Regina, Saskatchewan

===Early history (1882–1945)===
Regina was established as the territorial seat of government in 1882 when [[Edgar Dewdney]], the [[lieutenant-governor]] of the [[North-West Territories]], insisted on the site over the better developed [[Battleford]], [[Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan|Troy]] and [[Fort Qu'Appelle]] (the latter some {{cvt|30|mi|order=flip}} to the east, one on rolling plains and the other in the Qu'Appelle Valley between two lakes). These communities were considered better locations for what was anticipated to be a [[metropole]] for the Canadian plains. These locations had ample access to water and resided on treed rolling parklands. "Pile-of-Bones", as the site for Regina was then called (or, in Cree, {{lang|cr|ᐅᐢᑲᓇ ᑳᐊᓵᐢᑌᑭ}} ''Oskana kâ-asastêki''),<ref>[http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/regina.html Daria Coneghan, "Regina," ''Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan''.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080429215846/http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/regina.html |date=29 April 2008 }}. Retrieved 17 December 2007.</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Oskana kâ-asastêki |url=https://itwewina.altlab.app/word/oskana_kâ-asastêki/ |website=Itwêwina Plains Cree dictionary |publisher=Alberta Language Technology Lab |access-date=11 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=History - Land Acknowledgement |url=https://mackenzie.art/about/history/ |website=MacKenzie Art Gallery |access-date=11 March 2022}}</ref> was by contrast located in arid and featureless grassland.

Lieutenant-Governor [[Edgar Dewdney|Dewdney]] had acquired land adjacent to the route of the future CPR line at Pile-of-Bones, which was distinguished only by collections of bison bones near a small spring run-off creek, some few kilometres downstream from its origin in the midst of what are now wheat fields. There was an "obvious conflict of interest" in Dewdney's choosing the site of Pile-of-Bones as the territorial seat of government<ref>After his term as Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Territories, Dewdney was again elected to Parliament and served as the member for Assiniboia East (now southeastern Saskatchewan) from 1888 to 1891. During this period he also served as minister of the Interior and superintendent of Indian Affairs. In 1892 he was appointed to the now non-executive post of Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia. He served in this post until 1897. He retired from politics in 1900 after unsuccessfully running for Parliament in New Westminster, British Columbia</ref> and it was a national scandal at the time.<ref>Pierre Berton, ''The Last Spike: The Great Railway 1881–1885'' (Toronto: McLelland and Stewart, 1973), 120</ref> But until 1897, when [[responsible government]] was accomplished in the Territories,<ref>David J. Hall, [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/north-west-territories-1870-1905/  "North-West Territories"], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170925040622/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/north-west-territories-1870-1905/ |date=25 September 2017 }} ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''. Retrieved 19 November 2007.</ref> the lieutenant-governor and council governed by fiat and there was little legitimate means of challenging such decisions outside the federal capital of [[Ottawa]]. There, the Territories were remote and of little concern. [[Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll]], wife of the then [[Governor General of Canada]], named the new community ''Regina'', in honour of her mother, [[Queen Victoria]].<ref>{{cite journal| last=Archer| first=John H.| title=Regina: A Royal City| journal=Monarchy Canada Magazine| volume=Spring 1996| publisher=Monarchist League of Canada| location=Toronto| year=1996| url=http://www.monarchist.ca/mc/regina.htm| access-date=30 June 2009| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080209220023/http://www.monarchist.ca/mc/regina.htm| archive-date=9 February 2008| url-status=dead| df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Commercial considerations prevailed and the town's authentic development soon began as a collection of wooden shanties and tent shacks clustered around the site designated by the [[Canadian Pacific Railway|CPR]] for its future station, some {{cvt|2|mi|order=flip}} to the east of where Dewdney had reserved substantial landholdings for himself and where he sited the Territorial (now the Saskatchewan) [[Government House (Saskatchewan)|Government House]].<ref>Pierre Berton, ''The Last Spike: The Great Railway 1881–1885'' (Toronto: McLelland and Stewart, 1973), pp.121–23)</ref>
[[File:CourtHouseLouisRielTrial.jpg|thumb|left|The Regina Court House during [[Louis Riel]]'s trial in 1885. He was brought to Regina following the [[North-West Rebellion]].]]
Regina attained national prominence in 1885 during the [[North-West Rebellion]] when troops were mostly able to be transported by train on the CPR from eastern Canada as far as [[Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan|Qu'Appelle Station]],<ref>Berton, 379. Qu'Appelle Station had been founded as Troy in 1882, was renamed Qu'Appelle Station in 1884 when the CPR arrived, again renamed South Qu'Appelle in 1902 and as Qu'Appelle 1911. See [[Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan]] and [http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/quappelle.html David McLennon, "Qu'Appelle, ''The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan''.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170730044128/http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/quappelle.html |date=30 July 2017 }}. Retrieved 13 July 2007.</ref> before marching to the battlefield in the further Northwest – Qu'Appelle having been the major debarkation and distribution centre until 1890 when the completion of the Qu’Appelle, Long Lake, and Saskatchewan Railway linked Regina with [[Saskatoon]] and [[Prince Albert, Saskatchewan|Prince Albert]].<ref>[http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/quappelle.htmlDavid McLennon, "Qu'Appelle, ''The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan''.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304105416/http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/quappelle.htmlDavid |date=4 March 2016 }}. Retrieved 13 July 2007.</ref> Subsequently, the rebellion's leader, [[Louis Riel]], was tried and hanged in Regina – giving the infant community increased and, at the time, not unwelcome national attention in connection with a figure who was generally at the time considered an unalloyed villain in anglophone Canada.<ref>Maggie Siggins, ''Riel: A Life of Revolution'' (Toronto: HarperCollins, 1994), 447.</ref> The episode, including Riel's imprisonment, trial and execution, brought the new Regina [[Leader-Post|''Leader'']] (later the ''Leader-Post'') to national prominence.

