Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan (/sěskæt≤1⁄1⁄1⁄1⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2⁄2 (?·i) in English, /saskatκøwan/ in French) is one of the ten provinces that, together with the three territories, make up the thirteen federal entities of Canada. It is the central province of the Canadian Prairies. Its capital is Regina and its most populous city is Saskatoon.

Most of its population is concentrated in the southern part of the province. Agriculture is a fundamental part of Saskatchewan's economy, especially wheat, of which 45% of the entire country is harvested, earning it the name "Canada's breadbasket". Another fundamental source of the province's economy is mining.

Hydronymy

The name of the province comes from the Saskatchewan River, whose name derives from the Cree: ᑭᓯᐢᑳᒋᐘᓂᓰᐱᐩ kisiskāciwani-sīpiy, meaning 'swift-flowing river'.

Geography

Saskatchewan is roughly shaped like a trapezoid, with an area of 588,276.09 km². However, due to their size, the northern and southern limits, which are segments of the parallels 49° north and 60° south, respectively, show appreciable curvature. Also, the eastern boundary of the province is partially skewed instead of following a meridian, when the correction lines were devised by surveyors prior to the program (1880-1928). Saskatchewan is bordered by Alberta to the west, the Northwest Territories to the north, Manitoba to the east, and the US states of Montana and North Dakota to the south. Saskatchewan is the only Canadian province in which none of its borders correspond to physical geographic features. It is also one of only two landlocked provinces, along with Alberta.

Saskatchewan is made up of two main natural regions: the Canadian Shield in the north and the Inland Plains in the south. Northern Saskatchewan is covered primarily by boreal forest except for the Lake Athabasca Sand Dunes, the world's largest active sand dunes north of the 58th parallel, adjacent to the southern shore of Lake Athabasca. Southern Saskatchewan contains another area with sand dunes known as "the Great Sand Hills" that cover 300 km². The Cypress Hills, located on the southwestern edge of Saskatchewan, and the Killdeer Badlands (Grasslands National Park) are areas of the province that remained unfrozen during the last ice age.

The highest point in the province, at 1468 m s. no. m. (meters above sea level), is located in the Cypress Hills. The lowest point, at 213 m s. no. m., is on the shore of Lake Athabasca in the far north. The province has nine distinct watersheds made up of various rivers that flow into the waters of the Arctic Ocean, and Hudson Bay.

Climate

Saskatchewan is far from any significant body of water. This, combined with its northern latitude, produces a cold summer type humid continental climate (in the Köppen climate classification, Dfb) in the eastern half, and a dry to semi-arid steppe climate (in the Köppen classification, Bsk) in the lower part. west of the province. Summers can be very hot, with temperatures above 32°C during the day. There are gusts of warm southerly winds from the United States during most of July and August. While winters can be bitter, with highs below −17°C for weeks, chinook winds (warm, humid winds) often blow from the south, bringing mild periods. The average annual precipitation ranges from 30 to 45 cm throughout the province, with the bulk of the rain in June, July and August.

Administrative division

Municipalities

Geographical map of Saskatchewan.

The ten most populated municipalities

The list below does not include Lloydminster, which has a total population of 23,632 and straddles the border with Alberta. According to the 2001 census, only 7,840 people lived in the sector belonging to Saskatchewan, which would position this city in the eleventh place with respect to the most populous municipalities in the province. All related 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 5,000 or more are officially given city status.

History

Saskatchewan River.

Before the arrival of Europeans, Saskatchewan was inhabited by the Athabascan, Algonquian, and Sioux tribes. The first European to settle in Saskatchewan was Henry Kelsey in 1690, who sailed along the Saskatchewan River in an attempt to trade fur, buying it from the indigenous people of the area. The first establishment of European origin was the Hudson's Bay Company, located in Cumberland House and founded by Samuel Hearne in 1774.

After the sale of Louisiana in 1803 by France to the United States, part of the current provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, in present-day Canada, passed to the United States, which would cede that part to the United Kingdom in 1818.

In the mid-19th century century, scientific expeditions led by John Palliser and Henry Youle Hind explored the prairie region provincial.

In the 1870s, the Government of Canada formed the Northwest Territories to administer the vast territory between British Columbia and Manitoba. The government also agreed to the signing of a series of treaties with the Native Americans around them, which fostered the relationship between the "First Nations" (in English, First Nations), as they are known today. in day, and the Crown. Soon after, the First Nations would find themselves pushed onto certain reservations.

The province's colonization took off when the Canadian Pacific Railway was built in the early 1880s, and the federal government divided up the land according to Land Domain Measurement, granting free bushels to willing settlers.

