Westland Day 2025 — Smoke of Memory

September 1st | Pioneer Cairn, Saskatoon

“Their memory endures. Their spirit lives in us.”

On the morning of September 1, 2025, we stood in silence as smoke drifted across the Pioneer Cairn — marking 120 years since Alberta and Saskatchewan entered Confederation. Beneath the monument, we raised our banner, stood in formation, and sang the anthem of a land that still remembers.

Westland Day is not a reenactment.

It is not a protest.

It is a ceremony of unbroken memory.

It honours the day our two Western provinces were born — September 1, 1905 — and the people who carved their lives into this land long before any capital dictated their destiny.

What Is Westland?

Map of Western Canada circa 1900, showcasing the region's territorial divisions prior to Canadian Confederation, including modern-day British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan.

When Alberta and Saskatchewan joined Confederation, they were promised equality with the older provinces.

They did not receive it.

For decades, the West was:

• denied control over its own natural resources (not granted until 1930),

• treated as a colony of Ottawa,

• and its people — farmers, ranchers, homesteaders, workers — were seen as mere labor for eastern interests.

Even today, Western Canadians pay disproportionate equalization taxes, face legislative neglect, and watch imported ideologies overwrite their history.

Westland isn’t just a name — it is a memory, a mourning, and a vow.

Why the Cairn Was Chosen

The Pioneer Cairn in Saskatoon was built in 1952 by the “Saskatoon Old Timers’ Association.”

They are long gone — but their spirit endures in the stones they raised.

This monument stands as a marker to the earliest settlers, those who:

• crossed rivers with no bridges,

• built homes before maps were drawn,

• and laid down roots in frozen soil with no promise of reward.

Westland remembers them — and carries that memory forward.

Who We Are

Our initiatives logo featuring a stylized mountain peak accompanied by a golden wheat stalk and blue rivers, representing the essence of Western Identity.

Western Identity is a nonpartisan, independent initiative based in Saskatchewan.

We exist to preserve, protect, and proclaim the unique heritage of the Canadian West — from its earliest trails to its modern struggles.

We are:

• not affiliated with any party or religion,

• committed to documenting and honoring the land, the people, and the culture,

• and building a living archive for the generations to come.

We are the guardians of memory — not just for ourselves, but for those who never had the chance to speak.

Smoke of Memory — Westland Day 2025