Saskatoon
Saskatoon is the largest city in the 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 Yellowhead Highway; since its founding in 1882 as a Temperance colony, it has served as the cultural and economic hub of central Saskatchewan.
With a 2021 census population of 266,141, Saskatoon is the largest city in Saskatchewan, and the 17th largest Census Metropolitan Area in Canada, with a 2021 census population of 317,480.
Saskatoon is home to the University of Saskatchewan, the Meewasin Valley Authority—which protects the South Saskatchewan River and provides for the city's popular riverbank park spaces—and Wanuskewin Heritage Park, a National Historic Site of Canada and UNESCO World Heritage applicant representing 6,000 years of First Nations history. The Rural Municipality of Corman Park No. 344, the most populous rural municipality in Saskatchewan, surrounds the city and contains many of the developments associated with it, including Wanuskewin. Saskatoon is named after the saskatoon berry, which is native to the region and is itself derived from the Cree misâskwatômina. The city has a significant Indigenous population and several urban Reserves. The city has nine river crossings and is nicknamed the "Paris of the Prairies" and "The City of Bridges".
Historic neighbourhoods of Saskatoon include Nutana, Riversdale, and Sutherland which were separate towns before amalgamating with the town of Saskatoon and incorporating it as a city in 1906. Nutana, Riversdale, their historic main streets of Broadway Avenue and 20th Street, as well as the downtown core and other central neighbourhoods are seeing significant reinvestment and redevelopment. Sutherland was a rail town beyond the University of Saskatchewan lands, annexed by the city in 1956.
Etymology
The name "Saskatoon" comes from the Cree inanimate noun misâskwatômina ᒥᓵᐢᑿᑑᒥᓇ "saskatoon berries", which refers to the sweet, violet-coloured serviceberry that grows in the area. However, the exact origin of the naming of the settlement is unclear. Founder John Neilson Lake apparently told multiple stories, including the most famous, where in August, 1883 he was handed a handful of berries, told their name, and exclaimed, "Arise Saskatoon, Queen of the North!". It is considered most likely that the name in fact derived from one already in use: manemesaskwatan, or "the place where willows are cut", referring to the Cree practice of cutting saskatoon berry willows for arrow shafts.History
In 1882, the Toronto-based Temperance Colonization Society was granted 21 sections of land straddling the South Saskatchewan River, between what is now Warman and Dundurn. The aim of the group was to escape the liquor trade in Toronto and set up a "dry" community in the Prairie region. The following year settlers, led by John Neilson Lake, arrived on the site of what is now "Saskatoon" and established the first permanent settlement. The settlers travelled by railway from Ontario to Moose Jaw and then completed the final leg via horse-drawn cart, as the railway had yet to be completed to Saskatoon.In 1885 the North-West Rebellion affected the tiny community in a variety of ways. Chief Whitecap and Charles Trottier passed through the present day University campus on their way to join Louis Riel's armed forces at Batoche, Saskatchewan. Following the fighting at the Battle of Fish Creek, and the Battle of Batoche, wounded Canadian soldiers convalesced at the Marr Residence which is today a historic site. A few died in care and were buried in the Pioneer Cemetery near the Exhibition Grounds.
A town charter for the west side of the river was obtained in 1903, and this settlement adopted the name Saskatoon; the original townsite, which became a village that year, was renamed Nutana. In 1906 Saskatoon became a city with a population of 4,500, which included the communities of Saskatoon, Riversdale and Nutana. In 1955, a newly established community west of the city, Montgomery Place, was annexed, followed by the neighbouring town of Sutherland in 1956. Saskatoon serves as a regional center for the northern prairies and for central and northern Saskatchewan.
