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Saskatchewan is the middle province of Canada's three prairie provinces. It has an area of 651,900 km² (251,700 mi²) and a population of 985,386 (Saskatchewanians) as of July 1, 2006. Most of its population lives in the southern half of the province. The largest city is Saskatoon with a population of 235,800 (July 1, 2005), followed by the province's capital, Regina (population: 199,000, July 1, 2005). Other major cities (in order of size) include Prince Albert, Moose Jaw, Yorkton, Swift Current, and North Battleford. See also List of communities in Saskatchewan. The province's name comes from the Saskatchewan River, whose name comes from its Cree designation: kisiskāciwani-sīpiy (Cree syllabics: ᑭᓯᐢᑳᒋᐘᓂ ᓯᐱᐩ), meaning "swift flowing river".[1]
Geography
MunicipalitiesTen largest municipalities by population
Note that the list does not include Lloydminster, which has a total population of 24,028 but straddles the Alberta-Saskatchewan border. As of 2001, 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. EconomySaskatchewan'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.
Saskatchewan is also the world's most important supplier of uranium, and supplies much of the western world's supplies. 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 2003 was approximately $32 billion (Canadian), with economic sectors breaking down in the following way:
Important private-sector firms headquartered in Saskatchewan include the Hill family's Harvard Developments, the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, Concentra Financial Services, the steelmaker Ipsco (though its operational headquarters is in Lisle, a suburb of Chicago), farm implement manufacturer Brandt Industries, PotashCorp, and Cameco. Crown corporations include major Saskatchewan-based entities are 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. HistoryPrior 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. Soon after, the First Nations were forced onto reserves. 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 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. PoliticsSaskatchewan has the same form of government[2] 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 CCF 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 since 1997 out of the remains of the Tories and former Liberals and even a small number of New Democrat 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 over 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 Image:Sask.jpg The Saskatchewan Centennial Coin. 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. DemographicsAccording to the 2001 Canadian census,[3] 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." Image:Sask pop.JPG Saskatchewan's population since 1901
Source: Statistics Canada.[3][4] EducationThe 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 meethings. 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 pproximatley 5,000 at the height of the one room school house educational system in the late 1940s. Following the depression years of the dirty thirties, World War II, and the industrial revolution sees the evolution from the many one room school house to fewer and larger consolidated modern technological town and city schools. 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 6 to 10 miles 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. [5] [6] Miscellany
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