Canadian Prairies: Difference between revisions

{{shortShort description|Geographical regionRegion of Western Canada}}

| other_name = Prairies canadiennes ([[Canadian French|French]])

The '''Canadian Prairies''' (usually referred to as simply '''the Prairies''' in Canada) is a region in [[Western Canada]]. It includes the Canadian portion of the [[Great Plains]] and the '''Prairie Provincesprovinces''', namely [[Alberta]], [[Saskatchewan]], and [[Manitoba]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=McGinn |first1=Sean |title=Weather and Climate Patterns in Canada's Prairies |date=2010 |volume=1 |pages=105–119 |doi=10.3752/9780968932148 |url=http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/english/grasslandsbook/Chapter5_ACG.pdf |isbn=9780968932148 |editor1-last=Shorthouse |editor1-first=Joseph |editor2-last=Floate |editor2-first=Kevin }}</ref> These provinces are partially covered by [[grassland]]s, [[plain]]s, and [[lowland]]s, mostly in the southern regions. The northernmost reaches of the Canadian Prairies are less dense in population, marked by [[forest]]s and more variable [[topography]].<ref name=guide>{{cite web |last1=McCullough |first1=J.J. |author-link=J.J. McCullough |title=The Prairies |url=http://www.thecanadaguide.com/places/the-prairies/ |website=The Canada Guide |access-date=8 April 2019}}</ref> If the region is defined to include areas only covered by prairie land, the corresponding region is known as the [[Interior Plains]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Prairies Ecozone |url=http://www.ecozones.ca/english/zone/Prairies/index.html |website=www.ecozones.ca}}</ref> Physical or ecological aspects of the Canadian Prairies extend to northeastern [[British Columbia]], but that area is not included in political use of the term.<ref name=atlas>{{cite web |title=Facts About the Canadian Prairie Provinces |url=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/important-facts-associated-with-the-canadian-prairies-or-the-prairie-provinces-of-canada.html |website=WorldAtlas |last=Chepkemoi |first=Joyce |date=25 April 2017 |access-date=8 April 2019}}</ref>

The prairies in Canada are a [[temperate grassland]] and [[shrubland]] [[biome]] within the [[prairie]] [[ecoregion]] of Canada that consists of [[northern mixed grasslands]] in Alberta, Saskatchewan, southern Manitoba, as well as northern short grasslands in southeastern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Quiring |first1=S. M |last2=Papakryiakou |first2=T. N. |title=An evaluation of agricultural drought indices for the Canadian prairies |journal=Agricultural and Forest Meteorology |date=2003 |volume=118 |issue=1–2 |pages=49–62|doi=10.1016/S0168-1923(03)00072-8 |bibcode=2003AgFM..118...49Q }}</ref> The [[Prairies Ecozone]] of Canada includes the [[northern tall grasslands]] in southern Manitoba and Aspen parkland, which covers central Alberta, central Saskatchewan, and southern Manitoba.<ref>{{cite web |title=Prairies Ecozone |url=http://www.ecozones.ca/english/zone/Prairies/index.html |website=Ecological Framework of Canada |publisher=Government of Canada |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160602234643/http://www.ecozones.ca/english/zone/Prairies/index.html |archive-date=2 June 2016}}</ref> The Prairie starts from north of [[Edmonton]] and it covers the three provinces in a southward-slanting line east to the Manitoba-Manitoba–[[Minnesota]] border.<ref name=wide>{{cite web |title=Wide open spaces, but for how long? |url=http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/wildlife-nature/?path=english/ecozones/prairie |website=The Royal Canadian Geographical Society |publisher=The Royal Canadian Geographical Society |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403174135/http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/wildlife-nature/?path=english%2Fecozones%2Fprairie |archive-date=3 April 2016 |date=16 October 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> The prairie is the most dominant land cover in Alberta and the least in Manitoba, since [[taiga|boreal forest]] covers a large area of Manitoba. Alberta has the most land classified as prairie, while Manitoba has the least, as the [[taiga|boreal forest]] begins more southerly in Manitoba than in Alberta.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Quiring |first1=S. M |last2=Papakryiakou |first2=T. N. |title=An evaluation of agricultural drought indices for the Canadian prairies |journal=Agricultural and Forest Meteorology |date=2003 |volume=118 |issue=1–2 |pages=49–62|doi=10.1016/S0168-1923(03)00072-8 |bibcode=2003AgFM..118...49Q}}</ref>

