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'Saskatchewan' (IPA: /sə.skætʃ.ə.'ʍɔn/), (middle of Canada's three prairie provinces, has an area of 588,276.09 square kilometres (227,134.67 sq mi) and population of 990,212 (according to 2007 estimates), mostly living in the southern half of the province. Of these, 202,340 live in the province's largest city, Saskatoon, while 179,246 live in the provincial capital, Regina. Other major cities, in order of size, are Prince Albert, Moose Jaw, Yorkton, Swift Current, and North Battleford.
The province's name comes from the Saskatchewan River, whose name comes from its Cree designation: ''kisiskāciwani-sīpiy'', meaning "swift flowing river".Name Source from the Government of Canada

Contents

Geography

Climate

Municipalities

Economy

History

Politics

Demographics

Provincial Finances

Education

Miscellany

Popular culture

Arts and culture

Law and order

See also

Bibliography

Notes

External links

Geography

Main articles: Geography of Saskatchewan

From a great scale, Saskatchewan appears to be a quadrilateral; however, due to its size, the 49th parallel boundary and the 60th northern border appear curved. Additionally, the eastern boundary of the province is partially crooked rather than following a line of longitude, as correction lines were devised by surveyors prior to the homestead program (1880–1928). Saskatchewan is bounded on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the American states of Montana and North Dakota. Saskatchewan has the distinction of being the only Canadian province for which no borders correspond to physical geographic features. It is also one of only two provinces that are completely land-locked, the other being Alberta.
Saskatchewan contains two major natural regions: the Canadian Shield in the north and the Interior Plains in the south. Northern Saskatchewan is mostly covered by boreal forest except for The Lake Athabasca Sand Dunes, the largest active sand dunes in the world north of 58°, adjacent to the southern shore of Lake Athabasca. Southern Saskatchewan contains another area with sand dunes known as the "Great Sand Hills" covering over 300 square kilometers. The Cypress Hills, located in the southwestern corner of Saskatchewan and Killdeer Badlands (Grasslands National Park) are areas of the province that remained unglaciated during the last glaciation period. The province's highest point, 1,468 metres (4,816 ft) is located in the Cypress Hills. The lowest point, 213 metres (700 ft) is the shore of Lake Athabasca in the far north. The province has nine distinct drainage basins [1] [2] made up of various rivers and watersheds draining into the Arctic Ocean, Hudson Bay, and Gulf of Mexico.

Climate

Saskatchewan lies very far from any significant body of water, deep within the continent of North America. It is about a 20-hour drive from the Pacific Ocean and a three-day drive from the Atlantic Ocean. This, combined with its northerly latitude gives it a cold summer type humid continental climate (Köppen type Dfb) in the eastern half, drying off to a semi-arid steppe climate (Köppen type Bsk) in the western part of the province. Summers can be very hot, with temperatures above 32°C (90°F) during the day. Warm southern winds blow from the United states during much of July and August. While winters can be bitterly cold, with high temperatures not breaking −17°C (0°F) for weeks at a time, warm chinook winds often blow from the south, bringing periods of mild weather. Annual precipitation averages from 12 to 18 inches annually across the province, with the bulk of rain falling in June, July, and August. [3]

Municipalities

'Ten largest municipalities by population'

Municipality	1996	2001	2006
Saskatoon	193,653	196,861	202,340
Regina	180,404	178,225	179,246
Prince Albert	34,777	34,291	34,138
Moose Jaw	32,973	32,131	32,132
Yorkton	15,154	15,107	15,038
Swift Current	14,890	14,821	14,946
North Battleford	14,051	13,692	13,190
Estevan	10,752	10,242	10,084
Weyburn	9,723	9,534	9,433
Corman Park	7,142	8,043	8,349

Note that the list does not include Lloydminster, which has a total population of 24,028 but straddles the Alberta-Saskatchewan border. As of 2006, only 8,118 people lived on the Saskatchewan side, which would make it Saskatchewan's 11th largest municipality. All of the listed communities are considered cities by the province, with the exception of Corman Park, which is a rural municipality. Municipalities in the province with a population of 5000 or more receive official city status.

