Alberta

Article Outline

Introduction; Physical Geography; Economic Activities; The People of Alberta; Education and Cultural Life; Recreation and Places to Visit; Government; History

Religion

Protestant and Roman Catholic missionaries were among the first Europeans to come to Alberta. Today, the Roman Catholic Church and the United Church of Canada, which includes Methodists, Congregationalists, and most Presbyterians, have the largest congregations in Alberta. Other major Christian denominations are the Anglican Church of Canada (Episcopal), and the Lutheran, Baptist, Eastern Orthodox, Ukrainian Catholic, Mormon, and Mennonite (including Hutterite) churches. The province is also home to small numbers of Muslims and Jews.

Latter-day Saints

Early settlers in southern Alberta included a group of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, popularly known as Mormons, from Utah. Late in the 19th century, they established settlements south of Lethbridge. They proved to be excellent farmers and were the first to use irrigation in Alberta. Important Latter-day Saints communities in Alberta include Cardston, Raymond, Magrath, and Stirling.

Hutterites

A distinctive religious group, members of the Hutterian Brethren, or Hutterites, came to Alberta from South Dakota in 1918. Most Hutterites are of German-Austrian ancestry. The Hutterite movement was founded by Jakob Hutter, an Anabaptist who advocated communal ownership of all property.

Hutterites have established over 130 settlements in the southern part of the province. They live in large buildings, somewhat like army barracks, and share communal kitchens and dining rooms. All property is owned in common. Hutterite children attend state-run schools from kindergarten through the ninth grade, where lessons are conducted in English. The Hutterites also operate their own schools in German, where instruction is centered on the Bible and its teachings. Hutterites speak an ancestral German dialect called Huttrisch at home, while High German is used for religion and formal occasions. They are excellent farmers and have substantially increased their landholdings since they came to the province.

Education and Cultural Life

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Education

Primary and Secondary Schools

School attendance is compulsory for all children from the ages of 6 to 16. Most students attend free public schools, but parents and students may choose from among various options, including private schools, religious schools (mostly Roman Catholic), Francophone schools, or charter schools. Parents may also choose to homeschool their children. Public schools are administered by local school boards made up of trustees who are popularly elected for three-year terms. In 1995 Alberta established a system of school councils, consisting of teachers and administrators, parents of students, and community representatives, to give community members an advisory role in local education issues.

The first schools in Alberta were established in the mid-19th century by Catholic and Protestant missionaries. As settlers moved into the territory, they were given the right to form school districts, to build schools, and to hire teachers. In 1905, when Alberta became a province, the newly formed department of education undertook general supervision of the existing school districts. As more settlers arrived, more school districts were formed. Later the department organized consolidated school districts. These larger units led to the disappearance of one-room rural schools from Alberta’s countryside. Most rural students now attend large, centralized schools.

Higher Education

Alberta has four public universities: the University of Alberta at Edmonton, established in 1906; the University of Calgary, which was formerly a branch of the Edmonton campus but became a university in its own right in 1966; the University of Lethbridge, founded in 1967; and Athabasca University, founded in 1970 as a distance-learning institution in Edmonton. A number of church-operated colleges are affiliated with the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary. The larger cities have community colleges. Alberta has two technical colleges, the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in Edmonton and the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Calgary. In Banff National Park, near Banff, is the Banff Centre, a multidisciplinary learning institution devoted to fine arts, professional development, and environmental studies.