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Popular Things To Do | Miscellaneous Things To Do Tips | All Tips (75)  | |  |  | Visit the RCMP Museum | Tip Rating:   |  |  | |  |
While in Regina, you should visit the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Museum, located on the grounds of their Training Academy Depot. There are many interesting artifacts and exhibits regarding the history of this famous force down through the years.
This organization was formed in 1873, just a few years after Canada became a country in 1867, as the North West Mounted Police. With the lawlessness and Indian troubles of the American West starting to creep into the Canadian Prairies, the government decided that a 300-man paramilitary force was needed in the West to maintain Canadian sovereignty and to uphold the law. One of their first law enforcement actions occurred in 1874 when Americans trading whiskey to the Indians were forced out of their Fort Whoop-Up in present day Alberta. Later, as the Sioux nation under Chief Sitting Bull (victor over Gen. Custer and his troops) were gradually driven off the lands that had been deeded to them by the American government, the first remnants of the tribe arrived (in 1876) at the 'medicine line' dividing Canada from the USA. A small contingent of the scarlet-coated Mounties met the thousands of Sioux and assured them that they would be protected in Canada as long as they kept the peace and did not raid into the USA. The Sioux kept their word and stayed in Canada until 1881 when the decimation of the herds of migrating bison in the American west finally deprived them of their food supply. Gradually they returned to the USA to live on reservations as they gave up their nomadic way of life. By gaining the trust of the Canadian native tribes during their early years in the west, before settlers arrived, the NWMP avoided the sort of Indian Wars that plagued the United States. The NWMP officially became the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1920 since, by then, they were carrying out policing duties across the country. Leave a Comment
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| | | | Tour the Legislative Building and Grounds | Tip Rating: | | | | |
The Legislative Building, built for the Saskatchewan provincial government, is no small structure - in fact it is larger than those for Ontario or Quebec. This strange fact arose from the fact that they building was designed based on a provincial population explosion that was taking place at the turn of the century in 1900, later to be dampened by the Great Depression.
Today, this English Renaissance-style building, completed in 1919 with its 53-m (174-ft.) high dome, presides over a province whose population boom did not continue. Nevertheless, it is quite an imposing structure and well worth a visit. The exterior consists of Tyndall limestone quarried in nearby Manitoba while the interior features various types of marble from all parts of the world, including the main stairway (Quebec, Canada), floors (Vermont, USA), baseboards (Ireland), walls (Italy) and pillars/columns (Cyprus). The 2nd and 3rd photos show some of its beautiful surrounding grounds and were taken in June, 2008. Leave a Comment Address: 123 Legislative Building, 2405 Legislative DriveDirections: On the outskirts of the city, in Wascana Park
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If your timing is right, you might just have the chance to see visiting British Royalty while you are staying in Regina. In our case, it happened that Prince Charles was on a cross-Canada trip (Ottawa, Reginia and Yukon Territory) to stress the values of volunteerism and to help cement the 'royal' bond between Canada and the UK. Of course this was during the devastating outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the UK, so the Prince had to first wipe his feet on a disinfectant matt when arriving in Canada!
Here, we were standing on a city street bridge, near the Legislative Building, spanning the stream that flows out of Lake Wascana. Located around the Lake and along the sides of this stream are very nice walking trails which pass through pleasant parklands. While in the city, get your feet moving and enjoy some to the city's nature delights up-close! Leave a Comment Directions: Rotary Park on the corner of Regina Avenue and Albert Street South
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| | | | Surprised to find Bison in Regina! | Tip Rating:  | | | | |
The IPSCO Steel Mill outside Regina is a strange place - great chimneys belching smoke combined with massive loaders, trucks and trains hauling heavy chunks of steel here and there, yet just outside its factory area it has a Wildlife park and children's play area complete with waterslides and a kiddie train!
I stumbled upon the place in October, 2007 when I attended an electrical safety course in their attached convention centre. During lunch break I was astounded during a walk outside to find herds of Bison, large Elk and small German Black Deer roaming around in a nearby fenced-off area! Doing some research on the place later on, I came across an official government report rating all the zoos and animal compounds in Saskatchewan and I was glad to see that this one at least got high marks! This photo shows a couple of the animals shedding their thick winter coats on a pleasant 19 C day in late-May, even if the wind was gusting to almost 60-kph.
The second photo gives some idea of why they need these coats! It was taken 'out of season' a few months earlier on a February afternoon as the Bison were relaxing in their large fenced-in grounds on a -18 C day with a -29 C windchill. With the park closed, the nearest I could get was the nearby highway, so I parked my car and hiked across a field through the snow until I reached the Wildlife Park. As I neared the fence, the Bison all ran together and turned in a line to face me with a big bull near the centre - they were ready for any possible attack! The last three photos were taken in late-June as young Bison and their mother relaxed, as well as a group of cute German Black Deer that rushed over to check us out as soon as we appeared beside their enclosure!
The Park is open May 22 to Sept 6, 11 am to 7 pm (free admission) and the pool is open June to August on Weekdays 1 pm - 7 pm and Weekends 11 am - 7 pm. Leave a Comment Phone: 306-924-7700Directions: IPSCO Wildlife Park, north on Highway 6, 6.4 kilometres, on Armour Road to the IPSCO Plant grounds
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on May 28, 2008
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