Economy

Saskatchewan's economy is associated with agriculture; however, increasing diversification has meant that now agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting together make up only 6.8% of the province's GDP. Saskatchewan grows 45% of Canada's grain. Wheat is the most familiar crop, and perhaps the one stereotypically associated with the province, but other grains like canola, flax, rye, oats, peas, lentils, canary seed, and barley are also produced. Beef cattle production in the province is only exceeded by Alberta. Mining is also a major industry in the province, with Saskatchewan being the world leader in potash exports. In the northern part of the province, forestry is significant.
Oil and Natural Gas production is also a very important part of Saskatchewan's economy. Oil and natural gas production is only exceeded by Alberta. Heavy crude is extracted in the Lloydminster-Kerrobert-Kindersley areas. Light crude is found in the Kindersley-Swift Current areas as well as the Weyburn-Estevan fields. Natural gas is found almost entirely in the western part of Saskatchewan, from the Primrose Lake area through Lloydminster, Unity, Kindersley, Leader, and around Maple Creek areas.
Saskatchewan is also the world's largest supplier of uranium, and supplies much of the western world. The uranium industry is closely regulated by the provincial government which allows the government of Saskatchewan great latitude in setting world uranium prices.
Saskatchewan's GDP in 2006 was approximately C$45.051 billion, with economic sectors breaking down in the following way:

%age	Sector
17.1	finance, insurance, real estate, leasing
13.0	mining, petroleum
11.9	education, health, social services
11.7	wholesale and retail trade
9.1	transportation, communications, utilities
7.7	manufacturing
6.8	agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting
6.5	business services
5.8	government services
5.0	construction
''5.3''	''other''

A list of the top 100 companies includes The Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, Federated Cooperatives Ltd. and IPSCO.
Crown corporations include major Saskatchewan-based entities are, Saskatchewan Governement Insurance (SGI), SaskTel, SaskEnergy (the province's main supplier of natural gas), and SaskPower. Bombardier runs the NATO Flying Training Centre at 15 Wing, near Moose Jaw. Bombardier was awarded a long-term contract in the late 1990s for $2.8 billion from the federal government for the purchase of military aircraft and the running of the training facility.

History

Main articles: History of Saskatchewan

Prior to European settlement, Saskatchewan was populated by various indigenous peoples of North America including members of the Athabaskan, Algonquian, Cree and Sioux tribes. The first European to enter Saskatchewan was Henry Kelsey in 1690, who travelled up the Saskatchewan River in hopes of trading fur with the province's indigenous peoples. The first permanent European settlement was a Hudson's Bay Company post at Cumberland House founded by Samuel Hearne in 1774.
In the late 1850s and early 1860s, scientific expeditions led by John Palliser and Henry Youle Hind explored the prairie region of the province.
In the 1870s, the Government of Canada formed the Northwest Territories to administer the vast territory between British Columbia and Manitoba. The government also entered into a series of numbered treaties with the indigenous peoples of the area, which serve as the basis of the relationship between First Nations, as they are called today, and the Crown.
A seminal event in the history of what was to become Western Canada was the 1874 "March West" of the federal government's new North-West Mounted Police. Despite poor equipment and lack of provisions, the men on the march persevered and established a federal presence in the new territory. Historians have argued that had this expedition been unsuccessrul, then the expansionist U.S. would have been sorely tempted to expand into the political vacuum. And even had it not, then the construction of the Canadian Paciric Railway would have been delayed or taken a different, more northerly route, stunting the early growth of towns like Brandon, Regina, Medicine Hat and Calgary -- had these existed at all. Failure to constuct the railway could also have forced British Columbia to join the U.S.
Settlement of the province started to take off as the Canadian Pacific Railway was built in the early 1880s, and the Canadian government divided up the land by the Dominion Land Survey and gave free land to any willing settlers.
The North West Mounted Police set up several posts and forts across Saskatchewan including Fort Walsh in the Cypress Hills, and Wood Mountain Post in south central Saskatchewan near the American border.
In 1876, following the Battle of Little Bighorn Lakota chief Sitting Bull led several thousand of his people to Wood Mountain. Wood Mountain Reserve was founded in 1914.
Many Métis people, who had not been signatories to a treaty, had moved to the Saskatchewan Rivers district north of present-day Saskatoon following the Red River Resistance in Manitoba in 1870. In the early 1880s, the Canadian government refused to hear the Métis' grievances, which stemmed from land-use issues. Finally, in 1885, the Métis, led by Louis Riel, staged the North-West Rebellion and declared a provisional government. They were defeated by a Canadian militia brought to the prairies by the new Canadian Pacific Railway. Riel surrendered and was convicted of treason in a packed Regina courtroom. He was hanged on November 16, 1885.
As more settlers came to the prairies on the railway, the population grew, and Saskatchewan became a province on September 1, 1905; inauguration day was held September 4.
The Homestead Act permitted settlers to acquire ¼mi² of land to homestead and offered an additional quarter upon establishing a homestead. Immigration peaked in 1910 and in spite of the initial difficulties of frontier life, distance from towns, sod homes, and backbreaking labour, a prosperous agrarian society was established.
In 1913, the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association was established as Saskatchewan's first ranchers' organization. (See Logo Here) Three objectives were laid out at the founding convention in 1913 have served as a guide: to watch over legislation; to forward the interests of the Stock Growers in every honorable and legitimate way; and to suggest to parliament legislation to meet changing conditions and requirements.
Its farming equivalent, the Saskatchewan Grain Growers Association, was the dominant political force in the province until the 1920s and had close ties with the governing Liberal party.
In the late 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan imported from the U.S. and Ontario, gained brief popularity in WASP nativist circles in Saskatchewan and Alberta. The province had the dubious distinction of having the largest per-capita membership in the KKK of any political jurisdiction in North America. The Klan, briefly allied with the provincial Conservative party because of their mutual dislike for Premier James G. "Jimmy" Gardiner and his Liberals (who ferociously fought the Klan) enjoyed about two years of prominence, then disappeared, the victim of widespread political and media opposition, plus scandals involving their own funds.
In 1970, the first annual Canadian Western Agribition was held in Regina. This farm industry trade show, with a heavy emphasis on livestock, is rated as one of the five top livestock shows in North America, along with those in Houston, Denver, Louisville and Toronto.

