The Canadian Prairies is a region in western Canada, which may correspond to
several different definitions, natural or political. Notably, the Prairie
provinces, Interior Plains, or simply the Prairies comprise the provinces of
Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, as they are partially covered by prairie.
In a more restricted sense, the term may also refer only to the areas of those
provinces covered by prairie. Prairie also covers portions of northeastern
British Columbia, though that province is typically not included in the region
in a political sense. Definitions
The word prairie usually refers to a type of grassland, and true prairies
occur only in the southern reaches of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Contrasted to
this are other biomes such as the boreal forest taking up the majority of the
Prairie Provinces, or the aspen parkland.
However "the prairies" may also refer to all of the Interior Plains region within
Canada, in contrast with the Rocky Mountains and the Canadian Shield, and
is a continuation of the Great Plains region of the United States.
It may also refer to all of the farmland in the provinces of Alberta,
Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, a definition based on human use, which includes all
of the aspen parkland biome. Main climates
According to the Köppen climate classification the Canadian prairies
generally experience dry semi-arid climates in the brown soil regions, and
somewhat dry Humid Continental climates in the outer dark brown and black soil
areas. The Canadian prairies typically experience about 12 to 15 inches of
annual precipitation in the semi-arid areas while they experience 16 to 20
inches in the continental regions. Manitoba is generally the coldest and
most humid of the three prairie provinces.
Physical geography Although the Prairie Provinces region is
named for the prairies located within Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, the
physical geography of the three provinces is quite diverse, consisting
of portions of the Canadian Shield, the Western Cordillera and the Canadian
Interior Plains. The plains comprise both prairies and forests while, with
the exception of Arctic tundra along the Hudson Bay, the shield is predominantly
forested. = Prairies =
Three main grassland types occur in the Canadian prairies: tallgrass prairie,
mixed grass prairie, and fescue prairie. Each has a unique geographic
distribution and characteristic mix of plant species. All but a fraction of one
percent of the tallgrass prairie has been converted to cropland. What remains
occurs on the 6,000 square kilometres plain centred in the Red River Valley in
Manitoba. Mixed prairie is more common and is part of the dry interior plains
that extend from Canada south to the U.S. state of Texas. More than half of
the remaining native grassland in the Canadian prairies is mixed. Though
widespread in southern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta, because of
extensive cattle grazing, it is estimated that only 24% of the original
mixed prairie grassland remains. Fescue prairie occurs in the moister regions,
occupying the northern extent of the prairies in central and southwestern
Alberta and west-central Saskatchewan. The southwestern Canadian prairies,
supporting brown and black soil types, are semi-arid and highly prone to
frequent and severe droughts. The zones around the cities of Regina and
immediately east of Calgary are also very dry. Most heavy precipitation
quickly dissipates by the time it passes Cheadle on its way heading east. In an
average year, southern Saskatchewan receives between 30-51 centimetres of
precipitation, with the majority falling between April and June. Frost from
October to April limits the growing season for certain crops.
The eastern section of the Canadian prairies in Manitoba is well watered
with several large lakes such as Lake Winnipeg and several large rivers. The
area also gets reasonable amounts of precipitation. The middle sections of
Alberta and Saskatchewan are also wetter than the south and have better farmland,
despite having a shorter frost-free season. The areas around Edmonton and
Saskatoon are especially notable as good crop land. However, Edmonton and
Saskatoon both lie far enough north that they are surrounded by aspen parkland
rather than fescue prairie. Further north, the area becomes too cold
for most agriculture besides wild rice operations and sheep raising, and it is
dominated by boreal forest. The Peace Region in northwestern Alberta is an
exception, however. It lies north of the 55th Parallel and is warm and dry enough
to support extensive farming. Like the area around Edmonton, aspen parkland is
a major biome in the Peace Region. The long daylight hours in this region
during the summer are an asset despite having an even shorter growing season
than central Alberta. In fact, agriculture plays a major economic role
in the Peace Region. Demographics
In the Canada 2011 Census, the Canadian prairie provinces had a population of
5,886,906, consisting of 3,645,257 in Alberta, 1,208,268 in Manitoba, and
1,033,381 in Saskatchewan, up 8.9% from 5,406,908 in 2006. The three provinces
have a combined area of 1,780,650.6 km2, consisting of 640,081.87 km2 in Alberta,
552,329.52 km2 in Manitoba, and 588,239.21 km2 in Saskatchewan.
= Growth = Some of the prairie region of Canada has
seen rapid growth from a boom in oil production since the mid-20th century.
Economy Primary industries include agriculture,
and cattle and sheep ranching. Also, natural resources such as oil sands and
other forms of oil production can be found on the plains. Secondary
industries consist of the refinement of oils and agriculture processing.
