Battleford ( 2011 population 4,065) is a small town located across the

North Saskatchewan River 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 event ...

from the City of North Battleford, in

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

, Canada. Battleford and North Battleford are collectively referred to as "The Battlefords" by Saskatchewan residents, as well as on highway signage. Although there has been occasional talk of the two communities merging, as of 2012 they remain separate entities. The local economy is fuelled mainly by agriculture. Battleford is bordered by the Rural Municipality of Battle River No. 438, as well as by the city of North Battleford and a small section of the Rural Municipality of North Battleford No. 437. The 1973 western ''

Alien Thunder ''Alien Thunder'' (also known as ''Dan Candy's Law'') is a 1974 Canadian Northern film directed by Claude Fournier and starring Donald Sutherland. Its original screenplay was written by W.O. Mitchell but Mitchell removed his name from the fi ...

'' was partially filmed in Battleford.

History

The Battleford area was the site of numerous independent and Hudson's Bay Company fur trading houses dating from the 1770s. William Holmes operated a post for the North West Company just above the confluence of the Battle and Saskatchewan rivers in 1784. At least three posts were in use between 1868 and 1914. The town was founded in 1875 as a

fur trading 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 most ...

post and

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 Territo ...

(NWMP) fort. Its post office opened in 1877. Between 1876 and 1883, Battleford was the territorial capital of the North-West Territories (now

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 T ...

Nunavut Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the '' Nunavut Act'' and the '' Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act'' ...

, northern

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

, northern

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

and the

Northwest 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 the NWMP fort ( Fort Battleford) located there played an important role in the 1885

North-West Rebellion The North-West Rebellion (french: Rébellion du Nord-Ouest), also known as the North-West Resistance, was a Resistance movement, resistance by the Métis people (Canada), Métis people under Louis Riel and an associated uprising by First Natio ...

. It is also the terminus of the historic Swift Current-Battleford Trail.

Looting of Battleford

On March 30,

1885 Events January–March * January 3– 4 – Sino-French War – Battle of Núi Bop: French troops under General Oscar de Négrier defeat a numerically superior Qing Chinese force, in northern Vietnam. * January 4 &n ...

, during the

, the town of Battleford was looted by a party of

Cree people The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations. In Canada, over 350,000 people are Cree o ...

, who were short on food due to declining

bison Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North A ...

populations. When the Cree approached Battleford, the 500 residents fled to the nearby

post, Fort Battleford. The Crees then took food and supplies from the abandoned stores and houses.

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 cultu ...

, Battleford 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.

Historic buildings

National historic sites in Battleford include Fort Battleford National Historic Site of Canada, Battleford Court House National Historic Site of Canada and Old Government House / Saint-Charles Scholasticate National Historic Site of Canada. The Old Government House, built in 1878–1879, was destroyed by fire in 2003 and was the seat of Territorial Government from 1878 to 1883 The Battleford Land Registry Office built between 1877 and 1878 is the last remaining building on Battleford's Government Ridge that dates from the Territorial era. Other heritage buildings include the District Court House, the Town Hall / Opera House, the Former Land Titles Building, The Station Building, the Fred Light Museum (St. Vital School), St. Vital Church, Gardiner Church and the Former Bank of Montreal Building. File:Pano Fort Battleford.jpg, Fort Battleford File:Governmenthousebattleford.png, Old Government House File:Old Government House Battleford.jpg, Remains of Old Government House File:Battleford Court House.jpg, Battleford Court House

Local media

;Newspaper The local newspaper is '' The Battlefords News Optimist''. It is published weekly on Wednesdays and Fridays, and has circulation in the surrounding area. ;Radio Three local radio stations serve the area;

CJNB CJNB is a Canadian radio station that broadcasts a country format at 1050 AM in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. Owned by the Jim Pattison Group, it is headquartered alongside its sister stations CJCQ-FM and CJHD-FM at 1711 100th Street in Nort ...

CJCQ-FM CJCQ-FM is a Canadian radio station that broadcasts an adult contemporary format at 97.9 FM in North Battleford, Saskatchewan branded as ''Q98''. Its local sister stations are CJNB and CJHD-FM. All three are located at 1711 100th Street in Nor ...

("Q98"), and

CJHD-FM CJHD-FM is a Canadian radio station that broadcasts an active rock format, branded as ''93.3 The Rock'' at 93.3 FM in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada. Its local sister stations are CJNB and CJCQ-FM. All three are located at 1711 100th S ...

("93.3 The Rock"). Some

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 ...

radio stations can also be received. ;Television The Battlefords are served by CFQC-TV-2 channel 6, an analogue repeater of

CTV CTV may refer to: Television * Connected TV, or Smart TV, a TV set with integrated internet North America and South America * CTV Television Network, a Canadian television network owned by Bell Media ** CTV 2, a secondary Canadian televisio ...

station CFQC-DT Saskatoon.

References