Politics

Saskatchewan has the same form of government^[3] as the other Canadian provinces with a Lieutenant-Governor (who is the representative of the Crown in Right of Saskatchewan), premier, and a unicameral legislature.
For many years, Saskatchewan has been one of Canada's more left-leaning provinces, reflecting many of its citizens' feelings of alienation from the interests of large capital. In 1944 Tommy Douglas became premier of the first avowedly socialist regional government in North America. Most of his MLAs (Members of the Legislative Assembly) represented rural and small-town ridings. Under his Cooperative Commonwealth Federation government, Saskatchewan became the first province to have Medicare, billed at the time as government-funded mandatory universal medical insurance. In 1961, Douglas left provincial politics to become the first leader of the federal New Democratic Party.
Today, the official opposition in the province is the Saskatchewan Party, a new party built in 1997 out of the remains of the Tories and former Liberals and even a small number of New Democrats frustrated by the NDP's inability to "grow" the economy and population. The current premier of Saskatchewan is New Democrat Lorne Calvert, whose government was re-elected in the 2003 election with a slim majority—the NDP won 30 seats in the 58-seat Legislative Assembly, while the Saskatchewan Party won the remaining 28 seats. Most NDP MLAs represent cities and towns while most SP MLAs represent rural ridings.
Partly because of this the NDP's three long stretches as the provincial government have not translated into recent federal success. While both Saskatoon and Regina (Saskatchewan's largest cities) are roughly twice the population of an urban riding in Canada, both are split into multiple ridings that blend them with rural communities. Across Canada, Conservatives are competitive in suburbs and pre-eminent in rural areas, and of the 14 federal constituencies in Saskatchewan, 12 were won by members of the Conservative Party of Canada in 2006, and 13 of 14 were won by Conservatives in 2004, while the federal NDP has been shut out of the province for two consecutive elections. The only Liberal MPs are former Finance Minister Ralph Goodale and Gary Merasty, whose election win brought allegations of possible election fraud.
;Provincial Flag
Saskatchewan's flag was officially dedicated on 22nd September, 1969. The flag features the Armorial Bearing (Coat-of-Arms) in the upper quarter nearest the staff, with the floral emblem, the Prairie Lily, in the fly. The upper green half of the flag represents the northern Saskatchewan forest lands, while the gold lower half symbolises the southern prairie wheat fields. The design was a prize-winning entry of a Province-wide competition that drew over 4000 entries, by Anthony Drake, then living in Hodgeville, Saskatchewan.
;Centennial celebrations

In 2005, Saskatchewan celebrated its centennial. To honour it the Royal Canadian Mint issued a commemorative 5-dollar coin depicting Canada's wheat fields as well as a circulation 25-cent coin of a similar design. Queen Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh visited Regina, Saskatoon and Lumsden and Joni Mitchell issued an album in Saskatchewan's honour.

Demographics

According to the 2001 Canadian census,[4] the largest ethnic group in Saskatchewan is German (28.6%), followed by English (24.5%), Scottish (17.9%), Irish (14.5%), Ukrainian (12.6%), French (11.4%), First Nations (10.6%), Norwegian (6.3%), Polish (5.3%), Métis (4.2%), Dutch (3.3%), and Swedish (3.1%) - although about a quarter of all respondents also identified their ethnicity as "Canadian."