Culture and politics The Prairies are distinguished from the
rest of Canada by cultural and political traits. The oldest influence on Prairie
culture are the First Nations, who have lived in the area for millennia. The
first Europeans to see the Prairies were fur traders and explorers from eastern
Canada and Great Britain via Hudson Bay. They gave rise to the Métis, working
class "children of the fur trade." Not until the Canadian Pacific Railway was
built did widespread agricultural settlement occur. During their
settlement, the prairies were settled in distinct ethnic block settlements giving
certain areas distinctively Ukrainian, German, French, or Scandinavian Canadian
cultures. Some areas also developed cultures
around their main economic activity. For example, southern Alberta is renowned
for its cowboy culture, which developed when real open range ranching was
practiced in the 1880s. Canada's first rodeo, the Raymond Stampede, was
established in 1902. These influences are also evident in the music of
Canada's Prairie Provinces. This can be attributed partially to the massive
influx of American settlers who began to migrate to Alberta in the late 1880s
because of the lack of available land in the United States.
The Prairie Provinces have given rise to the "prairie protest" movements, such as
the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919, the first general strike in Canadian
history. These political movements tend to feed off of well established feelings
of Western alienation, and each one represents a distinct challenge to the
perceived Central Canadian elite. The Prairies continue to have a wide
range of political representation. While the Conservative Party of Canada has
widespread support throughout the region, the New Democratic Party holds
seats at the provincial level in all three provinces, forming the government
in two, as well as holding seats at the federal level in Alberta and Manitoba.
The Liberal Party of Canada presently holds federal seats in urban areas of
Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, while the Alberta Liberal Party holds a
provincial seat in Alberta and the Manitoba Liberal Party holds a seat in
Manitoba. See also
Further reading Alberta Encyclopedia Online
Archer, John H. Saskatchewan: A History Barnhart, Gordon L., ed. Saskatchewan
Premiers of the Twentieth Century.. 418 pp.
Bennett, John W. and Seena B. Kohl. Settling the Canadian-American West,
1890-1915: Pioneer Adaptation and Community Building. An Anthropological
History.. 311 pp. online edition Danysk, Cecilia. Hired Hands: Labour and
the Development of Prairie Agriculture, 1880-1930.. 231 pp.
Emery, George. The Methodist Church on the Prairies, 1896-1914. McGill-Queen's
U. Press, 2001. 259 pp. The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan: A
Living Legacy. U. of Regina Canadian Plains Research Center, 2005. online
1071pp in print edition Fairbanks, C. and S.B. Sundberg. Farm
Women on the Prairie Frontier. Friesen, Gerald, The Canadian prairies:
a history, University of Toronto Press, ISBN 0-8020-6648-8
Hodgson, Heather, ed. Saskatchewan Writers: Lives Past and Present. Regina:
Canadian Plains Research Center, 2004. 247 pp.
Jones, David C. Empire of Dust: Settling and Abandoning the Prairie Dry Belt. 316
pp. Keahey, Deborah. Making It Home: Place
in Canadian Prairie Literature.. 178 pp. Langford, N. "Childbirth on the Canadian
Prairies 1880-1930." Journal of Historical Sociology, 1995. Vol. 8, No.
3, pp. 278–302. Langford, Nanci Louise. "First
Generation and Lasting Impressions: The Gendered Identities of Prairie Homestead
Women." PhD dissertation U. of Alberta 1994. 229 pp. DAI 1995 56(4): 1544-A.
DANN95214 Fulltext: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
Laycock, David. Populism and Democratic Thought in the Canadian Prairies, 1910
to 1945.. 369 pp. Melnyk, George. The Literary History of
Alberta, Vol. 1: From Writing-on-Stone to World War Two. U. of Alberta Press,
1998. 240 pp. Morton, Arthur S. and Chester Martin,
History of prairie settlement 511pp Morton, W. L. Manitoba, a History
University of Toronto Press, 1957 online edition
Norrie, K. H. "The Rate of Settlement of the Canadian Prairies, 1870-1911,"
Journal of Economic History, Vol. 35, No. 2, pp. 410–427 in JSTOR; statistical
models Palmer, Howard. The Settlement of the
West online edition Pitsula, James M. "Disparate Duo" Beaver
2005 85(4): 14-24, a comparison of Saskatchewan and Alberta, Fulltext in
EBSCO Rollings-Magnusson, Sandra. "Canada's
Most Wanted: Pioneer Women on the Western Prairies." Canadian Review of
Sociology and Anthropology 2000 37(2): 223-238. Issn: 0008-4948 Fulltext: Ebsco
Swyripa, Frances. Storied Landscapes: Ethno-Religious Identity and the
Canadian Prairies 296 pp. ISBN 978-0-88755-720-0
Thompson, John Herd. Forging the Prairie West.
Wardhaugh, Robert A. Mackenzie King and the Prairie West.. 328 pp.
Waiser, Bill, and John Perret. Saskatchewan: A New History
= Historiography = Ingles, Ernie B, Peel's Bibliography of
the Canadian Prairies to 1953, University of Toronto Press, ISBN
0-8020-4825-0 Wardhaugh, Robert A., ed. Toward
Defining the Prairies: Region, Culture, and History.. 234 pp.
Wardhaugh, Robert; Calder, Alison, History, literature, and the writing of
the Canadian Prairies, University of Manitoba Press, ISBN 0-88755-682-5 310
pp. References