Moose Jaw is the fourth-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. Lying on the Moose Jaw River in the south-central part of the province, it is situated on the Trans-Canada Highway, east of Swift Current and west of Regina. Residents of Moose Jaw are known as Moose Javians. The city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Moose Jaw No. 161.
Moose Jaw is an industrial centre and a critical railway junction for the area's agricultural produce. CFB Moose Jaw, located a few kilometres south of the city, is a NATO flight training school and is home to the Snowbirds, Canada's military aerobatic air show flight demonstration team. Moose Jaw also has a casino and geothermal spa.
History Cree and Assiniboine people used the Moose Jaw area as a winter encampment. The Missouri Coteau sheltered the valley and gave it warm breezes. The narrow river crossing and abundant water and game made it a good location for settlement. Traditional native fur traders and Métis buffalo hunters created the first permanent settlement at a place called "the turn", at present-day Kingsway Park, also known as the Kai Gauthier Park.
The confluence of the Moose Jaw River and Thunder Creek was chosen and registered in 1881 as a site for a division point for the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), whose construction was significant in the Confederation of Canada. The water supply there was significant for steam locomotives. Settlement began there in 1882, and the city was incorporated in 1903. The railways played an important role in the early development of Moose Jaw, with the city having both a Canadian Pacific Railway Station and a Canadian National Railway Station. A dam was built on the river in 1883 to create a year-round water supply.
Marked on a map as Moose Jaw Bone Creek in an 1857 survey by surveyor John Palliser, two theories exist regarding how the city was named. The first is it comes from the Plains Cree name moscâstani-sîpiy meaning "a warm place by the river", indicative of the protection from the weather the Coteau range provides to the river valley containing the city Moose Jaw City Gov't website and also the Plains Cree word moscâs, meaning warm breezes. The other is that the section of the Moose Jaw River that runs through the city is shaped like a moose's jaw.
There is also an untrue story of the name being inspired by the Earl of Dunmore, for whom Dunmore, Alberta is named, repairing his cart with the jawbone of a moose during his travels there.
The city was the site of the 1954 mid-air collision of Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 9.
Military presence The Royal Canadian Air Force under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan established RCAF Station Moose Jaw in 1940. After the war, the RCAF remained in the community and used the facility for training pilots through the Cold War. The facility changed its name to CFB Moose Jaw in 1968 and is now Canada's primary military flight training centre and the home of 431 (Air Demonstration) Squadron (aka the "Snowbirds").
CFB Moose Jaw's primary lodger unit is "15 Wing". In the Royal Canadian Air Force, the lodger unit is often called 15 Wing Moose Jaw. The base usually holds an Armed Forces Day each year.
The Saskatchewan Dragoons is a reserve armoured regiment with an armoury in the city's north end.
Royal presence
Many members of the Royal Family have visited Moose Jaw. Edward, Prince of Wales, who owned a ranch in Pekisko, Alberta, visited in 1919, 1924, and 1927. Prince Albert, future king and father of Queen Elizabeth II, paid a visit in 1926. King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth (later known as Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother) visited during the Royal tour in 1939. Queen Elizabeth II first visited in 1959 and returned on multiple separate occasions.
During his time as Earl of Wessex, Prince Edward became Colonel-in-Chief of the Saskatchewan Dragoons of Moose Jaw on visiting Saskatchewan in 2003 when he congratulated the regiment on its "contribution to Canada's proud tradition of citizen-soldiers in the community." Involved in peacekeeping operations in Cyprus, the Golan Heights, Bosnia and Croatia, the regiment has also provided aid during floods and forest fires in the prairies. The Prince returned to visit his regiment in 2006.
Prince Edward also inaugurated the Queen's Jubilee Rose Garden in Moose Jaw on his 2003 visit. Other royal connections to the city include King George School and Prince Arthur Community School, both named for royal family members. Additionally, the South Hill school was formerly named King Edward Elementary School.
Following the death of Queen Elizabeth in 2022, an opinion piece in the National Post noted that the late monarch had "visited Moose Jaw more often than she did Manhattan. The former was part of her realms; the latter not. She was the Queen of Canada and chose to exercise that duty and serve her people over the perquisites of her position."
Climate Moose Jaw's climate is transitional between semiarid and humid continental (Köppen BSk and Dfb, respectively). Moose Jaw's winters are long, cold and dry, while its summers are short but very warm and relatively wet. The coldest month is January, with a mean temperature of , while the warmest is July, with a mean temperature of . The driest month is February, in which an average of of precipitation falls, while the wettest month is July, which brings an average of . Annual average precipitation is .
The highest temperature recorded in Moose Jaw was on 5 July 1937. The coldest temperature ever recorded was on 4 February 1907.
Government Moose Jaw City Council consists of an elected mayor and six city councillors. From 1881 to 1903 the community was represented by a Town Council and after that by City Council.
Moose Jaw City Hall, on the 2nd floor at the old Moose Jaw Post Office (c. 1911), has been the council's home since the late 1960s.
Provincially, the city is represented by two MLAs and federally by one MP.