Year	Population	Five-year % change	Ten-year % change	Rank among provinces
1901	91,279	n/a	n/a	8
1911	492,432	n/a	439.5	3
1921	757,510	n/a	53.8	3
1931	921,785	n/a	21.7	3
1941	895,992	n/a	-2.8	3
1951	831,728	n/a	-7.2	5
1956	880,665	5.9	n/a	5
1961	925,181	5.1	11.2	5
1966	955,344	3.3	8.5	6
1971	926,242	-3.0	0.1	6
1976	921,325	-0.5	3.6	6
1981	968,313	5.1	4.5	6
1986	1,009,613	4.3	9.6	6
1991	988,928	-2.0	2.1	6
1996	976,615	-1.2	-3.3	6
2001	978,933	0.2	-1.0	6
2006	985,386	0.7	0.9	6

''Source: Statistics Canada.''The history of Saskatchewan's population from Statistics Canada^[4]

Provincial Finances

Fiscal Year	Public Debt ★	Pers. Inc. Tax	Corp. Inc./Cap. Tax	Sales tax	Oil Revenue	Total NR Revenue	Canada H/S Transfers	Equalization	Health Expense
2007	11,034,644	1,668,538	1,067,459	1,079,794 ★ ★	1,318,852	1,694,252	1,040,374	12,273	3,202,965
2006	11,133,595	1,447,905	918,279	1,112,350	1,124,952	1,721,100	958,314	88,672	2,990,625
2005	11,464,234	1,329,081	638,968	985,079	906,938	1,474,191	715,138	581,570	2,773,961
2004	11,940,337	1,245,763	682,052	854,480	774,488	1,140,962	750,558	41,284	2,515,823
2003	11,710,616	1,429,757	557,360	813,932	862,318	1,243,649	668,211	-9,215	2,342,835
2002	11,429,158	1,196,410	508,542	770,984	555,337	903,044	608,908	492,017	2,199,723

The Tabulated Data covers the previous fiscal year (e.g. 2007 covers April 1, 2006 - March 31, 2007).
All data is in $1,000s.
''
★ '' This value reflects the debt of all Government Service Organizations as well as Crown Corporations.
''
★
★ '' The Provincial Sales Tax was reduced from 7% to 5% effective October 28, 2006.
''Source: Government of Saskatchewan.''^[5]

Education

Main articles: Education in Saskatchewan, List of Saskatchewan school divisions

The first education on the prairies was learned within the family group of the first nation or early fur trading family settlers. There were only a few missionary or trading post schools established in Rupert's Land later known as the North West Territories.
1886 sees the formation of the first 76 North West Territories school districts and the first Board of Education meeting. The immigration boom forms ethnic bloc settlements. Communities are seeking education for their children similar to the schools of their home land. Log cabins, and dwellings are constructed for the assembly of the community, school, church, dances and meetings.
The roaring twenties and established farmers who have successfully proved up on their homesteads helps provide funding to standardize education. Text books, normal schools for formally educated teachers, school curriculums, state of the art school house architectural plans, provide continuity throughout the province. English as the school language helps to provide economic stability as now one community can communicate with another, and goods can be traded and sold in a common language. The number of one room school house districts across Saskatchewan total approximatley 5,000 at the height of the one room school house educational system in the late 1940s.
Following World War II, the transition from many one room school houses to fewer and larger consolidated modern technological town and city schools occurred as a means of ensuring technical education. School buses, highways, and family vehicles create ease and accessibility of a poplulation shift to larger towns and cities. Combines and tractors mean that the farmer can successfully manage more than a quarter section of land, so there is a shift from family farms and subsistence crops to cash crops grown on many sections of land. There is no more need for communities every 10 to 16 kilometres (6-10 mi) apart or within a horse and buggy ride. This evolution is still continuing and under analysis in the spring of 2007 with another 50 rural consolidated schools now facing imminent closing.^[6][7]
School vouchers have been newly proposed as a means of allowing comeptetion between rural schools and making the operation of co-operative schools practicable in rural areas.

Miscellany

★ Saskatchewan's licence plates depict three stalks of wheat and bear the slogan "Land of Living Skies."

★ Saskatchewan's heraldic shield contains a red lion on a yellow field, reversing the conventional heraldic colours, indicating the prairie fires of this region during the pre-settlement North-West Territories.

★ In 1885, post-Confederation Canada's first "naval battle" was fought in Saskatchewan, when a steamship engaged the Métis at Batoche in the North-West Rebellion.^[8]

Popular culture

The most famous representations of Saskatchewan in modern popular culture come from the popular Canadian television sitcoms ''Corner Gas'' and ''Little Mosque on the Prairie'', both of which are set in small towns. The novels of W. O. Mitchell, Sinclair Ross, Michael Helm and Gail Bowen are also frequently set in Saskatchewan.

