Saskatchewan Act

Last updated

Saskatchewan Act
Loi sur la Saskatchewan
Parliament-Ottawa.jpg
Parliament of Canada
  • An Act to establish and provide for the Government of the Province of Saskatchewan
CitationSC 1905, c. 42
Enacted by Parliament of Canada
Assented toJuly 20, 1905
CommencedSeptember 1, 1905

The Saskatchewan Act (French : Loi sur la Saskatchewan) is an act of the Parliament of Canada which established the new province of Saskatchewan, effective September 1, 1905. Its long title is An Act to establish and provide for the government of the Province of Saskatchewan. The act received royal assent on July 20, 1905. The Saskatchewan Act is part of the Constitution of Canada. [1] [2]

Contents

Creation

From 1870 to 1905, the region which is now Saskatchewan was part of the North-West Territories, established by the Parliament of Canada. As the population of the North-West Territories increased, its government evolved from an appointed lieutenant governor in 1876, to responsible government in 1897, to near full provincial powers, with the exception of direct taxation by 1901. However, with the Government of Canada failing to cover the full expenses of the territories, Premier Frederick Haultain requested provincial status for a large swathe of the territories.

The initial proposal by the Conservative Haultain to Liberal Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier in 1900 was seconded by Liberal James Ross, and was taken under consideration by Clifford Sifton, Minister of the Interior. Haultain desired that the entire area between Manitoba and British Columbia be incorporated as a single province, due to the region's shared history and economy. Others supported splitting the area into two or more separate provinces based on the existing provisional districts, for fear a single province would be unwieldy, and that it might come to dominate federal politics. The Laurier government postponed any decision until after the 1904 election, during which Haultain actively campaigned for the Conservatives. The Conservatives lost to Laurier's Liberals, and following the election, the Liberals decided to create two provinces, Saskatchewan and Alberta.

Two sections in the act as passed caused significant controversy: section 17, which constitutionally entrenched the existing rights of the religious minority in each school district, whether Roman Catholic or Protestant, to establish publicly funded separate schools, with no discrimination in public funding against the separate schools, and section 21, which reserved management of public lands and natural resources to the Government of Canada.

Section 17 was controversial because the issue of religious instruction also paralleled language issues, as Protestants were mainly anglophones, and most francophones were Roman Catholic. English Canadians felt that immigrants should be assimilated into the British culture and language, while French Canadians saw any removal of existing protections as an attack on the French culture. Clifford Sifton resigned rather than support the initial draft of this provision, which he considered to be expanding the rights then in force under the territorial law. A modified version of section 17 was included in the act despite the protests and Sifton's resignation.

Section 21 allowed the Government of Canada to retain control over the public lands and natural resources in the new province, unlike the situation in the older provinces, which had control over their public lands and natural resources. [3] While the act provided for monetary transfers to compensate for the lack of resource revenue, this policy hindered the economic growth of the new province[ citation needed ] and became one of the original sources of western alienation. Haultain formed a protest party, the Provincial Rights Party, based around this issue. The province finally obtained control over natural resources in 1930, with the passage of the Natural Resources Acts and the Constitution Act, 1930. This issue was again clarified in the Constitution Act, 1982.

The Alberta Act was passed at the same time as the Saskatchewan Act, creating the new province of Alberta. [4] At the time, the two acts were often referred to as the "Autonomy Acts." The provisions of the two acts are very similar.

Sections of the act

The act consists of the following sections (paraphrased):

  1. Provides the shortened name of the act.
  2. Describes the physical boundaries of the province.
  3. Constitution Act, 1867 applies to Saskatchewan.
  4. Four members appointed to the Senate of Canada.
  5. Current representation in the House of Commons will remain in effect until the next election.
  6. Sets the number of Members of Parliament members based on population.
  7. Election guidelines of the Northwest Territories applies to the province until amended by Parliament.
  8. Lieutenant governor determines members of the Executive Council.
  9. Seat of government is Regina.
  10. Powers of the lieutenant governor of the Northwest Territories shall be same as those of the lieutenant governor in Saskatchewan.
  11. Lieutenant governor shall provide a Great Seal for the new province.
  12. The single house of the provincial legislature to be named the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan.
  13. 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.
  14. Current laws of the Northwest Territories shall apply to Saskatchewan.
  15. The first general election must be called within six months. [5]
  16. Laws and courts: Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories may be abolished in Saskatchewan if replaced by a similar court.
  17. Amended section 93 of the Constitution Act, 1867 as it applies in Saskatchewan; rights of Roman Catholics and Protestants to separate schools continued.
  18. Subsidies from the federal government based on a fixed amount and population size.
  19. Annual payments of $405 375 to Saskatchewan from the federal government.
  20. Compensation for use of public lands by the federal government.
  21. Existing federal lands, mines and minerals will remain the property of the federal government.
  22. Properties and assets of the Northwest Territories to be divided equally between Saskatchewan and Alberta.
  23. Preserves the rights of the Hudson's Bay Company with respect to land surrendered to the Crown.
  24. Provisions for the Canadian Pacific Railway. Repealed retroactive to August 29, 1966, by the Constitution Amendment, 2022 (Saskatchewan Act) .
  25. Act comes into effect on September 1, 1905.

