Cut Knife is a town in the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

on Highway 40, northwest of

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 ...

and west of

North Battleford North Battleford is a city in west-central Saskatchewan, Canada. It is the seventh largest city in the province and is directly across the North Saskatchewan River from the town of Battleford. Together, the two communities are known as "The B ...

. The population of Cut Knife in 2011 was 517. Nearby are

Poundmaker Cree Nation The Poundmaker Cree Nation () is a Cree First Nations band government, whose reserve community is located near Cut Knife, Saskatchewan. It is a Treaty 6 nation, started by the famous Cree Chief Poundmaker, also known as ''Pitikwahanapiwiyin''. The ...

and Little Pine First Nation to the north in Paynton, Sweetgrass First Nation to the east, and Hillsvale

Hutterite Hutterites (; ), also called Hutterian Brethren (German: ), are a communal ethnoreligious branch of Anabaptists, who, like the Amish and Mennonites, trace their roots to the Radical Reformation of the early 16th century and have formed intent ...

Colony to the northwest of the town.

History

Cut Knife is named after Cut Knife Hill (now called Chief Poundmaker Hill) situated on the Poundmaker reserve. The hill was named after a Sarcee chief killed nearby by the

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

in the 1840s. The town is close to the site of the

Battle of Cut Knife The Battle of Cut Knife, fought on May 2, 1885, during the North-West Rebellion, occurred when a flying column of North-West Mounted Police, Canadian militia, and Canadian regulars attacked a Cree and Assiniboine teepee settlement near Batt ...

which occurred during the

North-West Rebellion The North-West Rebellion (), was an armed rebellion of Métis under Louis Riel and an associated uprising of Cree and Assiniboine mostly in the District of Saskatchewan, against the Government of Canada, Canadian government. Important events i ...

of 1885.

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; ), 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 culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Cut Knife 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.

Attractions

At Cut Knife is the "World's Largest Tomahawk", the Poundmaker Historical Centre and the

Big Bear Big Bear, also known as (; – 17 January 1888), was a powerful and popular Cree chief who played many pivotal roles in Canadian history. He was appointed to chief of his band at the age of 40 upon the death of his father, Black Powder, u ...

monument. There is also now, correctly located, a cairn erected by the

Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada () are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being of national historic significance. Parks C ...

upon Cut Knife Hill overlooking the Poundmaker Battle site and Battle River valley. The

tomahawk A tomahawk is a type of single-handed axe used by the many Native Americans in the United States, Indian peoples and nations of North America, traditionally resembles a hatchet with a straight shaft. Etymology The name comes from Powhatan langu ...

is located in the Tomahawk Park next to the Clayton McLain Memorial Museum. It was built in 1971 as a symbol of unity and friendship with the

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

of the area. It was designed in 1970 by UMA Engineering of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

References

{{Authority control Cut Knife No. 439, Saskatchewan Towns in Saskatchewan Division No. 13, Saskatchewan

History

Demographics

Attractions

See also

References