“What do you like about Saskatoon … is it just the name?” A guest at a friend’s wedding in Seattle was from Saskatoon; he seemed surprised and puzzled that I had visited his home city recently, and that I loved the experience of Saskatoon.   The name of Saskatchewan’s largest city might have been what drew me there the first time on my cross-country Canadian road trip in 2022, but ended up falling in love with this city upon repeat visits.

My second time back in 2023, I was more curious about the queer communities in this city that seemed to rise up out of nowhere after hours of driving across prairies converted to farmland.  I would get to learn more about both the beautiful and the ugly sides of Saskatoon from a few of the people who live here. 

The Harder Side of Saskatoon 

“I’ve traveled all over the world. I’ve lived all over the world, and this place feels more unsafe than anywhere else,” said a transgender nonbinary person I was meeting with for photographs.  They still seemed to love their city; after all it was their chosen place to live and raise a family for the past decade after taking a break from a very nomadic life.  They had lived in the States, all over Canada, and many places abroad.  

Rae chose a swimming spot on the Saskatchewan River for a photo location.  The sand bars on the other side of the water were filled with hundreds of sandhill cranes letting out guttural, purring squawks.  The birds almost look like dinosaurs stalking the sandbars with their freakishly long legs; you could say they are a bird version of dinosaurs being some of the oldest bird species in the world.  The cranes would then take off intermittently as impressively large groups, continuing their flights southward in the same direction as my own journey.

Our photo session felt like a beautiful experience in a special spot.  I focused my camera lens on Rae and caught the cranes taking flight in the background.  However, Rae didn’t pick this spot just for the beautiful scenery.  They often come here to calm life’s anxieties with dips in the icy river year round, but have also experienced the most discrimination and public harassment here.   They once found themselves here surrounded by a group of people hurling transphobic insults and shoving them, suddenly having reason to fear for their physical safety in this beautiful place.  It’s also not something that has been a one time occurrence for them in Saskatoon, and is no less nerve wracking every time it happens to them.  

When I ask people to bring me to their favorite places for photo sessions, it is often somewhere in nature where they find peace.  Our natural surroundings can be so incredibly healing for those of us who have experienced traumatic life events, particularly for queer people who statistically experience much more trauma than the general population.   It’s ironically unfortunate that the same beautiful places of healing can also feel like the most precarious because of our safety being compromised by other human beings. 

The Youngest Generations Bringing Change to Saskatoon 

Zipp hid their face from me initially, taking a few minutes to get past some normal anxiety and feel comfortable with the camera that was looking at them.   It didn’t take long before the 11 year old excitedly told me about their Halloween costume, and poured their energy into dashing up and down a path that lined the Saskatchewan River.  They were looking for their secret rabbit trail path that led to the perfect swimming spot on the river.  If Zipp didn’t have to identify their sex and gender in the school systems, I could see them easily blending in with any other more feminine expressing children. 

As Zipp raced ahead again, their mom told me more about their recent journey with gender.   The intricacies of gender weren’t something Zipp was really interested in talking about that particular day; they just wanted to be.  They just wanted to express themselves as they were in front the camera, and find their secret swimming spot.  

I learned that Zipp has also done extraordinary things not typical of an 11-year old as well, using their young voice for activism in order to defend their right to just be. Earlier that year, Zipp wrote and executed their own speech in support of trans community members at a regular city council meeting, where the hot topic of conversation was an uproar over a transwoman possibly being spotted in a woman’s locker room at a local fitness center.  In the same speech, Zipp also made their own gender identity visible.  I looked up the viral speech later, and was so impressed at their gumption and bravery putting themselves out there in a way that many adults may be fearful to do.  

We finally found the spot with a serene view of the city of the other side.  Zipp gleefully ran along the icy river banks, still wearing their sparkling top and skirt.  I shivered in my dry winter jacket as the river’s 20 deg (F) wind ushered in winter, while Zipp laid back in the water for an invigorating ice bath.   

In Saskatoon, each one of the queer adults I photographed were also involved in activism for their communities, modeling what activism can look like for Zipp’s generation.   Their work gives Zipp the room to be who they are, and also continue to carry the change forward in their community. 

More QueerVenturing in Saskatoon

Where does the name Saskatoon come from?   It may come from the Cree word misâskwatômina or saskatoon berries.   The original settlement and current city sits at a bend in the Saskatchewan River where Saskatoon Berries were abundant. 

The Saskatchewan River itself was a magnet for me and gravitated back to the river over and over again, through photography sessions, while exploring the urban river walk, and exploring natural areas on the prairie south of the city.   Although central Canada is known as the Prairie Provinces, much of the prairie has been decimated by farmland.  The few remaining natural areas may not be as majestic as national parks in the Rockies, but hold a special tranquility.   My afternoon out on Cranberry Flats Conservation Area was particularly memorable as the sun shone bright and the sky simultaneously turned dark, creating deep shadows along the windy bluffs speckled with golden foliage. 

The urban river walk and its surrounding areas still felt peaceful to me as compared to the bustle of many larger cities, but hosts an entirely different vibe.   An old chateauesque style hotel built in 1926 dominates visuals of the waterfront walkway, while old stone churches and trendy poutine shops line the street behind it. I took the opportunity to indulge in one last poutine dish downtown while I could still find them in abundance before crossing the Canadian border again.    

When asking locals what else I should check out in Saskatoon, a popular answer was the Bulk Cheese Warehouse.  Not exactly warehouse’like, it is a rather small, unassuming deli in the Broadway neighborhood.  It’s small enough that you are only allowed to enter and walk through one way, then check out near a different ‘exit only’ door.  The savory smelling shop is still just large enough to host an impressive array of cheese and meat – the perfect road trip snacks for journeying back to the United States another five hours south.