Saskatoon

The river valley was a meeting and hunting ground for Northern Plains peoples for thousands of years, as the archaeological sites at Wanuskewin, on the city's northern edge, show; bison were hunted and winter camps sheltered in its coulees. In 1882 the Toronto-based Temperance Colonization Society was granted land straddling the South Saskatchewan River for a settlement free of alcohol. The first settlers came by railway from Ontario to Moose Jaw and finished the journey by horse-drawn cart. The founder, John Neilson Lake, told several stories of how the place was named after the saskatoon berry; the name most likely comes from a Cree term for the place where saskatoon willows were cut for arrow shafts.

During the North-West Resistance of 1885, soldiers wounded at Fish Creek and Batoche were nursed in the young settlement. In 1903 the community on the west bank took a town charter as Saskatoon, the original east-bank townsite was renamed Nutana, and in 1906 Saskatoon, Nutana and Riversdale merged into a city of about 4,500 people. The University of Saskatchewan was established in the city, and railways and wheat drove its growth; Sutherland, a rail town beyond the university, was annexed in 1956.

Later decades brought potash, uranium and science. The Meewasin Valley Authority was created in 1979 to protect the riverbank, the Canadian Light Source synchrotron opened in 2004, and the Remai Modern replaced the Mendel Art Gallery in 2017. The old Traffic Bridge was demolished in 2016 and replaced by a new crossing in its likeness. Cynthia Block was elected mayor in 2024.

Saskatoon likes to call itself the "Paris of the Prairies" and the "City of Bridges", and its identity is tied to the river: the Meewasin trail and its riverside parks are where people walk, run, cycle and skate. The arts are strong for a city of its size. Joni Mitchell grew up here, the Persephone Theatre has staged plays since 1974, Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan has performed in tents on the riverbank since 1985, the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival has run since 1987, and the Fringe fills Broadway Avenue each August. The Remai Modern holds more than 400 linocuts and ceramics by Pablo Picasso.

Indigenous people make up about 11.5 per cent of the population, the second-highest share among major Canadian cities, mostly of Cree and Dakota background, and the city has a substantial Métis community close to the historic settlements of the South Branch. Wanuskewin presents Northern Plains culture with displays, events and a reintroduced bison herd. Ukrainian immigrants arrived in large numbers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the Ukrainian Museum of Canada keeps their traditions.

Sport follows the prairie pattern: the Blades in junior hockey since 1964, the Saskatchewan Rush, lacrosse champions in 2016 and 2018, and the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, one of the strongest university football programmes in Canada. Many residents also follow the Roughriders, the province's football team.

At the 2021 census the city had 266,141 people and the metropolitan area 317,480, making Saskatoon the largest city in Saskatchewan. About a fifth of residents were born outside Canada, most often in the Philippines, India, China, Pakistan and Nigeria, and about 11.5 per cent are Indigenous.

The economy rests on resources and knowledge. The region holds nearly two-thirds of the world's recoverable potash reserves, and both Nutrien, the world's largest potash producer, and Cameco, the largest publicly traded uranium company, have their headquarters here; farming, oil and gas, and their spin-off industries add the rest of the old "POW City" nickname of potash, oil and wheat. The university, the Royal University Hospital, the Innovation Place science park and the Canadian Light Source make it a centre of research.

Most people live in suburban neighbourhoods that have spread across the flat prairie, and life is car-based outside the centre. Older inner neighbourhoods such as Nutana and Riversdale have seen heavy reinvestment, though Riversdale is still considered a lower-income area, and some west-side districts have more crime than the rest of the city. Summer life moves outdoors to the river, patios and festivals; winter brings long cold months of hockey rinks and indoor gatherings.

Saskatoon takes its name from a fruit. The saskatoon berry, a small purple berry native to the prairies, is baked into pies and made into jams, syrups, wine and cider, and saskatoon berry pie is the dessert most associated with the city. Prairie farm cooking supplies the rest of the local table: beef, bison and farmer sausage, and the dishes of the Ukrainian settlers — perogies, dumplings filled with potato and cheese and served with fried onion and sour cream, and holubtsi, cabbage rolls filled with rice.

The Saskatoon Farmers' Market, which has moved from River Landing to a site on Koyl Avenue near the airport, sells local produce, and the SaskMade Marketplace sells food made in the province. The province grows canola, wheat, lentils and mustard, and is the world's largest exporter of mustard seed, though little of these crops reaches local plates.

Broadway Avenue is the established restaurant and café street, busy with students and evening crowds, and 20th Street in Riversdale has become a second food district as new restaurants have opened among older businesses. Immigration from the Philippines, South Asia and Africa has widened the choice across the city, and craft breweries and small distillers have multiplied, as in the other prairie cities.