Essential English phrases

Saskatchewan stays on Central Standard Time, UTC−6, all year — the only province that never springs forward. Twice a year the rest of the country moves and you do not, so your time difference with Toronto, Vancouver and everywhere else flips by an hour without you doing anything.

Saskatoon's nickname, from the crossings over the South Saskatchewan River that splits the city in two. Which side of the river you live on, and which bridge you use, is the practical shape of a Saskatoon commute — and one of them has been closed and rebuilt in living memory.

The provincial Crown corporations that supply things a private company supplies elsewhere: SGI for driver's licences and auto insurance, SaskPower for electricity, SaskEnergy for natural gas, SaskTel for phone and internet. You will open accounts with several of them in your first fortnight.

Saskatchewan Government Insurance — the Crown that issues your driver's licence and sells the compulsory auto insurance, which is attached to the vehicle registration rather than bought separately. New residents get 90 days to switch both the licence and the plates.

A block heater keeps the engine oil warm overnight so the car starts at −35 °C. Older houses have an outdoor outlet for it and many workplace car parks have posts with plugs. In January it is a normal daily action, not a precaution.

The old west-side neighbourhood along 20th Street, and the most changed part of the city in twenty years — restaurants and a brewery alongside the community it was before. It is also where the arguments about who a downtown is for are loudest.

A hooded sweatshirt. Not a hoodie, not a jumper — a bunnyhug. The word is essentially confined to Saskatchewan, everyone here uses it without irony, and using it correctly is the fastest way to sound like you have been here a while.

Broadway Avenue in Nutana, across the river from downtown — the independent high street of restaurants, coffee, the Broadway Theatre and the bookshops. If someone suggests meeting for coffee without naming a place, this is the strip they mean.

The Meewasin Valley Trail — around 100 km of path along both banks of the South Saskatchewan through the city, and the single best thing about living here. The name is Cree for beautiful, and it runs year-round; people ski and fat-bike it in January.

Saskatoon sits on Treaty 6 territory and the Homeland of the Métis, and you will hear this acknowledged at the start of meetings, concerts and council sessions. About one in nine residents is Indigenous, one of the highest shares of any large Canadian city, and this is not ceremonial background — it is the city's living context.

The mineral that pays for the province. Nutrien is headquartered here and BHP's Jansen mine east of the city is one of the largest mining projects in the world. When people say the economy is good or bad, they usually mean the potash price and, behind it, uranium.

Social Insurance Number. No employer can put you on payroll without one. Free, from Service Canada, and usually issued during the visit if you attend in person. It comes before the bank account and before the health card.

Police, fire and ambulance. 811 is HealthLine, the provincial nurse line; 306-975-8300 reaches Saskatoon Police for anything non-urgent. Health care here is delivered by one province-wide organisation, the Saskatchewan Health Authority, rather than by a regional board.