Editing Saskatchewan (section)

=== 20th century ===
Gender roles were sharply defined. Men were primarily responsible for breaking the land; planting and harvesting; building the house; buying, operating and repairing machinery; and handling finances. At first, there were many single men on the prairie, or husbands whose wives were still back east, but they had a hard time. They realized the need for a wife. In 1901, there were 19,200 families, but this surged to 150,300 families only 15 years later. Wives played a central role in settlement of the prairie region. Their labour, skills, and ability to adapt to the harsh environment proved decisive in meeting the challenges. They prepared bannock, beans and bacon, mended clothes, raised children, cleaned, tended the garden, helped at harvest time and nursed everyone back to health. While prevailing patriarchal attitudes, legislation, and economic principles obscured women's contributions, the flexibility exhibited by farm women in performing productive and nonproductive labour was critical to the survival of family farms, and thus to the success of the wheat economy.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rollings-Magnusson |first1=Sandra |year=2000 |title=Canada's Most Wanted: Pioneer Women on the Western Prairies |journal=Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=223–238 |doi=10.1111/j.1755-618X.2000.tb01265.x }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rowles |first1=E. |year=1952 |title=Bannock, beans and bacon: An investigation of pioneer diet |journal=Saskatchewan History |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=1–16 }}</ref>
[[File:Banquet celebrating new province of Saskatchewan.jpg|thumb|A banquet being held to commemorate the creation of Saskatchewan, 1905]]
On September 1, 1905, Saskatchewan became a province, with inauguration day held on September 4. Its political leaders at the time proclaimed its destiny was to become Canada's most powerful province. Saskatchewan embarked on an ambitious province-building program based on its Anglo-Canadian culture and wheat production for the export market. Population quintupled from 91,000 in 1901 to 492,000 in 1911, thanks to heavy immigration of farmers from Ukraine, U.S., Germany and Scandinavia. Efforts were made to assimilate the newcomers to British Canadian culture and values.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pitsula |first1=James M. |year=2005 |title=Disparate Duo |journal=Beaver |volume=85 |issue=4 |pages=14–24 }}</ref>

In the 1905 provincial elections, Liberals won 16 of 25 seats in Saskatchewan. The Saskatchewan government bought out Bell Telephone Company in 1909, with the government owning the long-distance lines and left local service to small companies organized at the municipal level.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Love |first1=Ronald S. |year=2005 |title='A Harebrained Plan': Saskatchewan and the Formation of a Provincial Telephone Policy, 1906–1912 |journal=Saskatchewan History |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=15–33 }}</ref> Premier Walter Scott preferred government assistance to outright ownership because he thought enterprises worked better if citizens had a stake in running them; he set up the Saskatchewan Cooperative Elevator Company in 1911. Despite pressure from farm groups for direct government involvement in the grain handling business, the Scott government opted to loan money to a farmer-owned elevator company. Saskatchewan in 1909 provided bond guarantees to railway companies for the construction of branch lines, alleviating the concerns of farmers who had trouble getting their wheat to market by waggon.<ref>Kevin H. Burley, ''The Development of Canada's Staples 1867–1939: A Documentary Collection'' (1970) pp 139–43.</ref> The [[Saskatchewan Grain Growers Association]], was the dominant political force in the province until the 1920s; it had close ties with the governing Liberal party. In 1913, the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association was established with three goals: to watch over legislation; to forward the interests of the stock growers in every honourable and legitimate way; and to suggest to parliament legislation to meet changing conditions and requirements.<ref>[http://www.saskatchewanstockgrowers.com/ "Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160410113335/http://www.saskatchewanstockgrowers.com/ |date=April 10, 2016 }}, Official Website</ref>
[[File:Maury Geography 073A Saskatchewan.jpg|thumb|left|Farmers at work in 1907. The introduction of [[Marquis wheat]] saw wheat output soar in the province.]]
Immigration peaked in 1910, and in spite of the initial difficulties of frontier life – distance from towns, sod homes, and backbreaking labour – new settlers established a European-Canadian style of prosperous [[agrarian society]]. The long-term prosperity of the province depended on the world price of grain, which headed steadily upward from the 1880s to 1920, then plunged down. Wheat output was increased by new strains, such as the "[[Marquis wheat]]" strain which matured 8 days sooner and yielded 7 more bushels per acre (0.72&nbsp;m<sup>3</sup>/ha) than the previous standard, "[[Red Fife]]". The national output of wheat soared from {{convert|8|e6impbu|lk=in}} in 1896, to {{cvt|26|e6impbu}} in 1901, reaching {{cvt|151|e6impbu}} by 1921.<ref>{{cite book |author=Arthur Henry Reginald Buller |title=Essays on Wheat: Including the Discovery and Introduction of Marquis Wheat, the Early History of Wheat-growing in Manitoba, Wheat in Western Canada, the Origin of Red Bobs and Kitchener, and the Wild Wheat of Palestine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YqMUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA218 |year=1919 |pages=218–20 |access-date=March 27, 2018 |archive-date=September 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922193714/https://books.google.com/books?id=YqMUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA218 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Urban reform movements in Regina were based on support from business and professional groups. City planning, reform of local government, and municipal ownership of utilities were more widely supported by these two groups, often through such organizations as the Board of Trade. Church-related and other altruistic organizations generally supported social welfare and housing reforms; these groups were generally less successful in getting their own reforms enacted.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hengen |first1=Girard |year=1988 |title=A Case Study in Urban Reform: Regina Before the First World War |journal=Saskatchewan History |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=19–34 }}</ref>