The core climate of the Canadian prairie region is defined as a semi-[[arid]] climate and is often based upon the [[Köppen climate classification]] system.<ref name=powell>{{cite journal |last1=Powell |first1=J.M |title=Climate Classifications of the Prairie Provinces of Canada |journal=Northern Forest Research Center |date=1978 |url=http://www.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/bookstore_pdfs/23391.pdf}}</ref> This type of classification encompasses five main climate types, with several categoric subtypes based on the precipitation pattern of the [[region]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Köppen climate classification |url=http://hanschen.org/koppen/#classification |website=hanschen.org|date=13 January 2024 }}</ref> The majority of the prairie provinces experience snowy, fully humid [[continental climates]] with cool summers, also known as class Dfc on the Köppen climate scale.<ref name=powell /> The southernmost regions of the prairies tend to experience fully humid continental climates with warm summers, Dfb.<ref name=powell /> A trifling section surrounding the Alberta-Saskatchewan border has been classified as Bsk, semi-cold and [[arid climate]].<ref name=powell />

Precipitation events in the Canadian prairies are very important to study as these locations make up 80% of the country's [[agricultural production]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Agriculture and Food {{!}} The Canadian Encyclopedia |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/agriculture-and-food |website=www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca}}</ref> On average, 454&nbsp;mm of precipitation falls on the prairies each year.<ref name=mcginn5>{{cite journal |last1=McGinn |first1=Sean |title=Weather and Climate Patterns of Canada's Prairies |journal=Anthropods of Canadian Grasslands |date=2010 |volume=1 |doi=10.3752/9780968932148.ch5 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Out of the three prairie provinces, Saskatchewan obtains the least amount of precipitation annually (395&nbsp;mm), with Manitoba receiving the most at 486&nbsp;mm. Most rainfall typically happens in the summer months such as June and July.<ref name=mcginn5 /> With the high humidity of the prairies, tornadoes are likely to occur—marking central [[Saskatchewan]] and southern [[Manitoba]] as high probability areas.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cheng |first1=Vincent Y. S. |last2=Arhonditsis |first2=George B. |last3=Sills |first3=David M. L. |last4=Auld |first4=Heather |last5=Shephard |first5=Mark W. |last6=Gough |first6=William A. |last7=Klaassen |first7=Joan |s2cid=3545698 |title=Probability of Tornado Occurrence across Canada |journal=Journal of Climate |date=19 July 2013 |volume=26 |issue=23 |pages=9415–9428 |doi=10.1175/JCLI-D-13-00093.1 |issn=0894-8755|bibcode=2013JCli...26.9415C |doi-access=free }}</ref> Approximately 72% of [[tornadoes]] in Canada are seen across the prairies<ref>{{cite web |last1=Durage |first1=Samantha |last2=Wirasinghe |first2=S.C |last3=Ruwanpura |first3=Janaka |title=Mitigation of the impact of tornadoes in the Canadian Prairies |url=https://www.crhnet.ca/sites/default/files/library/Samanthi%20-%20CRHNet%202015%20Symposium.pdf |website=Canadian Risk and Hazards Network |publisher=University of Calgary}}</ref> due to the capability of summer thunderstorm precipitation to mechanically mix with the air adjacent to the relatively flat surface of the region.<ref name=mcginn5 />

[[file:Gimli Manitoba Canada Panorama.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|[[Rural Municipality of Gimli|Gimli, Manitoba]], is located on [[Lake Winnipeg]], a very large fresh water lake in the eastern prairies.

|alt=Panorama of city with mixture of five- to ten story-storey buildings]]