The Northwest Mounties built a number of posts and fortifications throughout Saskatchewan, notably: Fort Walsh in the Cypress Mountains, and Wood Mountain, a post in south central Saskatchewan near the US border Joined.

In 1876, following the Battle of Little Big Horn, Lakota chief Sitting Bull led his people to Wood Mountain, whose reservation was founded in 1914.

Many Métis, who had not been signatories to any treaty, moved to the Saskatchewan Rivers district north of present-day Saskatoon after the Red River Rebellion in Manitoba in 1870. In early In the 1880s, the Canadian government refused to hear the complaints of the Métis, which stemmed from issues related to territorial occupation. Finally, in 1885, the Métis, commanded by Louis Riel, provoked the Northwest Rebellion in demand of a provisional government. They were defeated by Canadian militia based on the prairies of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Riel surrendered and was found guilty of treason by a Regina court. He was finally executed on November 16, 1885.

Judgment to Louis Riel. Saskatchewan, 1885.

With the arrival of more settlers in the region, the population grew, and Saskatchewan became a province on September 1, 1905; the opening day was the 4th of that month.

The Homestead Act allowed settlers to purchase square miles of land for homestead enclosures, and offered an additional room after completing the initial assignment of said grant. Immigration peaked in 1910 and, despite the difficulties of frontier life and its remoteness from the city and its advantages, a prosperous and stable agrarian society was established.

In 1913, the Saskatchewan Cattle Raisers Association established itself as the province's first agricultural organization. The founding convention of 1913 had set, by then, three main objectives that would serve as a guide: to monitor legislation; follow the interests of the CG in the most honorable and legitimate way possible; and suggest to parliament the change of conditions and requirements when it deems appropriate. In 1970, the first annual meeting in Canada was held in Regina.

In 2005, Saskatchewan celebrated its centennial. For this purpose, the Royal Canadian Mint (Royal Mint of Canada) put into circulation a commemorative Canadian 5 dollar coin that represented the wheat fields of the province. In addition, another similar 25-cent coin was minted. Queen Elizabeth II of England attended the ceremony, and Canadian singer Joni Mitchell released a tribute album to Saskatchewan.

Economy

Saskatchewan's economy is traditionally agricultural; However, the emerging diversification has meant that now this activity, together with forestry, fishing and hunting, constitutes only 6.8% of the GDP of the province. Wheat is the most common crop, and perhaps the only one representative of Saskatchewan, but others such as rapeseed, flax, rye, oats, peas, lentils, millet, and barley are also present. Likewise, mining is of vital importance for the province. Saskatchewan is the world's leading exporter of potash. In the northern zone, forestry activity regains some relevance.

Saskatchewan is also the world's largest supplier of uranium, supplying most of the Western Hemisphere. The industry of this mineral is closely followed by the provincial government, which guarantees its price in the international market.

Saskatchewan's GDP in 2003 was C$32 billion, with economic sectors broken down as follows:

Significant companies located in Saskatchewan include the Hill family's Harvard Developments, Viterra (formerly the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool), Concentra Financial Services, Ipsco metallurgical company (although its operational base is in Lisle, a suburb Chicago), farm equipment maker Brandt Industries, PotashCorp and Cameco.

The Crown corporation includes the most prominent entities in the province: SaskTel, SaskEnergy (a natural gas provider), and SaskPower. The Bombardier operates out of the NATO Flying Training Center at 15 Wing, near Moose Jaw. Bombardier won a long-term contract in the late 1990s for $2.8 billion from the federal government for the purchase of military aeronautical equipment and training management.

Politics

Conservative majority in Saskatchewan. Canada 2006 federal elections.

Saskatchewan has the same form of government as other Canadian provinces, with its Lieutenant-Governor - who represents the monarchy, currently King Charles III -, the Premier (or prime minister), and a unicameral legislature.

For many years, Saskatchewan has been one of Canada's most left-wing provinces, reflecting the will of many of its citizens on issues of alienation from the interests of big business. In 1944 Tommy Douglas became premier and established the first regional socialist government in North America. Most of his MAL (Members of the Legislative Assembly) represented small towns and rural estates. Under its Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), the Saskatchewan government would make Saskatchewan the first province to have a general health care service. In 1961, Douglas abdicated his position to become the first federal political figure in the New Democratic Party.

Throughout the postwar period, the CCF and its successors, the Saskatchewan New Democrats, dominated the political field with Douglas Allan Blakeney, and Roy Romanow, all serving as premiers for a time, and becoming national figures. Urbanization since World War II had disrupted the provincial economy by stripping it of its agricultural base, causing slight migration from the fields to the city. As a result, there was a corresponding change in the ideology of the NDS, which became more concerned with urban than rural affairs.