The province responded to the First World War in 1914 with patriotic enthusiasm and enjoyed the resultant economic boom for farms and cities alike. Emotional and intellectual support for the war emerged from the politics of Canadian national identity, the rural myth, and social gospel progressivism The Church of England was especially supportive. However, there was strong hostility toward German-Canadian farmers.<ref>James M. Pitsula, ''For All We Have and Are: Regina and the Experience of the Great War'' (U of Manitoba Press, 2008), p 280. [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=25802 online review] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410151832/https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=25802 |date=April 10, 2021 }}</ref> Recent Ukrainian immigrants were enemy aliens because of their citizenship in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A small fraction were [[Ukrainian Canadian internment|taken to internment camps.]] Most of the internees were unskilled unemployed labourers who were imprisoned "because they were destitute, not because they were disloyal".<ref>Pitsula, ''For All We Have and Are'' p 41.</ref><ref>Lubomyr Luciuk, ''In Fear of the Barbed Wire Fence: Canada's First National Internment Operations and the Ukrainian Canadians, 1914–1920'' (Kingston: Kashtan Press, 2001).</ref>
[[File:Hawker-Eaton-InternmentCamp.jpg|thumb|A memorial stone for [[Ukrainian Canadian internment|Ukrainian Canadians interned]] during the [[First World War]] at the [[Saskatchewan Railway Museum]]]]
The price of wheat tripled and acreage seeded doubled. The wartime spirit of sacrifice intensified social reform movements that had predated the war and now came to fruition. Saskatchewan gave women the right to vote in 1916 and at the end of 1916 passed a referendum to prohibit the sale of alcohol.

In the late 1920s, the [[Ku Klux Klan in Canada|Ku Klux Klan]], imported from the United States and Ontario, gained brief popularity in nativist circles in Saskatchewan and Alberta. The Klan, briefly allied with the provincial Conservative party because of their mutual dislike for Premier [[James G. Gardiner|James G. "Jimmy" Gardiner]] and his Liberals (who ferociously fought the Klan), enjoyed about two years of prominence. It declined and disappeared, subject to widespread political and media opposition, plus internal scandals involving the use of the organization's funds.

==== Post–Second World War ====
In 1970, the first annual [[Canadian Western Agribition]] was held in Regina. This farm-industry trade show, with its strong emphasis on livestock, is rated as one of the five top livestock shows in North America, along with those in [[Houston, Texas|Houston]], [[Denver, Colorado|Denver]], [[Louisville, Kentucky|Louisville]] and [[Toronto]].
[[File:Queen and burmese.jpg|thumb|An equestrian statue of [[Elizabeth II]] in [[Regina, Saskatchewan|Regina]]. The statue was unveiled by the Queen in 2005.]]
The province celebrated the 75th anniversary of its establishment in 1980, with [[Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon]], presiding over the official ceremonies.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Archer |first=John H. |title=Regina: A Royal City |journal=Monarchy Canada Magazine |volume=Spring 1996 |year=1996 |url=http://www.monarchist.ca/mc/regina.htm |access-date=June 30, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080209220023/http://www.monarchist.ca/mc/regina.htm |archive-date=February 9, 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Government of Saskatchewan > About Government > News Releases > February 2002 > Province Honours Princess Margaret |url=http://www.gov.sk.ca/news?newsId=89f899ba-9ec6-46ac-8049-aeeb33a0aeca |date=February 11, 2002 |website=gov.sk |publisher=Queen's Printer for Saskatchewan |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706203611/http://www.gov.sk.ca/news?newsId=89f899ba-9ec6-46ac-8049-aeeb33a0aeca |archive-date=July 6, 2011 |access-date=February 15, 2011 }}</ref> In 2005, 25 years later, her sister, Queen [[Elizabeth II]], attended the events held to mark Saskatchewan's centennial.<ref>{{cite news |date=May 18, 2005 |title=Royal couple touches down in Saskatchewan |work=CTV |url=http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1116361103300_111770303/?hub=TopStories |access-date=June 30, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051001053156/http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1116361103300_111770303/?hub=TopStories |archive-date=October 1, 2005 }}</ref>

Since the late 20th century, First Nations have become more politically active in seeking justice for past inequities, especially related to the taking of indigenous lands by various governments. The federal and provincial governments have negotiated on numerous land claims, and developed a program of "Treaty Land Entitlement", enabling First Nations to buy land to be taken into reserves with money from settlements of claims.
<blockquote>"In 1992, the federal and provincial governments signed an historic land claim agreement with Saskatchewan First Nations. Under the Agreement, the First Nations received money to buy land on the open market. As a result, about 761,000 acres have been turned into reserve land and many First Nations continue to invest their settlement dollars in urban areas", including Saskatoon. The money from such settlements has enabled First Nations to invest in businesses and other economic infrastructure.<ref name="aadnc-aandc1" /></blockquote>