Pinehouse is a northern village located 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, ...

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 ...

on the western shore of

Pinehouse Lake Pinehouse Lake is a lake in northern Saskatchewan, Canada. The northern village of Pinehouse is located on the western shore. The Churchill River flows in from Sandy Lake into the north-west end of the lake at McDonald Bay and flows out thro ...

within the

Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield (french: Bouclier canadien ), also called the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), the anc ...

. Travelling by road from Pinehouse, the

Key Lake mine The Key Lake mine is a former uranium mine in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is north of Saskatoon by air on the southern rim of the uranium-rich Athabasca Basin. Key Lake was initially developed to open-pit mine two nearby uranium ore deposits: the G ...

is 223 km (138 miles) north, Prince Albert is 346 km (215 miles) south,

La Ronge La Ronge is a northern town in the boreal forest of central Saskatchewan, Canada. Its location is approximately north of Prince Albert where Highway 2 becomes Highway 102. La Ronge lies on the western shore of Lac la Ronge, is adjacent to ...

is 214 km (133 miles) east and Beauval, the closest community, is 107 km (67 miles) west. Highway 914 passes through the community and Pinehouse is the only established community along this road, other than uranium mines. There were 1,074 residents in 2016.

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 ...

was the mother tongue of 630 of the residents in 2011. The mayor of this predominantly

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 ...

settlement is Mike Natomagan. The village's traditional

name is kinêpiko-sâkahikanihk (ᑭᓀᐱᑯ ᓵᑲᐦᐃᑲᓂᕽ) meaning ''"at the Snake Lake"''.

History

There was a

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 ...

post and a rival post near the mouth of the Tippo River called ''Lac des Serpents'' (Lake of Serpents or Snake Lake) in 1786. 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 ...

had a post at the north end of Pinehouse Lake called the ''Souris River Post''. It was located about 2 km west of the mouth of the Belanger River once known as the Souris River. Most of the residents of this settlement which numbered about 100 people in the 1920s and 1930s eventually moved to Pinehouse. The Souris River Post near Sandfly Lake operated from 1875 to 1939. The Census of 1906 called this settlement then numbering 73 people ''Souris River on the Churchill''. Missionaries first visited the

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 ...

population of Pinehouse Lake in 1899. A smallpox epidemic killed around half of the population of the area in 1900-1901. Some survivors moved up the Churchill River towards

Patuanak Patuanak is a community in northern Saskatchewan, Canada. It is the administrative headquarters of the Dene First Nations reserve near Churchill River and the north end of Lac Île-à-la-Crosse. In Dene, it sounds similar to ''Boni Cheri'' (Bëgh ...

and downriver to Stanley Mission further depleting the area population. The 1906 Canada Census uses the name ''Serpent Lake on the Churchill'' to describe the community that then had about 11 people which included the family of Samuel and Veronique Misponass. A townsite was established in the 1940s and a

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

church (St. Dominic) was built in 1944 followed by a store and in 1948 a school. In 1954 the community was renamed Pinehouse Lake. Pinehouse was originally named Snake Lake (''kinêpiko-sâkahikan'' in Cree). Although officially named Pinehouse, numerous official sources including the official road map of Saskatchewan issued by the province, identifies the community by the name Pinehouse Lake. Eighty houses were built between 1967 and 1980 and Pinehouse was connected to the power grid in 1984 replacing a diesel generator set up around 1970. The first road to the community was built from Highway 2 in 1977.

Demographics

In the

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

conducted by

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

, Pinehouse had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Infrastructure

Pinehouse is home to a store, a gas station, a

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

detachment, the northern village's office and a health clinic. The community is served by Pinehouse Lake Airport. The community is also home to the Pinehouse Photography Club, a non-profit organization that supports and encourages youth mental health prevention through therapeutic photography. The ice skating arena features an artificial ice plant.

Education

Pinehouse has two schools - Minahik Waskahigan Elementary School and Minahik Waskahigan High School. The schools are in the Northern Lights School Division #113 and have an enrolment of 400 students and a support staff of 40.

References

{{coord, 55, 30, 49, N, 106, 35, 55, W, display=title, region:CA_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Division No. 18, Saskatchewan Northern villages in Saskatchewan Métis in Saskatchewan Lands inhabited by indigenous peoples

History

Demographics

Infrastructure

Education

See also

References