Original electoral divisions

The original 25 electoral divisions were defined in a schedule following the main body of the act. These 25 divisions were:

  1. Souris
  2. Cannington
  3. Moosomin
  4. Whitewood
  5. Grenfell
  6. Wolseley
  7. Saltcoats
  8. Yorkton
  9. South Qu'Appelle
  10. North Qu'Appelle
  11. South Regina
  12. Regina City
  13. Lumsden
  14. Moose Jaw
  15. Moose Jaw City
  16. Maple Creek
  17. Humboldt
  18. Kinistino
  19. Prince Albert
  20. Prince Albert City
  21. Batoche
  22. Saskatoon
  23. Rosthern
  24. Redberry
  25. Battleford

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Sifton</span> Premier of Alberta from 1910 to 1917

Arthur Lewis Watkins Sifton was a Canadian lawyer, judge and politician who served as the second premier of Alberta from 1910 until 1917. He became a minister in the federal cabinet of Canada thereafter. Born in Canada West, he grew up there and in Winnipeg, where he became a lawyer. He subsequently practised law with his brother Clifford Sifton in Brandon, where he was also active in municipal politics. He moved west to Prince Albert in 1885 and to Calgary in 1889. There, he was elected to the 4th and 5th North-West Legislative Assemblies; he served as a minister in the government of premier Frederick Haultain. In 1903, the federal government, at the instigation of his brother, made Sifton the Chief Justice of the Northwest Territories. After Alberta was created out of a portion of the Northwest Territories in 1905, Sifton became the first Chief Justice of Alberta in 1907 and served until 1910.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Cameron Rutherford</span> Canadian lawyer and politician (1857–1941)

Alexander Cameron Rutherford was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the first premier of Alberta from 1905 to 1910. Born in Ormond, Canada West, he studied and practiced law in Ottawa before he moved with his family to the North-West Territories in 1895. There, he began his political career, winning in his third attempt a seat in the North-West Legislative Assembly. In keeping with the territorial custom, Rutherford ran as an independent but generally supported the territorial administration of Premier Frederick W. A. G. Haultain. At the federal level, however, Rutherford was a Liberal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1905 in Canada</span> Canada-related events during the year of 1905

Events from the year 1905 in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Scott (Canadian politician)</span> First premier of Saskatchewan (1867–1938)

Thomas Walter Scott was the first premier of Saskatchewan from 1905 to 1916. Scott was Saskatchewan's second longest-serving Premier, serving one continuous term from 1905 to 1916). He led the Saskatchewan Liberal Party in three general elections, winning all three with majority governments before retiring. He was the first of six Liberal Premiers to date. He was succeeded by William Melville Martin. Scott was also the minister of various departments during his tenure as premier. Prior to the creation of Saskatchewan in 1905, Scott was a Member of Parliament in the federal House of Commons of Canada, elected in the general elections of 1900 and 1904.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick W. A. G. Haultain</span> Canadian politician (1857–1942)

Sir Frederick William Alpin Gordon Haultain was a lawyer and a long-serving Canadian politician and judge. His career in provincial and territorial legislatures stretched into four decades. He served as the first premier of the Northwest Territories from 1897 to 1905 as is recognized as having a significant contribution towards the creation of the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. From 1905 on he served as Leader of the Official Opposition in Saskatchewan as well as Leader of the Provincial Rights Party. His legislative career ended when he was appointed to the judiciary in 1912.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories</span> Single house of legislature of the Northwest Territories

The Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, or Legislative Council of the Northwest Territories, is the legislature and the seat of government of Northwest Territories in Canada. It is a unicameral elected body that creates and amends law in the Northwest Territories. Permanently located in Yellowknife since 1993, the assembly was founded in 1870 and became active in 1872 with the first appointments from the Government of Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George H. V. Bulyea</span> Canadian politician (1859–1928)

George Hedley Vicars Bulyea was a Canadian politician and the first Lieutenant Governor of Alberta. As the youngest ever Lieutenant Governor, at age 46, he was appointed by Governor General Earl Grey on advice of Prime Minister of Canada Sir Wilfrid Laurier on September 1, 1905.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1905 Alberta general election</span> 1905 Canadian election

The 1905 Alberta general election was the first general election held in the Province of Alberta, Canada, shortly after the province entered Canadian Confederation on September 1, 1905. The election was held on November 9, 1905, to elect twenty-five members to the 1st Alberta Legislative Assembly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan</span> Viceregal representative in Saskatchewan of the Canadian monarch

The lieutenant governor of Saskatchewan is the representative in Saskatchewan of the Canadian monarch, King Charles III, who operates distinctly within the province but is also shared equally with the ten other jurisdictions of Canada, as well as the other Commonwealth realms and any subdivisions thereof, and resides predominantly in his oldest realm, the United Kingdom. The lieutenant governor of Saskatchewan is appointed in the same manner as the other provincial viceroys in Canada and is similarly tasked with carrying out most of the monarch's constitutional and ceremonial duties. The current lieutenant governor is Russell Mirasty, who was appointed on July 17, 2019, following the death in office of Lieutenant Governor W. Thomas Molloy, on July 2, 2019.

