This thesis focuses on the development of a "Keeping House" near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Although there is an extensive artifact collection in Saskatchewan, many First Nations' artifacts are spread out throughout the province, Canada, and in other countries. These artifacts are living items, with a story, history and ceremony attached to them and they are in need of repatriation through a process which ensures their safety and preservation. This project will offer environments for the safe-keeping of Saskatchewan First Nations' artifacts, as well as areas for teaching and ceremonies. It will also build on the existing historical strengths of the land on which it sits.

Restorative justice was first used in Saskatchewan in 1985 and experienced a meteoric rise over the next two decades. In Saskatchewan, the use of restorative justice is not authorized for certain ‘serious’ offences, including sexual assault and family violence. While the overriding sense is that restorative justice programs have been successful, the momentum surrounding restorative justice has begun to taper off. Exploration into the use of restorative justice with more serious offences is being contemplated to combat the movement’s stagnation. Despite the rapid expansion of restorative justice agencies and organizations in Saskatchewan, little research has been conducted on these programs. In other jurisdictions, the research conducted has largely focused on program outcomes rather than the processes involved. There is also a gap in the research respecting how justice professionals view restorative justice and, in particular, how certain issues, such as safety and power imbalances, are currently addressed and will be addressed if more serious offences are referred to programs. To fill this gap, I conducted a qualitative study to determine how well those involved with Saskatchewan restorative justice programs, such as Crown prosecutors, police and program staff, believe programs are handling the offences currently referred. I also sought their views on the prospect of authorizing the use of restorative justice for more serious offences and what, if anything, must be changed in current programs to meet additional needs. The study revealed a mix of views across the professions, but generally justice professionals in Saskatchewan are resistant to the idea of referring more serious offences to restorative justice programs. Participation in a restorative justice process most deeply influenced views on whether restorative justice is appropriate for more serious offences. The concerns expressed about programs are poor practice or administrative in nature, and are fixable by employing best practices. A provincial strategic plan is needed for restorative justice to move forward. The plan should focus on determining clear goals and measures of success; committing to a set of best practices; more evaluation of programs and the effect of restorative justice on recidivism rates; expanded training for all justice professionals; and a greater investment in ensuring the ‘right’ person is in the room during restorative justice processes. The plan will gain the confidence of justice professionals, policy makers and the public in the ability of restorative justice to handle more serious offences.

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In the Canadian prairies, native grasslands have been largely replaced by an agricultural landscape with a mosaic of habitats now better described as aspen parkland. Although habitat requirements of true prairie Buteo species, Swainson's (Buteo swainsoni) and ferruginous hawks (B. regalis), are relatively well identified, little is known about habitat use by red-tailed hawks (B. jamaicensis ) in this ecoregion. This study, evaluating productivity and habitat selection of red-tailed hawks breeding in aspen parkland, was conducted on Prairie Habitat Joint Venture (PHJV) assessment sites in central Saskatchewan in 1997 and 1998. Red-tailed hawk nesting densities and productivity were determined at three sites. Home ranges were mapped. Macrohabitat use and availability data were generated from digitized aerial photographs of PHJV assessment sites using a Geographic Information system. Microhabitat variables were measured in 0.04 ha plots centered on nests and random locations. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

The breeding biology and nest-site selection of American crows (Corvus brachrhynchos) was studied in 2 areas of aspen parkland habitat in Saskatchewan in 1987 and 1988. / Overall, density of nests at St. Denis averaged twice that found at Elstow and clutches were initiated earlier at St. Denis than at Elstow. Clutch size and hatching success did not differ between years or areas, but in 1987, nests at St. Denis produced nearly twice as many young as at Elstow. / Crows nested in willow, aspen, and other trees. Nest trees were larger than randomly-selected trees in both years and areas. At St. Denis, the area near active crow nests had, on average, more permanent wetlands, a greater proportion of pasture and wetland, and less area of cultivation than areas adjacent to random sites. At St. Denis, successful nests were closer to permanent water and had more permanent wetlands nearby than depredated nests, but discriminant function analysis could not correctly distinguish successful nests in either area. Selection of nest characteristics to evade predators does not appear to provide predictable advantages to breeding crows.

