Map - Saskatoon

Saskatoon is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as the cultural and economic hub of central Saskatchewan since its founding in 1882 as a Temperance colony.

With a 2021 census population of 266,141, Saskatoon is the largest city in the province, and the 17th largest Census Metropolitan Area in Canada, with a 2021 census population of 317,480.

Saskatoon is home to the University of Saskatchewan, the Meewasin Valley Authority (which protects the South Saskatchewan River and provides for the city's popular riverbank park spaces), and Wanuskewin Heritage Park (a National Historic Site of Canada and UNESCO World Heritage applicant representing 6,000 years of First Nations history). The Rural Municipality of Corman Park No. 344, the most populous rural municipality in Saskatchewan, surrounds the city and contains many of the developments associated with it, including Wanuskewin. Saskatoon is named after the saskatoon berry which is native to the region, and is itself derived from the Cree misâskwatômina. The city has a significant Indigenous population and several urban Reserves. The city has nine river crossings and is nicknamed "Paris of the Prairies" and "Bridge City".

Historic neighbourhoods of Saskatoon include Nutana and Riversdale, which were separate towns before amalgamating with the town of Saskatoon and incorporating as a city in 1906. Nutana, Riversdale, their historic main streets of Broadway Avenue and 20th Street, as well as the downtown core and other central neighbourhoods are seeing significant reinvestment and redevelopment. Sutherland, the rail town annexed by the city in 1956 that lies beyond the University lands, is now another historic old city.

The name Saskatoon (in sâskwatôn ᓵᐢᑿᑑᐣ, "Saskatoon" or the locatives: misâskwatôminihk ᒥᓵᐢᑿᑑᒥᓂᕽ, lit: "at the saskatoon berry", misâskwatôminiskâhk ᒥᓵᐢᑿᑑᒥᓂᐢᑳᕽ, "at the place of many saskatoon berries", mînisihk ᒦᓂᓯᕽ "at the berry") comes from the Cree inanimate noun misâskwatômina ᒥᓵᐢᑿᑑᒥᓇ "saskatoon berries", which refers to the sweet, violet-coloured berry that grows in the area.

City of Saskatoon archivist Jeff O'Brien wrote that the traditional story of the name is that it was due to the presence of Saskatoon berries in the area. "There is even an almost certainly apocryphal story to the effect that John Lake, upon being given a handful of these berries and told their name immediately cried "Arise, Saskatoon – Queen of the North!"

However, he wrote, "the truth appears to be somewhat less dramatic. The area was long-known to the local Cree as a good place to stock up on willow wands for arrow shafts. Thus the name of the place was "Sask-kwa-tan" – roughly, "the place where willows are cut."