Neighbourhoods
Caribou Heights Churchill Park City View Crescent View Earnscliffe Fairview Grand View Hill Crest Iron Bridge Kingsway Park Lynbrook Heights Mooscana Morningside New Currie Palliser Heights Parkdale Boulevard Pleasant View Prairie Heights Old 96 Regal Heights River Park River View Ross Park Rothesay Park Slater Sunningdale Sunnyside Tapley University University Heights Victoria Heights Wellesley Park WestHeath Westmore Westmount West Park
These neighbourhoods are divided into four community associations: South Hill, East Side, North West and Sunningdale/VLA/West Park.
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Moose Jaw had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
Ethnicity + Panethnic groups in the City of Moose Jaw (2001−2021)Panethnic group20212016201120062001 European 27,110 28,400 29,405 28,590 29,130 Indigenous 2,355 2,100 1,390 1,530 1,355 Southeast Asian 1,210 775 430 100 110 East Asian 670 540 415 350 250 African 660 450 355 135 140 South Asian 640 340 170 105 85 Latin American 130 70 110 50 20 Middle Eastern 80 65 15 100 30 Other/multiracial 95 130 50 40 20 Total responses 32,950 32,860 32,345 31,005 31,125 Total population 33,665 33,910 33,274 32,132 32,131
Language +Home Language (2021) Language Population Percentage (%) English 30,930 94% French 95 0% Other 1,415 4%
+Mother Tongue (2021) Language Population Percentage (%) English 29,300 89% French 450 1% Other 2,605 8%
Economy
Moose Jaw is a city of 33,000 at the intersection of the Trans Canada Highway and Highway 2. A Snowbird aerobatic jet and Mac the Moose are large roadside attractions on the No. 1 highway at the tourist info center. Moose Jaw Trolley Company (1912) offers trolley tours of Moose Jaw. Temple Garden's Mineral Spa, Tunnels of Moose Jaw, and History of Transportation Western Development Museum. are major sites of interest. The juncture of Moose Jaw and Thunder Creek produced the best source of water for steam engines, and Moose Jaw became the CPR divisional point. Large-capacity concrete grain terminals are replacing the smaller grain elevators that were numerous along the highway, sentinels of most communities along the route. Improved harvest, transport and road construction technology have made the large inland terminals more economically viable. The rural governing body around Moose Jaw is Moose Jaw No. 161, which serves 1,228 residents (2006 census) and includes the Moose Jaw Canadian Forces Base. Meat-processing plants, salt, potash, urea fertilizer, anhydrous ammonia and ethanol producers abound in this area with easy transport access to the Trans–Canada Highway.
In 1917, five local residents banded together to purchase enough automobile parts to build 25 cars. These were to be manufactured under the name Moose Jaw Standard. Each group member received a car, but no further buyers were found, and production did not continue.David Burgess Wise, The New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Automobiles
Arts and culture
Visual arts The Moose Jaw Art Guild is a community arts association of local artists dedicated to exhibiting, educating and fostering appreciation for visual arts.
Film The city was profiled in Moose Jaw: There's a Future in Our Past, a 1992 documentary essay film by former city resident Rick Hancox.Jay Stone, "Moose Jaw film shows us ourselves". Ottawa Citizen, 10 April 1993.
Museums Moose Jaw is home to one of four Saskatchewan Western Development Museums. The Moose Jaw WDM museum specializes in the history of transportation and has a Snowbirds gallery.
The Sukanen Ship Pioneer Village and Museum is south of Moose Jaw on Sk Hwy 2. The car club at Moose Jaw agreed to the restoration of Tom Sukanen's ship at their museum site. Sukanen was a Finnish homesteader who settled near Birsay and hoped to travel home again on a ship he assembled near the South Saskatchewan River. The Sukanen Ship Pioneer Village and Museum features a typical village replete with pioneer artifacts and tractors, cars and trucks restored by the Moose Jaw car club, and is run by volunteers.
The Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery is located in Crescent Park at the centre of the downtown area, in the same facility as the Moose Jaw Public Library. The art gallery hosts community exhibits, travelling exhibits, and rotating exhibits from the gallery's permanent collection. The museum also has a heritage gallery, which curates and hosts exhibits on local history, including an upcoming "Pandemic Time Capsule" exhibit scheduled for Spring 2021. The Museum & Art Gallery also hosts classes and events.
2SLGBTQ culture In 1978, Anita Bryant visited Moose Jaw as part of the anti-gay Save Our Children campaign. In response, approximately 85 members of the gay and lesbian community marched down Main St. to Crescent Park, where an estimated 150 people gathered to speak out against Bryant.
In 2008, the Gay and Lesbian Association of Moose Jaw (GLAMJ) requested and was granted the first official proclamation of Pride Week in Moose Jaw and raised the Rainbow Flag over Moose Jaw's City Hall for the first time. The city's first pride parade since 1978 was held in 2015, and similar parades have been held annually in late May or early June, usually from Main Street to Crescent Park.
Moose Jaw Pride was an LGBT community organization incorporated as a non-profit in 2014 until its closing in 2022. Moose Jaw Pride was a founding member of the Saskatchewan Pride Network, started in 2016, which serves to connect and support 2SLGBTQ people in small communities across Saskatchewan, many of which do not have an established local pride organization.