Saskatchewan - 100 Years of History
To everyone from Saskatchewan and those who wish they were.
It is still the best place
to be or come from!!
Saskatchewan Centennial –2005 - 100 Reason To Celebrate
Saskatchewan
(100 Years of Greatness)
1. Thunderstorms! The best show on earth.
2. The easiest province in the country to draw.
3. Get your binoculars out! There are 427 documented species of birds in
Saskatchewan.
4. Scotty, the T.rex skeleton discovered near Eastend. The remains are 65
million years old, and they grabbed the world's attention when they were
unearthed.
5. Olympic gold medallist in women's hockey, Hayley Wickenheiser, is from
Shaunavon. She's judged to be the best female hockey player in the world right
now.
6. Lorna Crozier, the winner of the 1992 Governor General's Award for Poetry,
was born in Swift Current.
7. Prince Albert is the only constituency in Canada that has ever been
represented by three prime ministers (William Lyon Mackenzie King, John
Diefenbaker and Sir Wilfrid Laurier).
8. Actor John Vernon (National Lampoon's Animal House, Wojeck and Dirty Harry)
was born in Zehner.
9. You probably don't know this, but Saskatchewan is one of the few places in
North American where you can see magnificent whooping cranes relatively up
close.
10. 100,000 lakes and rivers (beat that, Minnesota).
11. Famed folk singer Joni Mitchell was raised in Saskatoon.
12. All RCMP in Canada are trained in Regina.
13. Regina's Wascana Centre is one of the largest urban parks in North America.
14. More doilies per capita than any other province.
15. The Saskatchewan Roughriders.
16. Saskatchewan Roughriders fans.
17. We have spaces between communities, not suburbs.
18. One of the best places to live in the world according to the United Nations
Human Development Index.
19. A host of former hockey greats are from Saskatchewan - Gordie Howe (Floral),
Wendell Clark (Kelvington), Bryan Trottier (Val Marie), Johnny Bower (Prince
Albert) and Eddie Shore (Fort Qu'Appelle) just to name a few. Other NHL notables
include Doug Wickenheiser (Regina), Dirk Graham (Regina) and Theoren Fleury
(Oxbow).
20. Two national parks and 23 provincial parks.
21. The first Ukrainian Governor General of Canada was from Saskatchewan (Ray
Hnatyshyn).
22. While we're at it, the first female Governor General of Canada, Jeanne
Sauvé, was from Prud'homme.
23. Author Guy Vanderhaeghe from Esterhazy (the 1996 recipient of the Governor
General's Literary Award for his novel The Englishman's Boy).
24. The Regina Five - Ken Lochhead, Art McKay, Ron Bloore, Ted Godwin and Doug
Morton - five painters who received international acclaim in the 1960s for their
artistic and creative works.
25. People who can overcome drought, tornadoes, wind, minus 40-degree weather,
earthquakes, grasshoppers, mosquitoes, BSE and anything nature can throw our
way.
26. We're home to the Notre Dame Hounds in Wilcox who have produced such great
hockey players as Brad Richards, Rod Brind' Amour, Curtis Joseph, Wendel Clark
and Vincent Lecavalier.
27. The state-of-the-art First Nations University of Canada is in Regina.
28. Actor Leslie Nielsen, star of Airplane and Naked Gun, is from Regina. His
father was an RCMP officer and his brother, Erik, was a former Deputy Prime
Minister of Canada.
29. We make great jellied salads, and we're okay with calling them "salads" even
though there isn't one lick of lettuce in them.
30. Allan Fotheringham, the long-time smart and sardonic columnist for Maclean's,
is originally from Hearne.
31. Actor Kiefer Sutherland is the grandson of one of our premiers (Tommy
Douglas).
32. No hurricanes or volcanoes.
33. We can smell when it's going to rain. You can't do that in Toronto.
34. Where else can a whole generation of people recite every episode of The
Flintstones? (Except for the first seven minutes of each one; we were still on
our way home for lunch then.)
35. A low cost of living. We can afford homes in Saskatchewan that people in
Vancouver, Victoria, Toronto and Montreal can only dream of owning.
36. Because of our strong agricultural community, we have a good sense of earth,
land and where our food comes from. Whether you live on a farm, in a town or in
a city, you know whether it's good that it rained or that it's sunny or that the
frost is early or late.
37. If you get into car trouble on a highway or road, invariably someone stops
to help you.
38. An array of First Nations cultures - Woodland Cree, Swampy Cree, Plains
Cree, Saulteaux, Dene, Dakota, Nakota, Lakota, and the Métis - complete with
rich cultural histories.
39. W.O. Mitchell, author of Who Has Seen the Wind?, was from Weyburn.
40. Dry cold.
41. Dry heat.
42. Author Sharon Butala from Nipawin. (Twice short-listed for the prestigious
Governor General's Award.)
43. We're glad to report that renowned journalists Pamela Wallin, Keith Morrison
and Eric Malling are all from Saskatchewan.
44. The first co-operative oil refinery in the world was built in Regina in
1934.
45. The idea that rang around the hemisphere: no one should ever die because
they didn't have enough money to see a doctor - our Medicare system.
46. We don't have rush hours. We have rush minutes.
47. Wanuskewin Heritage Park - findings older than the Great Pyramids of Egypt
make this area unique. Tipi rings, stone cairns, a medicine wheel and many more
artefacts dating back more than 8,000 years.
48. The Big Muddy (near Big Beaver) in South Central Saskatchewan was the only
Canadian stop on the Outlaw Trail - a trail that ran from Canada to Mexico and
was used by Butch Cassidy and his gang to elude them thar authorities.
