Why here:
I decided to choose this are as my zone because I have lived in Kyle for the past four years and have become familiar with the area’s demographics. I grew up in another small town about half an hour East of Kyle in Beechy, both of which have very similar demographics. I want to focus on how multilingualism is or is not present in small, rural towns in Saskatchewan. Kyle is located in the South-West region of Saskatchewan, about 23 km North of the Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park and South Saskatchewan River.
Who is here:
According to census done in 2011, the population of Kyle is 437, this is a 3.3% increase in population from 2006 (city data). The towns population consists of people of all ages, there are many that have lived here their whole life, looking at the census report the most common ages recorded were ages 15-19, 55-59, and above 84 years (city data). It is evident that from living here that older ages of people would be here because of the local Health Centre and Assisted Living housing. Having these facilities offered to citizens allows them to continue to live in their beloved towns and stay near family. According to this same census report, 405 citizens only speak English, 10 speak English and French; other language knowledges were of German, Norwegian, and Arabic (city data). The other section from this census that I thought was interesting and relevant to describing who lives here is the report on citizenship. 400 of the citizens of Kyle are Canadian citizens, whereas 10 are reported as immigrants (city data).
History:
The town named after it is first settler, Jeremiah Kyle, is located along the remains of the historic Swift Current-Battleford Trail. This trail was 300 km long and was important in late-nineteenth century for transportation and communications between settlements of Swift Current and Battleford. In pre-contact times, First Nations likely used the trail’s such as this one for general travelling between wintering areas to the north of Battleford and the summer bison hunting grounds around Swift Current. Along with this trail, Kyle is most famously known for being the site of 12,000-year-old woolly mammoth discovered during road construction in 1964. The bones from this mammoth are now on display at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Regina.
References
Statistics Canada Catalogue (2003-2021). Kyle – Town, Saskatchewan, Canada. http://www.city-data.com/canada/Kyle-Town-citizenship.html
2021. Kyle, Saskatchewan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyle,_Saskatchewan
2021. Swift Current-Battleford Trail. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swift_Current-Battleford_Trail