Articles related to Saskatchewan include:

The North-West Territories Liberal-Conservative Party also known formally as the Liberal-Conservative Association prior to 1903 and the Territorial Conservative Association after 1903, was a short lived political party in the Northwest Territories, Canada. from 1897 to 1905. It was a branch of the federal Conservative Party of Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Northwest Territories capital cities</span> Capitals of a Canadian territory (1870–)

The history of Northwest Territories capital cities begins with the purchase of the Territories by Canada from the Hudson's Bay Company in 1869, and includes a varied and often difficult evolution. Northwest Territories is unique amongst the other provinces and territories of Canada in that it has had seven capital cities in its history. The territory has changed the seat of government for numerous reasons, including civil conflict, development of infrastructure, and a history of significant revisions to its territorial boundaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Wilson Cross</span> Canadian politician (1872–1928)

Charles Wilson Cross was a Canadian politician who served in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and the House of Commons of Canada. He was also the first Attorney-General of Alberta. Born in Ontario, he studied law at Osgoode Hall Law School before coming west to practise in Edmonton. He became active with the Liberal Party of Canada, and when Alberta was created in 1905 he was chosen by Premier Alexander Cameron Rutherford to be its first Attorney-General. Implicated in the Alberta and Great Waterways Railway scandal, he resigned in 1910 along with the rest of Rutherford's government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Brett</span> Canadian politician

Robert George Brett was a politician and physician in the North-West Territories and Alberta, Canada, and was the second lieutenant governor of Alberta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Stuart (Canadian politician)</span> Canadian politician

Charles Allan Stuart was a Canadian politician and jurist in the province of Alberta. Born in Canada West and educated in the same area after it became Ontario, he came west in 1897 and set up a law practice in Calgary. After a failed election bid to the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, he was elected to the Calgary City Council and then to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. He resigned before the end of his term in the latter body to accept a judgeship on the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories. He was later appointed to the new Supreme Court of Alberta. He was also the first Chancellor of the University of Alberta, serving in that capacity from 1908 until his death in 1926.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malcolm McKenzie</span> Canadian politician (1863–1913)

Malcolm McKenzie was a Canadian politician who served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and, briefly, as Alberta Provincial Treasurer.

The Politics of Saskatchewan relate to the Canadian federal political system, along with the other Canadian provinces. Saskatchewan has a lieutenant-governor, who is the representative of the Crown in right of Saskatchewan; a premier—currently Scott Moe—leading the cabinet; and a unicameral legislature. As of the most recent provincial election in 2020, the province is divided into 61 electoral districts, each of which elects a representative to the Legislature, who becomes their member, or MLA. In 2020, Moe's Saskatchewan Party was elected to a majority government. Regina is the provincial capital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natural Resources Acts</span> Laws of Canada respecting natural resources

The natural resources acts were a series of Acts passed by the Parliament of Canada and the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan in 1930 to transfer control over crown lands and natural resources within these provinces from the Government of Canada to the provincial governments. Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan had not been given control over their natural resources when they entered Confederation, unlike the other Canadian provinces. British Columbia had surrendered certain portions of its natural resources and Crown lands to the federal government, the Railway Belt and the Peace River Block, when it entered Confederation in 1871, as part of the agreement for the building of the transcontinental railway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Section 93 of the Constitution Act, 1867</span> Provision of the Constitution of Canada

Section 93 of the Constitution Act, 1867 is a provision of the Constitution of Canada relating to education. It gives the provinces a broad legislative jurisdiction over education. Section 93 also contains guarantees of publicly funded denominational and separate schools for Catholic or Protestant minorities in some provinces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rutherford Ministry</span> Cabinet of Alberta, 1905–1910

The Rutherford Ministry was the combined Cabinet, chaired by Premier Alexander Cameron Rutherford, and Ministers that governed Alberta from the day following the province's Confederation into Canada on September 2, 1905, to part way through the 2nd Alberta Legislature on May 26, 1910.

References

  1. Tattrie, Jon. "Alberta and Confederation". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  2. Constitution Act, 1982 , s. 52(2); Schedule, Item 13.
  3. Constitution Act, 1867 , s. 109.
  4. Alberta Act, S.C. 1905, c. 3.
  5. First general election was held on December 13, 1905.