Geography
Saskatoon lies on a long belt of rich, potassic chernozem in middle-southern Saskatchewan, northwest of Regina, northeast of Calgary, and east of Edmonton, and is found in the aspen parkland biome. The lack of surrounding mountainous topography gives the city a relatively flat grid, though the city does sprawl over a few hills and into a few valleys. The lowest point in the city is the river, while the highest point is in the Sutherland-College Park area. Saskatoon, on a cross-section from west to east, has a general decline in elevation above sea level heading towards the river, and on the east bank of the river, the terrain is mostly level until outside the city, where it begins to decrease in elevation again.Saskatoon is divided into east and west sides by the South Saskatchewan River. It is then divided into Suburban Development Areas which are composed of neighbourhoods. Street addresses are demarcated into north and south and similar east and west. West of the river, the demarcation line for north and south addresses is 22nd Street, while east and west are divided by Idylwyld Drive and Avenue A. On the east side, in order to line up with 22nd/Idylwyld, Lorne Avenue demarcates east and west while Aird Street, a minor residential road, marks the north–south boundary, except in the Sutherland community where a separate east/west demarcation takes place with Central Avenue as the boundary. As a result of the unusual demarcation on the east side, few streets there actually carry a "North" or "West" designation, and only a few streets in Sutherland are demarcated "East" and "West".
A second major water feature aside from the river is the Hudson Bay Slough, a remnant of a glacier-formed body of water that at one time dominated the northern end of the city. Industrial development has resulted in most of the slough being drained, however a large remnant has been preserved off Avenue C as part of RCAF Memorial Park, and another portion remains intact within the Hudson Bay Industrial area. Several residential communities also feature "man-made lakes," with Lakeview being the first.
Pike Lake and Blackstrap Provincial Parks are both approximately south of the city on Highway 60 and Highway 11, respectively. Batoche, a national historic site associated with the North-West Rebellion of 1885, is north of the city. Both Blackstrap and Batoche are popular destinations for school field trips.
Climate
Saskatoon experiences a borderline cold semi-arid climate to humid continental climate , with typically warm summers and long, cold winters. Climate data from the University of Saskatchewan, in the inner city meets semi-arid criteria. This is due to slightly higher average annual temperature and slightly lower average annual precipitation than the Airport, on the city's northwest periphery.The city has four distinct seasons and is in plant hardiness zone 3b. Saskatoon has a dry climate and sees of precipitation per year on average, with the summer being the wettest season. Saskatoon is sunnier than average in Canada as a result, averaging 2,350.4 hours of bright sunshine annually. The extreme temperatures are typically accompanied by below average levels of humidity. Thunderstorms are common in the summer months and can be severe with torrential rain, hail, high winds, intense lightning and, on occasion, tornadoes. The frost-free growing season lasts from May 21 to September 15, but due to Saskatoon's northerly location, damaging frosts have occurred as late as June 14 and again as early as August. The average daytime high temperature peaks at from July 31 to August 8.
The "Blizzard of 2007" was described by many residents as the worst they had seen and paralyzed the city with its low visibility, extreme cold and large volume of snow. Winds rose to over and an estimated of snow fell throughout the day. Many area residents took refuge overnight at area work places, shopping centres, hospitals and the university.
The highest temperature ever recorded in Saskatoon was on 6 June 1988. The lowest temperature ever recorded was on 1 February 1893.
Demographics
In the 2021 Canadian census conducted by Statistics Canada, Saskatoon had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of. The population of Saskatoon is made up of 50.9% women and 49.1% men. With a land area of, it had a population density of in 2021.At the census metropolitan area level in the 2021 census, the Saskatoon CMA 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.
The 2021 census reported that immigrants comprise 53,210 persons or 20.4% of the total population of Saskatoon. Of the total immigrant population, the top countries of origin were Philippines, India, China, Pakistan, Nigeria, United Kingdom, Bangladesh, Vietnam, United States of America, and Iraq.
Ethnicity
The Saskatoon area was inhabited long before any permanent settlement was established, to which the ongoing archaeological work at Wanuskewin Heritage Park and other locations bears witness. Canada's First Nations population has been increasingly urbanized, and nowhere is that more apparent than in Saskatoon, where the First Nations population increased by 382% from 1981 to 2001; however, a portion of this increase, possibly as much as half, is believed to be due to more people identifying themselves as Indigenous in the census rather than migration or birth rate.Saskatoon has the second highest percentage of Indigenous population among major Canadian cities at approximately 11.5%, behind Winnipeg at 12.4% and Regina close by with 10.4%; in certain neighbourhoods such as Pleasant Hill, this percentage exceeds 40%. Most First Nations residents are of Cree or Dakota cultural background although to a lesser extent Saulteaux, Assiniboine, and Dene communities also exist.
Saskatoon also has a substantial Métis population and is close to the historically significant Southbranch Settlements to the north, as well as the Prairie Ronde settlement near Dundurn, Saskatchewan.