The Saskatchewan Liberal Party was the main party in power for much of the early life of the province, ruling from 1905 to 1929 and from 1934 to 1944. It emerged again in 1964, but became insignificant after defeat of Ross Thatcher's Liberal government in 1971. The Saskatchewan Progressive Conservative Party, led by Grant Devine, gradually replaced the Liberals as the new rival to the NDS, scoring a landslide victory in the "Monday Night Massacre" ( Monday Night Massacre) of 1982. However, the popularity of the Conservatives plummeted because of large deficits, siding with the Mulroney federal government in 1991. Many members of the Legislative Assembly, including some ministers cabinet, were found guilty of misappropriation of public funds, for which the Conservative Party was suspended, although it has recently announced its intention to stand in the next election pro vincial.

Today, the official opposition in the province is represented by the Saskatchewan Party, a new political faction founded in 1997 and comprising former Tory sympathizers, early Liberals and even some neo-democrats frustrated by the incapacity of evolution of the NDS in the matter of economy and population. Saskatchewan's current premier is neo-Democrat Lorne Calvert, whose government was re-elected in the province's 2003 general election by the slimmest possible majority: the NDS won 30 of the 58 seats in the Legislative Assembly and the PS the remaining 28. The former represent cities and towns, and the latter focus mainly on defending the rural area. "First Nations" and Métis are involved in politics and other institutions but are underrepresented. A longstanding debate in Canadian academic circles revolves around whether the extension of suffrage to "First Nations" inadvertently "regularizes" their role as members of nations that have signed international treaties with the Crown at a time when local ethnicity It was different.

In addition to the NDS's three long terms as provincial government, Sakatchewan leans more to the right in federal politics. Of the province's 14 federal agencies, 12 are commonly held by Conservative members of Parliament. While Sakatchewan has an NDS government majority, the federal NDS has been displaced from the province in two consecutive elections. The only Liberals are Finance Minister Ralph Goodale, and Gary Merasty, the first Supreme Head of the Prince Albert High Council, whose election raised allegations of possible fraud.

Demographics

Although people of European descent make up the majority of the population, Aboriginal people make up a fairly sizeable minority. The ethnic groups that do not belong to any of the aforementioned groups are, in proportion, insignificant.

Saskatchewan Development Graphics between 1901 and 2020

Ethnic origin Note: In the 2001 census questionnaire, an individual could report more than one ethnic origin, so the sum of the numbers that follow exceeds 100%.

• Germans 28.6 %
• Canadians 25 %
• English 24,5 %
• Scots 17.9%
• Irish 14,5 %
• Ukraine 12.6 %
• Franceses 11,4%
• First Nations (American Indians) 10.6%
• Norwegians 6.3 %
• Polish 5.3 %
• Métis (mestizos de europeas y indígenas) 4.2 %
• Dutch 3.4%
• 3.1 %
• Ruins 2.9 %
• Hungarians 2.5 %
• 1.5 %
• Wales 1.4 %
• Americans 1.2%
• Romanians 1.1 %
• Danes 1 %
• Chinese 1.0 %

Education

Early education on the prairies was provided within the First Nation family group or early fur trading families. There were only a few missionary or trading post schools established in Rupert's Land, later known as the Northwest Territories.

In 1886 the first 76 school districts of the Northwest Territories were formed and the first meeting of the Board of Education was formed. The great increase in immigration led to the formation of ethnic blocs. The communities sought for their children an education similar to that of the schools in their places of origin. Log cabins and residences are built for community assemblies, schools, churches, dances, and gatherings.

The booming 1920s and farmers who successfully established themselves on their farms provided the funding to regularize education. Textbooks, normal schools for formally educated teachers, school curricula, and state art school architectural programs provided cultural continuity throughout the province. English as a school language helped provide economic stability by being able to trade with each other. The University of Saskatchewan was founded in 1907 and the number of individual district schools reached approximately 5,000, the height of the educational system in the late 1940s.

After World War II, the transition from many individual schools to fewer but larger and technologically modern city schools occurred as a means of ensuring technical education. School buses, highways, and family vehicles made it possible to study in schools far from the place of residence. Tractors and other agricultural machinery induced a shift from family farms and subsistence crops to large crops. There was no longer a need for communities every 10 or 10 miles apart or within the range of a horse and cart. This evolution is still ongoing and according to the spring 2007 analysis, another 50 rural consolidated schools now face imminent closure.

School vouchers (a certificate by which parents are offered the ability to pay for their children's education at a school of their choice, rather than the public school to which they were assigned) have recently been proposed as a means of allowing competition between rural schools and making the operation of cooperative schools in rural areas practicable.