Three main grassland types occur in the Canadian prairies: [[tallgrass prairie]], [[mixed grass prairie]], and [[fescue]] prairie (or using the [[World Wide Fund for Nature|WWF]] terminology, [[northern tall grasslands]], [[northern mixed grasslands]], and [[northern short grasslands]]).<ref name=regress>{{cite journal|last1=Williams, G. D. V., Joynt, M. I., & McCormick, P. A. |title=Regression analyses of Canadian prairie crop-district cereal yields, 1961–1972, in relation to weather, soil, and trend. |journal=Canadian Journal of Soil Science |date=1975 |volume=55 |number=1 |pages=43–53|doi=10.4141/cjss75-007 }}</ref> Each has a unique geographic distribution and characteristic mix of plant species. All but a fraction of one percentper cent of the tallgrass prairie has been converted to cropland.<ref name=gauthier>{{cite journal |last1=Gauthier |first1=David A. |last2=Wiken |first2=Ed B. |journal=Environmental Monitoring and Assessment |date=2003 |volume=88 |issue=1/3 |pages=343–364 |title=Monitoring the Conservation of Grassland Habitats, Prairie Ecozone, Canada |doi=10.1023/A:1025585527169|pmid=14570422 |s2cid=23604851 }}</ref> What remains occurs on the {{convert|6000|km2|abbr=on}} 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]].

The southwestern Canadian prairies, supporting brown and [[Chernozem|black]] [[soil]] types, are [[Semi-arid climate|semi-arid]] and highly prone to frequent and severe droughts.<ref name=gregorich>{{cite journal |last1=Gregorich |first1=E.G. |last2=Anderson |first2=D.W. |title=Effects of cultivation and erosion on soils of four toposequences in the Canadian prairies |journal=Geoderma |date=December 1985 |volume=36 |issue=3–4 |pages=343–354 |doi=10.1016/0016-7061(85)90012-6|bibcode=1985Geode..36..343G }}</ref>

Further north, the area becomes too cold for most agriculture besides [[wild rice]] operations and sheep raising, and it is dominated by [[Taiga|boreal forest]]. The [[Peace Region]] in northwestern Alberta is an exception, however.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Price |first1=David T. |last2=Alfaro |first2=R.I. |last3=Brown |first3=K.J. |last4=Flannigan |first4=M.D. |last5=Fleming |first5=R.A. |last6=Hogg |first6=E.H. |last7=Girardin |first7=M.P. |last8=Lakusta |first8=T. |last9=Johnston |first9=M. |last10=McKenney |first10=D.W. |last11=Pedlar |first11=J.H. |last12=Stratton |first12=T. |last13=Sturrock |first13=R.N. |last14=Thompson |first14=I.D. |last15=Trofymow |first15=J.A. |last16=Venier |first16=L.A. |title=Anticipating the consequences of climate change for Canada's boreal forest ecosystems |journal=Environmental Reviews |date=1 December 2013 |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=322–365 |doi=10.1139/er-2013-0042 |issn=1181-8700|doi-access=free }}</ref> It lies north of the 55th Parallel and is warm and dry enough to support extensive farming. [[Aspen parkland]] covers the area; 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.

According to StatsCanada, the prairie provinces had a population of 56,886443,906892 in 20112016. In 20162021, the population had grown by 144.65% to 6,748737,280293.<ref name="www5.statcan.gc.ca">{{cite web |url=http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/a26?lang=eng&id=510005 |title=Archived copy |access-date=2017-05-04 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170504020552/http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/a26?lang=eng&id=510005 |archive-date=2017-05-04}}</ref>

In the mid 20th century, the economy of the prairies exploded, due to the oil boom, and introduced a growth of jobs. The primary industries are agriculture and services.<ref name=guide /> [[Agriculture]] consisting of livestock (cattle and sheep), cultivating crops (oats, canola, wheat, barley), and production of oil.<ref name=atlas /> Due to the production of oil, the service industry expanded in order to provide for the employees of the oil companies extracting the oil. In the 1950s-1970s, the explosion of [[oil production]] increased the worth of Alberta and, allowing it to become the "nationsnation's richest province" and Canada one of the top petroleum exporters in the world.<ref name=atlas /> Edmonton and Calgary drew in a larger population with the increase in jobs in the energy fieldindustry, which causescausing the jobs supporting this fieldindustry to grow as well. It was through the steady economic growth that followed this explosion that the prairies region began to switch from an agriculture-based job sector to one with services included.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Friesen |first1=G |title=The Canadian prairies: A history |date=1987 |publisher=University of Toronto Press}}</ref>

