From international travel vloggers to Regina residents, many people have a problem with Saskatchewan. “It’s too flat, there’s nothing to do, ” are common complaints made by people who would rather be somewhere else.
Perhaps the grass is greener on the other side of the border, but there’s less to go around. There’s room to grow in Saskatchewan, and it can be a beautiful place to do so.
From the Athabasca Sand Dunes to the Cypress Hills and the Birch forests of Moose Mountain, there’s a lot to see in these wide open spaces.
Nature can also make Saskatchewan a hard place to live.
Dealing with the climate in Saskatchewan will require some resilience if you are here long enough (around 15 minutes). Resilient people have still lived here for thousands of years.
Even with the long winters and sometimes barren landscape, the earliest known settlement in Saskatchewan is dated to roughly 11,000 years ago.
Indigenous peoples adapted and thrived throughout the province. With the introduction of the horse, the most flat and open parts of the province became habitable. They had the knowledge to live here for millennia, before Europeans attempted to settle past the Manitoba border.
Saskatchewan became one of the final frontiers of the old west, hosting some of the last wild bison herds to be exterminated from the great plains in 1883.
It is sad and perhaps a little poetic that Regina was originally known as “Pile of Bones.”
After the defeat of the Northwest Resistance in 1885, homesteaders flooded the province and the stereotypical Saskatchewan small towns began to spring up.
Suffering and succeeding from the boom and busts of grain markets, these rural centers developed a unique hardiness that lasts to this day.
People from all over the world have come to Saskatchewan to build their lives and raise generations of their families. Practicing their own religions and way of life, with a mutual respect.
The people of Saskatchewan often have an appreciation for rural life that is lacking in other parts of the country.
Some say our urban life suffers as a result. Regina and Saskatoon may not be metropolises, but that’s the best part.
Regina is a growing government town, but the city’s culture maintains a small town humility. Saskatoon has the privilege of being a little easier on the eyes and has a living cosmopolitan culture.
Regina and Saskatoon are more affordable when compared to most other urban centres in Canada, and with affordability becoming more of a problem, Saskatchewan may be the best option in a bad situation.
For those in the younger generation, it may be financially out of the question to buy a home in Vancouver or Toronto in the near future. However, it’s still possible to scrape together enough for a down payment on a fixer upper in Moose Jaw.
Sometimes a chance to build something is all you need to survive in Saskatchewan.
Post edited and republished.