49. The Qu'Appelle Valley.
50. A multitude of incredible festivals ranging from Dragon Boat Races and the
Festival of Words to the Saskatoon Fringe Festival, the Regina Folk Festival and
Ness Creek Music Festival (complete with bears).
51. Lake Manitou near Watrous, complete with legendary healing powers. Plus it's
almost three times saltier than the Dead Sea in Jordan, making it impossible for
a person to sink. That's cool.
52. Saskatoon berries. Yum.
53. Saskatchewan is the site of North America's oldest bird sanctuary,
established in 1887 at Last Mountain Lake. An important breeding ground for
approximately 100 species, this area is used by over 280 species of birds during
migration. From mid-August until the end of October, a breathtakingly more than
75,000 sand hill cranes and 400,000 geese use the lake as a stopover.
54. The farm mentality of "we can fix anything."
55. Saskatchewan is Canada's sunniest province.
56. Saskatchewan produces more than 54 per cent of the wheat grown in Canada.
57. A key part of Canadian history occurred in Saskatchewan - the North West
Rebellion of 1885, led by Louis Riel.
58. Saskatchewan has more road surface than any other province in Canada with a
total of 150,000 miles (250,000 km).
59. The first Girl Guide Cookies in Canada were baked and sold in Regina in 1927
by Christina Riepsamen. She started baking cookies in her home to raise money
for camping equipment for her Girl Guide group. The cookies were sold in brown
paper bags for 10 cents a dozen.
60. The first air ambulance service in North America (and the Commonwealth).
61. Internationally known singer/songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie was born on the
Piapot Reserve in the Qu'Appelle Valley.
62. The first Automated Banking Machine (ABM), or Automated Teller Machine
(ATM), in North America was implemented in Saskatchewan. We debuted the first
debit cards and debit card transaction in North America as well.
63. Comedian Brent Butt, star of the TV show Corner Gas, is from Tisdale. Filmed
in Rouleau, Saskatchewan.
64. In 1947, Saskatchewan passed the first general human rights act in North
America. This was one year before the UN General Assembly passed its Universal
Declaration of Human Rights.
65. No bugs in the winter.
66. Unique events - like the Wynyard Chicken Chariot Races and the Lumsden Duck
Derby.
67. If you're shut in with a sick kid, people know somehow, and things show up
on your doorstep - fresh bread, books to read, soup...and hundreds and hundreds
of pounds of lasagna.
68. Powwows.
69. Cabbage rolls and perogies made by hand - and the hands belong to Baba.
70. Flat is great... flat is what you want when you're cycling for hours. But
don't forget the Northern forests, lakes, beautiful hills and verdant valleys.
71. Drive half an hour out of town and take a walk.
72. The Hanson Buck - Milo Hanson of Biggar is a virtual celebrity in hunting
circles. He holds the world record for a white tail deer: its inside spread
measures just over 27 inches, and six of the rack's 10 main points exceed 11
inches.
73. Saskatchewan's north - one of the last wild and beautiful places on the
earth.
74. More writers than you can shake a stick at.
75. The colour of our summers - the exquisiteness of flax fields, the sunshine
yellow of canola, the amber waves of heat, all contrasted with rich, dark earth.
76. The smell of freshly cut hay.
77. Saskatchewan is a you-can-do-anything-you-want kind of place. There is so
much opportunity. Because we're friendly, helpful people, it's easy to make
connections to get you started. You can break from your family tradition to do
any career or start any business...and do well at it.
78. Canada's first heavy oil upgrader was built in Regina in 1988.
79. On any given weekend, you can hop in your car and then eat your way around
Europe (French food in Gravelbourg, Thai in Moose Jaw, Dutch-Indonesian in
Lumsden, Ukrainian in Yorkton, Ethiopian in Regina, Japanese in Saskatoon).
80. Our whole arts community - the idea that a place needs more than an economy
- it needs a soul - and artists are necessary to that.
81. People care.
82. Perch, trout, walleye. Need we say more?
83. Community. We show it over and over again - Saskatchewan people give more
time and money to help others than anywhere else in Canada.
84. No tropical plants that eat people.
85. No tropical animals that eat people.
86. If you're a fisherman, Len Thompson, a farmer from Abernethy, invented the
legendary "five of diamonds" or "red & white" fishing lures here.
87. The former Governor of the Bank of Canada - Canada's chief banker and
monetary policy maker - Gordon Thiessen, grew up in a number of Saskatchewan
towns and graduated from high school in Moosomin.
88. We boast our own fashions - Farm Eye for the City Guy - jeans, a good shirt
and a jean jacket, even in minus 40-degree weather.
89. Allan Sapp - the world-renowned, Plains-Cree artist and painter grew up on
the Red Pheasant Indian Reserve.
90. Saskatchewan is "can-do-co-operative country." We know how to get the job
done, together, to the best of our collective abilities.
91. Tell the Energizer Bunny to move over: from minus 40 to plus 40 degrees
Celsius (with or without 30 kph winds) - Saskatchewan keeps going...and
going...and going...
92. The fastest woman on ice is from Saskatoon: Olympic gold medallist/speed
skater Catriona Le May Doan.
93. We can see all the stars at night.
94. The relentless, yet comforting sound of crickets, no matter where you are.
95. Olympic gold medallist and three-time world champion curler, Sandra
Schmirler and her team are from Regina.
96. The fact that people still wave hello on country roads - whether they know
you or not.
97. The northern lights.
98. Incredible sunsets.
99. Amazingly friendly people who always have coffee on.
100. Our big sky - as far as the eye can see.
(Not ALL flat, eh?)
We could probably add another 100 Reasons to Celebrate our province.
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