In 2014, the global market for oil fell and led to a recession, impacting the economy dramatically. Alberta still has an oil -dominant economy even as the traditional oil wells dry up,; there are oil sands further north (i.e. [[Fort McMurray]]) that continue to provide jobs to extract, drill and refine the oil.<ref name="atlas" /> Saskatchewan, in particular, in the early 20th century grew economically due to the Canadian agricultural boom and produce large crops of wheat.<ref name="guide" /> It is said to have a "one-crop economy" due to such dependency on this crop alone, but after 1945 the economy took another turn with technological advancements that allowed for the discovery of uranium, oil, and potash.<ref name="guide" />

The Prairies are distinguished from the rest of Canada by cultural and political traits. The oldest influence on Prairie culture are the [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]], who have inhabited this region for millennia. This region has the highest proportion of [[Indigenous peoples in Canada|Indigenous people in Canada]], outside of the "[[Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories|territories]]." The first Europeans to see the Prairies were [[fur traders]] and explorers from eastern Canada (mainly present-day [[Quebec]]) and [[Great Britain]] via [[Hudson Bay]]. They gave rise to the [[Métis people (Canada)|Métis]], [[working class]] "children of the fur trade."<ref name=atlas /> During their settlement by Europeans, the prairies were settled in distinct ethnic [[block settlement]]s giving areas distinctively [[Ukrainian Canadian|Ukrainian]], [[German Canadian|German]], [[French Canadian|French]], or [[Scandinavia]]n Canadian cultures.

Some areas also developed cultures around their main economic activity. For example, southernSouthern Alberta is renowned for its [[cowboy]] culture, which developed when real [[Ranch#The Open Range|open range ranching]] was practisedpracticed in the 1880s.<ref name=atlas /> 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 (and to a lesser extent, Saskatchewan) 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 (both of the left and right) tend to feed off of well established feelings of [[Western alienation]], and each one represents a distinct challenge to the perceived [[Central Canada|Central Canadian]] elite.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Peterson |first1=Larry |title=Revolutionary Socialism and Industrial Unrest in the Era of the Winnipeg General Strike: The Origins of Communist Labour Unionism in Europe and North America |journal=Labour / Le Travail |date=1 January 1984 |volume=13 |pages=115–131 |doi=10.2307/25140403 |jstor=25140403 |s2cid=73518869 |url=https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/LLT/article/view/2604 |issn=1911-4842}}</ref>

The Prairies continue to have a wide range of political representation. While the [[Conservative Party of Canada]] has widespread support throughout the region at both federal and provincial levels, the [[New Democratic Party]] holds seats at the provincial level in all three provinces, asand welltakes asturns holdingwith Conservatives or another right-wing party at provincial government. The NDP holds [[List of House members of the 43rd Parliament of Canada|seats at the federal level]] in Alberta and Manitoba. The [[Liberal Party of Canada]] often holds seats in Alberta and Manitoba; it presently holdholds four federal seats in Winnipeg, while the [[Manitoba Liberal Party]] holds threeone seatsseat in Manitoba.

* Bennett, John W. and Seena B. Kohl. ''Settling the Canadian-American West, 1890–1915: Pioneer Adaptation and Community Building. An Anthropological History''. (1995). 311 pp. [https://www.questia.com/library/book/settling-the-canadian-american-west-1890-1915-pioneer-adaptation-and-community-building-an-anthropological-history-by-john-w-bennett-seena-b-kohl.jsp online edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110818064015/https://www.questia.com/library/book/settling-the-canadian-american-west-1890-1915-pioneer-adaptation-and-community-building-an-anthropological-history-by-john-w-bennett-seena-b-kohl.jsp |date=2011-08-18 }}

* Palmer, Howard. ''The Settlement of the West'' (1977) [https://www.questia.com/read/105450556?title=The%20Settlement%20of%20the%20West online edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110818064030/https://www.questia.com/read/105450556?title=The%20Settlement%20of%20the%20West |date=2011-08-18 }}

[[Category:Regions of Canada|Prairies]]