Saskatchewan Multicultural Week is celebrated each November the week of the 22nd. The Saskatchewan motto is From Many Peoples Strength.

 

Saskatchewan was the first province to enact multiculturalism legislation in 1974, recognizing the right of every community to retain its identity, language and traditional arts and sciences for the mutual benefit of citizens. In 1997 the Act was revised and a section of the Act states the policy should preserve, strengthen and promote Aboriginal cultures and acknowledge their historic and current contribution to development of Saskatchewan. Click here to read The Multiculturalism Act of Saskatchewan.

 

For 2007, Saskatchewan Multicultural Week will be held Nov. 18-24. The Multicultural Council of Saskatchewan is setting up a display at the Regina Airport in celebration of Saskatchewan Multicultural Week and in partnership with F.W.Johnson Collegiate. The display is connected to the Airport Authority office. The Peace by Piece diversity quilt created by Johnson School will be displayed as well as the co-ordinating painted diversity chairs. Many other multicultural items as well as some RIDER PRIDE displays will be included.

 

The Multicultural Council of Saskatchewan is also showing its video The Prairie Black at Johnson School to celebrate Saskatchewan Multicultural Week 2007. This DVD includes a history of the diverse athletic achievements of the Black community in Saskatchewan, including our amazing baseball and football history and featuring the RIDERS! For more information about viewing this dvd, call (306) 721-2767.

 

Restorative Justice Week is also celebrated Nov. 18-25, 2007. In Regina, there was a conference on Peace, Restorative Justice and Human Rights from Nov. 16-17, 2007. The Regina Ecumenical Education Committee on Restorative Justice presented this forum focusing on the question: Will peace, restorative justice and human rights reduce crime? Panelists included Barry Stuart, co-author of Peacemaking Circles:From Crime to Community, Jesse Sutherland, author of World View Skills:Transforming Conflict from the Inside Out and Eber Hampton, professor of administration, University of Regina, and former president of the First Nations University of Canada.

 

In Saskatoon, there are several events happening during Saskatchewan Multicultural Week. From Nov. 23-25, 2007 the Saskatchewan Intercultural Association is holding a conference titled Making Canada Inclusive and Safe. For more information, visit the SIA website: http://www.siassoc.sk.ca/

 

On Monday, Nov. 19, 2007 Serhiy Kostyuk, an Immigrant Settlement Co-ordinator with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress – Saskatchewan Provincial Council, presented results of his survey of recent immigrants from Ukraine. For more information, visit http://www.serhiykostyuk.com/

 

Here are some interesting multicultural highlights compiled by the Multicultural Council of Saskatchewan. We encourage everyone to share the celebration of Saskatchewan Multicultural Week in November.

 

  • The oldest settlements in Saskatchewan, Cumberland House (1774) and Ile-a-la-Crosse (1778) are Metis communities (Source: Gabriel Dumont Institute).

 

  • Gravelbourg is home of the renowned College Mathieu, which was founded in 1918. College Mathieu is the only private Francophone high school in Western Canada. Gravelbourg's cathedral was built in 1918 and is now classified as a heritage monument. The walls of this cathedral are adorned with paintings done by l'Abbé Charles Maillard. It took him ten years to complete the paintings.

 

  • First Nations University of Canada offers its university programs and services on three campuses--Regina Campus, Saskatoon Campus, and Northern Campus (Prince Albert)--as well as in First Nations communities across Saskatchewan and Canada. Regina Campus is the Main Campus of the university. (Source www.firstnationsuniversity.ca)

 

  • The First Nations University of Canada is dedicated to promoting and expanding Aboriginal knowledge in teaching, research and service. (Source www.firstnationsuniversity.ca)

 

  • The First Nations University of Canada is a First Nations’ controlled university, which provides educational opportunities to both First Nations and non-First Nations students selected from a provincial, national and international base. (Source www.firstnationsuniversity.ca)

 

  • Metis from what’s now Western Canada created one of the most unique languages in the world. Linguists throughout the world study Michif-Cree, which mixes Cree verbs and French nouns. (Source: Gabriel Dumont Institute)

 

  • On Jan. 26, 1939 the first Ukrainian credit union in Canada, the New Community Savings and Credit Union, was founded at the Ukrainian National Federation hall in Saskatoon (Source: Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Saskatchewan Provincial Council).

 

  • Saskatoon amateur astronomer Richard Huziak, who is of Ukrainian background, is the only person in Saskatchewan to have his name attached to a minor planet. The asteroid has a diameter of around 21 kilometres and orbits the sun between Mars and Jupiter. As of January 14, 2004 it was named 4143 Huziak by the International Astronomical Union for Huziak's work in education and raising awareness of the night sky (Source: Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Saskatchewan Provincial Council).

 

  • Yorkton-born Roman Kroitor co-designed the IMAX® motion picture system. He produced the first IMAX film, Tiger Child for Expo '70 in
    Osaka. He followed this with other IMAX productions. In 1997 IMAX unveiled a new proprietary technology, invented and developed by Roman that enables three dimension stereoscopic animated films to be released in IMAX 3D theatres (Source: Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Saskatchewan Provincial Council).

 

  • The Gabriel Dumont Institute (GDI), which is owned and operated by Saskatchewan’s Metis, is the only educational institution of its kind.  It operates a teacher education program, a general arts college, a technical, adult-basic education and vocational program, an award-winning publishing program and the largest known Metis-specific library system. (Source: Gabriel Dumont Institute)

 

  • The first documented Black resident of Saskatchewan was Alfred Shadd, a Canadian-born teacher and doctor who moved to Carrot River in 1896. The first mass migration of Blacks to Saskatchewan happened in 1909 when 200 Shiloh people moved to the North Battleford area from Oklahoma (Source: Multicultural Council of Saskatchewan).

 

  • From 1948 to 1955 the Indian Head Rockets, an all Black baseball team in the Negro Leagues, could draw about 20,000 fans to the stadium. At the time, Black people were denied entry in the major leagues of the United States but in Saskatchewan, the opportunities grew (Source: Multicultural Council of Saskatchewan).

 

  • The farming communities of Wapella, Lipton, Hirsch and Edenbridge, Saskatchewan were established by Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe in the late 1800's and early 1900's (Source: Beth Jacob Synagogue).

 

  • September 2004, Saskatchewan Centennial 2005 Youth Ambassador Theresa Sokyrka became the first female, first Saskatchewanian, and first
    Ukrainian Canadian to finish in the top two of Canadian Idol, the nationwide search for Canada's next pop superstar on CTV (Source: Ukrainian Canadian Congress – Saskatchewan Provincial Council).
 
§               The first female Governor General of Canada, Jeanne Sauve, was from Prud'homme.
 
§               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.
 
§                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. 
 
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