00:00News. Have you ever heard of a city nicknamed Pile of Bones?
00:04And what if I told you that same place is now a major provincial capital?
00:09Well, that's the story of Regina, Saskatchewan, and it's a tale full of bison bones, a princess,
00:17and some seriously clever political moves.
00:21Let's head back to the 1880s.
00:24The Canadian Pacific Railway is pushing across the country, creating a new lifeline for Canada.
00:30The government needed a new capital for the massive Northwest Territories, somewhere along this brand new railway.
00:37The old capital, Battleford, was just too far north.
00:41This is where Edgar Doodny, the Lieutenant Governor, steps onto the scene.
00:46Yo, a chunk of land right by a little spot called Wascona Creek.
00:50It was flat, treeless, and honestly, its biggest claim to fame was the huge piles of bison bones left there
00:58by indigenous hunters.
01:00The local Cree even had a name for it, Oskanekasetiki, which literally means the place where the bones are piled.
01:08Not exactly the most appealing name for a capital city, is it?
01:13But Doodny and his business partners saw something else, a massive opportunity.
01:19They had bought up the land, and if they could just get it named the capital, the value would go
01:25through the roof.
01:26So, the big question was, how do you rebrand pile of bones into something prestigious?
01:33You give it a royal touch.
01:37This is where Princess Louise, Queen Victoria's daughter, enters the story.
01:43Her husband was the Governor General of Canada, and to honour the Queen, they decided to name the new settlement
01:49Regina, which is Latin for Queen.
01:52It was a genius marketing move.
01:54Suddenly, this dusty, treeless patch of prairie sounded grand and important.
01:59Two, the Queen's City has a much better ring to it than the Pile of Bones City, don't you think?
02:05The new name worked perfectly.
02:08It gave the settlement an air of dignity.
02:11Of course, not everyone was happy.
02:13Places like Moose Jaw and Queer Pell had more trees, more water, and were arguably better suited.
02:20But Doodny's political influence, combined with that powerful royal name, was unstoppable.
02:25In 1883, Regina officially became the capital of the Northwest Territories.
02:32And when Saskatchewan was carved out as its own province in 1905, Regina held on to its capital status.
02:38It had transformed from a humble hunting ground into the official Queen City of the Plains.
02:44It's an amazing story about how a little bit of vision, a really good name, and some savvy business sense
02:50can literally build a city and shape history.
02:53Thanks so much for watching.
02:55If you enjoyed this little piece of Canadian history, don't forget to hit that like button and subscribe for more
03:01stories.
03:02See you in the next one.
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