England, in 1881, the son of Lucy (Barstow) and Samuel James Smith Varley the 7th. He ...
, A. J. Casson
Alfred Joseph Casson LL. D. (May 17, 1898 – February 20, 1992) was a member of the Canadian group of artists known as the Group of Seven. He joined the group in 1926 at the invitation of Franklin Carmichael, replacing Frank Johnston. Cas ...
, Edwin Holgate
Edwin Headley Holgate (August 19, 1892 – May 21, 1977), was a Canadian artist, painter, muralist, and wood-cut artist. Holgate played a major role in Montreal's art community, and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, where he both studied and t ...
, LeMoine Fitzgerald
Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald D.F.A., also known as L. L. FitzGerald (March 17, 1890 – August 5, 1956) was a Canadian artist and art educator. He was the only member of the Group of Seven based in western Canada. He worked almost exclusively in Manit ...
and Tom Thomson
Thomas John Thomson (August 5, 1877July 8, 1917) was a Canadian artist active in the early 20th century. During his short career, he produced roughly 400 oil sketches on small wood panels and approximately 50 larger works on canvas. His w ...
. Augustus Kenderdine, landscape painter started art instruction at Murray Point on Emma Lake. Imagery changed of the grasslands shown in the early drawings where the wild west was a romantic adventure of first nation and Buffalo. The prairie scenery then highlighted building a Nation, a prairie utopia, through to the realism of the settlement experience.
Paul Kane
Paul Kane (September 3, 1810 – February 20, 1871) was an Irish-born Canadian painter, famous for his paintings of First Nations peoples in the Canadian West and other Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans in the Columbia Dis ...
, (September 3, 1810 – February 20, 1871) was an Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
-Canadian painter, famous for his paintings of 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 in the Canadian West and other Native Americans in the Oregon Country
Oregon Country was a large region of the Pacific Northwest of North America that was subject to a long dispute between the United Kingdom and the United States in the early 19th century. The area, which had been created by the Treaty of 1818, co ...
.
Henry Youle Hind
Henry Youle Hind (1 June 1823 – 8 August 1908) was a Canadian geologist and explorer. He was born in Nottingham, England, and immigrated to Canada, settling in Toronto, Ontario, in 1846. Hind led expeditions to explore the Canadian prairies in ...
(1 June 1823 – 8 August 1908), Canadian geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...
and explorer
Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians.
Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
detailed his travels in both images and these writings ''Narrative of the Canadian Red River Exploring Expedition of 1857'' and ''Reports of Progress on the Assiniboine and Saskatchewan Exploring Expedition''.
Count Imhoff (1865–1939) painted magnificent religious murals within churches at St. Walburg, Muenster, St. Benedict, Bruno, Denzil, Reward, St. Leo, Humboldt, Paradise Hill, North Battleford etc.
Joni Mitchell
Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her sta ...
, CC (born Roberta Joan Anderson on November 7, 1943) is a noted Canadian musician
A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...
, songwriter
A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...
, and painter
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
.
William Ormond Mitchell PC, OC, D.Litt., (W.O. Mitchell
William Ormond Mitchell, (March 13, 1914 – February 25, 1998) was a Canadian writer and broadcaster. His "best-loved" novel is '' Who Has Seen the Wind'' (1947), which portrays life on the Canadian Prairies from the point of view of a smal ...
) (March 13, 1914 – February 25, 1998) born in Weyburn, Saskatchewan
Weyburn is the eleventh-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. The city has a population of 10,870. It is on the Souris River southeast of the provincial capital of Regina and is north from the North Dakota border in the United States. The n ...
was an author of novels, short stories, and plays such as ''Who Has Seen The Wind''.
Joe Fafard
Joseph Fafard (September 2, 1942 – March 16, 2019) was a Canadian sculptor.
Biography
Joseph Fafard was a twelfth generation Canadian born in 1942 in Ste. Marthe, Saskatchewan, to French Canadians Leopold Fafard and Julienne Cantin. Fafard is ...
