A Bit Of History...

Cypress Hills massacre

The Cypress Hills massacre was a massacre which occurred on June 1, 1873 in the Cypress Hills region of Battle Creek, Saskatchewan, involving a group of American wolf hunters or "wolfers", American and Canadian whiskey traders, Metis freighters and a camp of Nakoda (or Assiniboine) people.

A large number of horses had been stolen from the wolfers just across the Montana border. Angry at the loss of their horses, the wolfers attempted to track the horse thieves into Canada, but soon lost their trail. Instead, the wolfers arrived in the Battle Creek valley where the trading posts operated by Abel Farwell and Moses Solomon were located opposite a camp of some 200 to 300 Nakoda people. Tensions were already somewhat elevated, alcohol had been flowing freely on all sides and a misunderstanding over a missing horse led to a mixed group of wolfers, whiskey traders and Metis freighters opening fire on the Nakoda camp, resulting in 23 confirmed Nakoda deaths and the death of one wolfer, Ed LeGrace. Both trading posts were subsequently abandoned and burned.

This incident outraged Canadians, who wanted Americans to respect their sovereignty, however, western Canada was threatened and then Prime Minister Sir John A. MacDonald was convinced to pass a bill to create the North West Mounted Police. Fort Walsh, Saskatchewan served as the NWMP headquarters from 1878 until 1883. All of the "wolfers" were arrested and tried but none were ever convicted.

Part of the site of the Cypress Hills massacre has been preserved at Fort Walsh National Historic Site, along with reconstructions of Farwell's and Solomon's trading posts.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypress_Hills_massacre

The Saskatchewan Act

The Saskatchewan Act is legislation passed by the Canadian Parliament that established the province of Saskatchewan on September 1, 1905. The Saskatchewan Act is actually the shortened title of An Act to establish and provide for the government of the Province of Saskatchewan published in chapter 42, pages 201-215 of the Statutes of Canada 1905. The act received royal assent on July 20, 1905.

Sections of the Act
The act consists of the following sections

Provides the shortened name of the act.
Describes the physical boundaries of the province.
British North America Act (1867) applies to Saskatchewan.
Four members appointed to the Senate of Canada.
Current representation in the House of Commons will remain in effect until the next election.
Sets the number of parliament members based on population.
Election guidelines of the Northwest Territories applies to the province until amended by Parliament.
Lieutenant governor determines members of the Executive Council.
Seat of government is Regina.
Powers of the lieutenant governor of the Northwest Territories shall be same as those of the lieutenant governor in Saskatchewan.
Lieutenant governor shall provide a Great Seal for the new province.
The single house of the provincial legislature to be named the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan.
Initially 25 members of the provincial legislature until changed by said legislature. A schedule followed the main body of the act that defined the initial electoral divisions for the province.
Current laws of the Northwest Territories shall apply to Saskatchewan.
The first general election must be called within six months.
Laws and courts: Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories may be abolished in Saskatchewan if replaced by a similar court.
Section 93 override of the British North America Act, 1867: rights of Roman Catholics to separate schools continued.
Subsidies from the federal government based on a fixed amount and population size.
Annual payments of $405 375 to Saskatchewan from the federal government.
Compensation for use of public lands by the federal government.
Existing federal lands, mines and minerals will remain the property of the federal government.
Properties and assets of the Northwest Territories to be divided equally between Saskatchewan and Alberta.
Preserves the rights of the Hudson's Bay Company with respect to land surrendered to the Crown.
Provisions for the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Act comes into effect on September 1, 1905.
First general election was held on December 13, 1905.
The Alberta Act was passed at the same time.

Original Electoral Divisions
The original 25 electoral divisions were defined in a schedule following the main body of the act.

These 25 divisions were:

Souris
Cannington
Moosomin
Whitewood
Grenfell
Wolseley
Saltcoats
Yorkton
South Qu'Appelle
North Qu'Appelle
South Regina
Regina City
Lumsden
Moosejaw
Moosejaw City
Maple Creek
Humboldt
Kinistino
Prince Albert
Prince Albert City
Batoche
Saskatoon
Rosthern
Redberry
Battleford

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saskatchewan_Act

History
Prior to European settlement, Saskatchewan was settled by Athabaskan, Algonquian, 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.

Many Métis people, who had not taken Treaty, had moved to the Saskatchewan Rivers district north of present-day Saskatoon following the Red River Rebellion in Manitoba in 1870. In the early 1880s, the Canadian Government refused to hear the Metis' grievances, which stemmed from land-use issues. Finally, in 1885, the Metis, 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 officially became a province on September 1, 1905 and inauguration day was held September 4.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saskatchewan#History