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 SASKATCHEWAN

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SASKATCHEWAN

Department, which gives the number of Catholics among them as 2939. The aboriginal races within the two provinces are the Blackfeet and cognate tribes, in the south of Alberta; the Sarcees, a small Dene division adopted by the Blackfoot confederacy; the Assiniboines, or Stone Indians, a branch of the Sioux family; the Sioux proper, groups of whom have remained in Saskatchewan ever since Custer's Mas- sacre (1876); the Saulteux, an Algonquin tribe for- merly stationed considerably to the east of its present haunts, and the Crees, who can claim as their owti the great Saskatchewan plains, the muskegs of the north-east, and the southern fringe of the great north- ern forest. To these may be added a few Dene tribes, who are to be found near the northern boundaries of both pro\nnces at He a la Crosse on Lake Athabasca, near Caribou Lake, etc. The French, and the French half-breed population of Alberta is estimated at 23,- 000, who have at least a score of parishes, mostly around and north of Edmonton.

Ecclesiastical Organization. — The two provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta comprise to-day five ecclesiastical divisions, \nz.: The Diocese of St. Albert, in Alberta; those of Prince Albert, and Regina, in Saskatchewan, and the two Vica- riates x\postolic of Athabasca, mo.stly in Northern Alberta, and of Keewatin, partly in Northern Saskat- chewan (separate articles are devoted to tho.se dio- ceses, and to the Vicariate Apostolic of Athabasca). The Vicariate Apostolic of Keewatin was erected on 4 March, 1910, the Right Rev. Ovide Charlebois, O.M.L, being appointed vicar Apostolic 8 August fol- lowing, and consecrated Bishop of Berenice by Mgr. Langevin, Archbishop of St. Boniface on 30 Nov. of the same year. The limits of the new vicariate are very complicated. They run from the North Pole along 100° W. long, as far as 60° N. lat. then follow the watershed 56° N. lat., where they coincide with the eastern boundaries of the Athabasca vicariate, and the northern limits of the Dioceses of Prince Albert and St. Boniface as far as 91° W. long, which they then follow to Hudson Bay. The territory included is of the most desolate character; marshes and dreary wastes, which afford meagre support to a native population of 10,000 or 12,000 souls, almost all of whom are Crees, Denes, or Eskimos. Among these there are about 6000 Catho- lic converts. The most prosperous group is that which has settled at the pioneer mission of He k la Cros.se, established in 1844.

Education. — In the west as in the east of Canada the education of j-outh has long been a bone of con- tention between the secular and the religious au- thorities. What is now Saskatchewan and Alberta had been for five years governed from Ottawa, under the name of North-West Territories, when, in 1875, some sort of autonomy was granted them, and the Cathohcs settled therein were accorded the right of having their own schools, without contrib- uting to the maintenance of any others. This equi- table arrangement coming from a higher, or constitu- tive authority, should have been considered beyond the reach of a lower legislature. Yet in 1892 it was abrogated by an ordinance of the territories, which decreed the absolute neutrality, from a denominational standpoint, of all the schools of the Far ^^'est. This act was afterwards admitted by some la^\'\-ers of note to be unconstitutional. Therefore when the new provinces were created in 1905, Sir Wilfrid Lauricr, then Premier of Canada made an effort to insert in their constitution a provi.so (clause xvi) whereby the school system of 1875 was reintroduced. Unfortu- nately he did not succeed in overcoming the opposi- tion of one of his co-ministers supported by the clam- ours of the anti-Catholic element in the east. The result was a sort of compromise, which does not satisfy the Catholic minority, though it certainly gives it some appreciable advantages.

The present educational situation is this: con- formably to the Act of 1905 there are in Sas- katchewan and Alberta pubHc and separate schools. The former are established by the majority of the rate-payers of a place, the latter may be set up by the minority of the same. Either kind is supported by the taxes le\ied on that part of the population for which it is intended, to which is added a Government grant based on the qualit}' of the teaching and the number of days the school" is open. On the petition of three resident rate-payers, a sepa- rate school district may be erected, which will thence- forth be governed by commissioners, electefl by the rate-payers interested therein, and wall enjoy the same rights and privileges as those of a public school dis- trict. One of the.se consists in the right to choose the teacher who, whether in separate or public schools, must hold a certificate of qualification. No religious instruction is allowed except during the last half-hour of the afternoon class. All the schools must be taught in English, though it is permissible for the board of any district to cause a primarj^ course to be taught in French. This is the only concession made to the spirit of the Federal Constitution, such as is represented by the North America Act of 1867, which practically declares both English and French to be the official languages of the Dominion.

By the side of real advantages the school laws in force in Saskatchewan and Alberta have regrettable drawbacks. The advantages consist in the fact that, wherever they are, Catholics can have schools of their own. If they form the majority of a place, their school is termed public. They elect the commission- ers best suited to their wants and aspirations, and through them the teachers. If they are in the minor- t}', they can, with the consent of the proper authority, erect a separate school district with exactly the same privileges. The drawbacks consequent on present conditions lie mostly in the text-books used, since some of the histories prescribed unfortunately con- tain assertions and omissions that are quite objec- tionable from a Catholic standpoint. A short time ago the (lovernment of Saskatchewan authorized the use of Catholic readers for the Catholic separate schools of that province. It happens also that both in Saskatch- ewan and in Alberta there is a council of public instruction composed of five members, two of whom are Catholics. But neither of these advantages is guaranteed by the constitution. Furthermore, Catho- lic normal schools are a boon which is beyond the reach of the Catholic population of either pro\ince. As exemplifying the educational activities of that i)art of Canada, it may be stated that (1905) there were in Saskatchewan 716 schools; 873 (1906); 1101 (1907), and 1422 in 1908. Between 1 Sept., 1905, and the close of 1909, the number of school districts increased from 942 to 2001. There are in each province a num- ber of non-denominational collegiate schools, as well as two State Universities, whose seats are at Saska- toon, and at Strathcona (Edmonton) respectively. In this connexion it may be worth while to remark that the first unofficial lecturer appointed by the University of Sa.skatchewan was a Catholic priest, who was also its first graduate, though his degree was conferred ad honor em.

History. — The first white man to set foot in what is now the Province of Saskatchewan, was Henry Kel- sey, a boy in the employ of the Hudson Bay Company traders. He started from Fort Nelson, and reached a point between the valley of the Saskatchewan and Lake Athabasca. This was in the summer of 1691. In the autumn of 1748, th(> sons of De Laverendrye, the real discoverer of the Canadian West, navigated the Saskatchewan to its forks, where they established Fort Poskoyac. In the course of 1751 Boucher de Niverville sent ten Frenchmen from that post up the river, who erected a fort (La Jonquiere) on the Bow