Arts and culture

;Museums and galleries

★ Mendel Art Gallery

★ Museums Association of Saskatchewan

★ Shurniak Art Gallery

★ MacKenzie Art Gallery

★ Royal Saskatchewan Museum

★ RCMP Academy, Depot Division which includes the RCMP Centennial Museum. This museum is moving to the new RCMP Heritage Centre, with the grand opening on 23 May 2007.

★ Duck Lake Regional Interpretive Center
;Artist-Run centres

★ AKA Gallery

★ PAVED Arts

★ The Gallery on Sherbrooke, Wolseley
;Artists

★ Dr William Hobbs Prairie and Railways Painter.

★ Glen Scrimshaw

★ Joe Fafard

Law and order

;Police agencies

★ Estevan Police Service

★ File Hills First Nation Police Service

★ Moose Jaw Police Service

★ Prince Albert Police Service

★ Regina Police Service

★ RM of Corman Park Police Service

★ Royal Canadian Mounted Police

★ Saskatoon Police Service

★ Weyburn Police Service
;Correctional facilities


★ Saskatoon correctional centre

★ Regina Correctional Centre

★ Prince Albert Correctional Centre

★ Pine Grove Correctional Centre

★ Saskatchewan Penitentiary

★ Regina Paul Dojack Youth Center

★ Saskatoon Kilburn Hall

See also

★ ''

★ The Saskatchewan Act

★ Monarchy in Saskatchewan

★ District of Assiniboia

★ List of Towns in Saskatchewan

★ List of cities in Canada

★ List of airports in Saskatchewan

★ List of Saskatchewan general elections

★ List of Saskatchewan lieutenant-governors

★ List of Saskatchewan premiers

★ List of Leaders of the Opposition in Saskatchewan

★ List of communities in Saskatchewan

★ List of Canadian provincial and territorial symbols

★ :''List of Saskatchewan-related topics

★ List of Saskatchewan rivers

★ Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan

★ List of rural municipalities in Saskatchewan

★ Saskatchewan Film and Video Classification Board

★ Scouting in Saskatchewan

★ 45561 ''Saskatchewan'' British Jubilee Class locomotive named after the province.

Bibliography

★ Archer, John H. ''Saskatchewan: A History.'' Saskatoon: Western Producer Prairie Books, 1980. 422 pp.

★ Bennett, John W. and Kohl, Seena B. ''Settling the Canadian-American West, 1890-1915: Pioneer Adaptation and Community Building. An Anthropological History. '' U. of Nebraska Pr., 1995. 311 pp.

★ Bocking, D. H., ed. ''Pages from the Past: Essays on Saskatchewan History.'' Saskatoon: Western Producer Prairie Books, 1979. 299 pp.

★ LaPointe, Richard and Tessier, Lucille. ''The Francophones of Saskatchewan: A History.'' Regina: U. of Regina, Campion Coll., 1988. 329 pp.

★ Lipset, Seymour M. ''Agrarian Socialism: The Cooperative Commonwealth Federation in Saskatchewan: A Study in Political Sociology,'' University of California Press, 1950

★ Martin, Robin ''Shades of Right: Nativist and Fascist Politics in Canada, 1920-1940'', University of Toronto Press, 1992

★ Smith, Dennis. ''Rogue Tory: The Life and Legend of John G. Diefenbaker.'' Toronto: Macfarlane Walter & Ross, 1995. 702 pp.

★ Smith, David E., ed. ''Building a Province: A History of Saskatchewan in Documents.'' Saskatoon: Fifth House, 1993. 443 pp.

★ Bill Waiser. ''Saskatchewan: A New History'' (2006)

Notes

1. Statistics Canada Population Estimates
2. Statistics Canada Gross domestic product, expenditure-based, by province and territory
3.
4. Canada's population. Statistics Canada. Last accessed September 28, 2006.
5. Public Accounts of Saskatchewan. Government of Saskatchewan. Last accessed June 25, 2007.
6. More than 50 rural schools facing closure, says Wall, , Jeremy, Warren, Saskatoon Star Phoenix newspaper Wednesday March 14, 2007, ,
7. Saskatchewan Gen Web - One Room School Project - Evolution URL accessed March 20, 2007
8. Batoche by Dave Yanko

External links

★ Government of Saskatchewan

★ Saskatchewan!

★ SaskTourism

★ CBC Digital Archives - Saskatchewan @ 100