Regina was incorporated as a city on 19 June 1903, with the MLA who introduced the charter bill, [[James B. Hawkes|James Hawkes]], declaring, "Regina has the brightest future before it of any place in the North West Territories".<ref>Mein, Lillian; Mein, Stewart (eds), ''Regina, The Street Where You Live: The Origins of Regina Street Names'', 1979, Regina Public Library</ref> Several years later the city was proclaimed the capital of the 1905 province of Saskatchewan on 23 May 1906, by the first provincial government, led by Premier [[Thomas Walter Scott|Walter Scott]]; the monumental [[Saskatchewan Legislative Building]] was built between 1908 and 1912.
[[File:Damage to buildings on Lorne St. after cyclone.jpg|thumb|left|In June 1912, a [[tornado]] locally referred to as the [[Regina Cyclone]] devastated the city. The tornado remains the deadliest recorded tornado in Canadian history.]]
The "[[Regina Cyclone]]" was a tornado that devastated the city on 30 June 1912 and remains the deadliest tornado in Canadian history, with a total of 28 fatalities, the population of the city having been 30,213 in 1911. Green funnel clouds formed and touched down south of the city, tearing a swath through the residential area between Wascana Lake and Victoria Avenue, continuing through the downtown business district, rail yards, warehouse district, and northern residential area.

From 1920 to 1926 Regina used [[Single transferable vote]] (STV), a form of proportional representation, to elect its councillors. Councillors were elected in one at-large district. Each voter cast just a single vote, using a ranked transferable ballot.<ref>Grofman, Elections in Australia, Ireland and Malta Using STV</ref>

Regina grew rapidly until the beginning of the [[Great Depression]], in 1929, though only to a small fraction of the originally anticipated population explosion as population centre of the new province. By this time, Saskatchewan was considered the third province of Canada<ref>[http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0501cfen.htm Kevin Avram, "A tale of two provinces," ''Farmers for economic freedom: Updates from the Prairie Centre/Centre for Prairie Agriculture in Regina, Saskatchewan.'' May 21, 2001.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081228012220/http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0501cfen.htm |date=28 December 2008 }}. Retrieved 11 December 2007.</ref> in both population and economic indicators. Thereafter, Saskatchewan never recovered its early promise and Regina's growth slowed and at times reversed.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}

In 1933, Regina hosted the first national convention [[Co-operative Commonwealth Federation]] (predecessor of the [[New Democratic Party (Canada)|NDP]]). At the convention, the CCF adopted a programme known as the [[Regina Manifesto]], which set out the new party's goals.<ref>J.T. Morley, [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/co-operative-commonwealth-federation/  "Co-operative Commonwealth Federation,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170920083519/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/co-operative-commonwealth-federation/ |date=20 September 2017 }} ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''. Retrieved 18 November 2007.</ref> In 1935, Regina gained notoriety for the Regina Riot, an incident of the [[On-to-Ottawa Trek]]. (See [[History of Regina, Saskatchewan|The Depression, the CCF and the Regina Riot]].) Beginning in the 1930s, Regina became known as a centre of considerable political activism and experimentation as its people sought to adjust to new, reduced economic realities, including the co-operative movement and medicare.