B.S.A, M.F.A. (born September 2, 1942) is a Canadian sculptor
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
also taught sculpture at the University of Saskatchewan
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
.
See also
* Harris Saskatchewan Ruby rush of 1914
* Natural Resources Acts
The Natural Resources Acts were a series of Acts passed by the Parliament of Canada and the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan in 1930 to transfer control over crown lands and natural resources within these provi ...
* Politics of Saskatchewan
Politics of Saskatchewan relate to the Canadian federal political system, along with the other Canadian provinces. Saskatchewan has a lieutenant-governor, who is the representative of the Crown in right of Saskatchewan; premier, Scott Moe, leadi ...
* Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan capital for a day
* List of National Historic Sites of Canada in Saskatchewan
This is a list of List of National Historic Sites of Canada, National Historic Sites (french: Lieux historiques nationaux) in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Saskatchewan. As of July 2021, there were 49 National Historic Si ...
Footnotes
Bibliography
''Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan''
University of Regina Library – Canadian Plains Research Centre, 2005
* Anderson, A.B. ''Settling Saskatchewan'' (University of Regina Press, 2013).
* Archer, John H. ''Saskatchewan: A History.'' Saskatoon: Western Producer Prairie Books, 1980. 422 pp.
* Barnhart, Gordon L., ed. ''Saskatchewan Premiers of the Twentieth Century.'' Regina: Canadian Plains Research Centre, 2004. 418 pp.
* Boswell, Randy, and Lynn McAule
Province with a heart: celebrating 100 years in Saskatchewan
CanWest Books, 2005 ; popular history
* Danysk, Cecilia
Hired hands: labour and the development of prairie agriculture, 1880–1930
McClelland & Stewart, 1995
* Friesen, Gerald. ''The Canadian Prairies: A History'' (2nd ed. 1987)
* Pitsula, James M. ''For All We Have and Are: Regina and the Experience of the Great War'' (2008
online review
* Porter, Jene M
Perspectives of Saskatchewan
University of Manitoba Press, 2008
* Richards, J. Howard and K.I. Fung, eds. ''Atlas of Saskatchewan'' (1969)
* Thompson, John Herd. ''The Harvests of War: The Prairie West, 1914-1918'' (1978)
* Waiser, Bill. ''Saskatchewan: A New History'' Fifth House (2005),
* Waiser, Bill. ''A World We Have Lost: Saskatchewan before 1905'' (Fifth House Publishers, 2016), w
* Whitcomb, Dr. Ed. ''A Short History of Saskatchewan''. (Ottawa: From Sea To Sea Enterprises, 2005).
Historiography
* Waiser, Bill. "Teaching the West and Confederation: A Saskatchewan Perspective." ''Canadian Historical Review'' 98.4 (2017): 742–764.
* Wardhaugh, Robert Alexander, Alison Calde
History, literature, and the writing of the Canadian Prairies
University of Manitoba Press, 2005
Primary sources
* Smith, D.E. ed. ''Building a Province: A History of Saskatchewan in Documents'' (Saskatoon: Fifth House, 1992)
External links
Sask History Online
An online digitization project showcasing Saskatchewan's vibrant history with an extensive amount of historical photographs, documents, etc.
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20120206010427/http://sasksettlement.com/display.php?cat=Settlement%20Patterns&subcat=Barr%20Colonists Saskatchewan Settlement Experience
Saskatchewan Gen Web Project – SGW – Saskatchewan Genealogy Roots
* ttp://www.rootsweb.com/~canmaps/ Online Historical Map Digitization Project showing settlement development on the railways in various years
Saskatchewan
History of the Province (German)
Saskatchewan War Experience
a digital project with hundreds of photos and documents pertaining to the experience of Saskatchewan citizens in times of war.
{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of Saskatchewan
First Nations history
de:Saskatchewan#Geschichte