This research traces the nature and impetus of agricultural landscape change from 1910 to 1990, within the northwestern transboundary plains of southern Alberta and Saskatchewan and northern Montana. Using information gleaned from aerial photographs, field survey reports and maps, government staff personal correspondence, agricultural statistics, land settlement records, and local histories, this dissertation describes an evolutionary and regionally-contextual process of landscape transformation. The temporal pattern of landscape change in the northwestern plains region was not linear. The greatest landscape changes took place between 1910 and 1930 when mixed grass prairie was converted to an agricultural landscape over a relatively short breaking-in period that followed initial agricultural settlement. After 1930, landscape changes were more evolutionary. Incrementally, more land was tilled, with little alteration in basic field arrangement and farming systems. Aerial photographic evidence suggests that a common declensionist historiographical narrative of Great Plains anthropogenic land degradation, culminating in the 1930s drought disaster, doesn’t apply to the northwestern plains. Rather, the timing of settlement, coinciding with widespread adoption of farm-based mechanization, and a pre-existing understanding of environmental limits to agricultural viability, impelled northwestern plains farmers to independently adopt scale economy and efficiency principles promoted by government agricultural economists from the 1920s to the 1980s. Furthermore, farmers adapted specifically to regional land and weather conditions using locally-derived soil management innovations. Farmers and in-the-field federal government staff cooperated on research that led to the spread of innovative and successful dryland farming techniques. Government agents of both Canada and the United States played an important role in testing and publicizing the local adaptations. This work establishes a new timeline for northern Great Plains history and reveals the importance of regional context in place history. In the northwestern plains region, the 1930s were not a turning point in the agricultural land use history, but rather a time marker coinciding with the maturing of a highly-mechanized, scaled-up, and responsive ‘modern’ agricultural system.

Zinc (Zn) fertilization is considered an important agronomic strategy for global food security. Lentil production in Saskatchewan not only provides significant economic benefit for growers, but is marketed in several countries where human Zn deficiencies are common. The impact of Zn fertilization on lentil yield and Zn concentration deserves attention. Field experiments were conducted in 2013 to determine if Zn fertilization of lentil could increase yield, grain Zn concentration and its bioavailability for humans in three popular lentil cultivars: CDC Maxim (red), CDC Imvincible (small green) and CDC Impower (large green). The effects of three rates (0, 2.5 and 5 kg Zn ha-1) of soil applied ZnSO4 were examined at a site in the Brown soil zone identified as Zn deficient and a site in the Dark Brown soil zone that was identified as sufficient in soil Zn. In 2014, hard red spring wheat was seeded to assess the residual effects on a rotational crop. A companion pot study was conducted in a polyhouse that compared single rates of soil and foliar applied forms of Zn fertilizer: soil applied ZnSO4, foliar applied Zn lignosulphonate, soil and foliar applied Zn chelated with EDTA. At the two field sites, soil applied ZnSO4 fertilizer had no significant effect on lentil yield, grain Zn concentration, and predicted bioavailability of Zn for humans. Significant differences in residual DTPA-extractable Zn were generally not found among rates of applied ZnSO4 fertilizer, and soil applied ZnSO4 did not have residual benefits for spring wheat grown at either location in 2014. Migration of Zn into less labile soil fractions was identified as a factor contributing to this general lack of response to soil applied ZnSO4 fertilizer. Based on results from the polyhouse study, chelated forms of Zn may be more effective than inorganic or organic-complexed forms of Zn in supplying Zn and improving predicted dietary bioavailability of lentils for humans. Phytate:Zn molar ratios were significantly decreased in all lentil cultivars fertilized with soil applied Zn that was chelated with EDTA (17.1) compared to when fertilized with soil applied ZnSO4 (24.7). Overall, the responses of lentil to Zn fertilization were small and variable, such that significant economic benefits were not observed.

After Chief Sitting Bull returned to the U.S. in 1881 from Canada, about 250 Lakota people remained in present-day Saskatchewan. Through archival research and oral interviews, this study interprets the way these Lakota people at Wood Mountain, Saskatchewan engaged in ranching and rodeo (some farming will be discussed as well although this was practiced on a smaller scale) in order to see what this reveals about indigenous constructions of collective identity in the difficult years of colonial displacement between 1880 and 1930. The stereotypical and persistent dichotomy of “cowboys versus Indians” will be challenged as it does damage to Aboriginal peoples’ abilities to adapt and their involvement in agriculture. Ranching and rodeo not only gave the Lakota people at Wood Mountain a viable economic lifestyle but a lifestyle that was culturally and socially fulfilling. And furthermore, from this came the motivation and ability to build a Lakota community and identity that was at once distinct yet interactive with the non-Aboriginal ranching society/lifestyle in the Wood Mountain area. This study argues that the Lakota of Wood Mountain blended traditional Lakota culture with cowboy lifestyles that allowed for the adaptation to and interaction with non-Aboriginal society, the retention of traditional Lakota cultural aspects, and the reshaping of identities and communities around this blending process.

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