Gravelbourg, Sask, Town, pop 1187 (2001c), 1214 A (1996c), 1226 (1991c), 1305 (1986c), area 3.23 km2, inc 1916, is located on a CPR branch 119 km SW of Moose Jaw. It was named after Father Louis-Joseph-Pierre Gravel (1868-1926), a missionary colonizer, who settled there with 5 brothers and a sister in 1906. Gravel sought fellow immigrants among Québec and New England Francophones, hoping to establish a number of French settlements in the same general area.
In 1918 a convent was built in the town as well as a college, which was affiliated with U of Ottawa; other Catholic buildings followed, a Romanesque cathedral (1919), a monastery (1926) and a hospital. With the creation of the Diocese of Gravelbourg (1930) and the appointment of a Francophone bishop, the town became known as the mecca of Saskatchewan's French inhabitants.
In recent years its importance for French Canadian culture has continued. Its college has become a residential, co-educational, French-language high school. The Centre Culturel Maillard (constructed 1984-85) houses a museum and is the house and meeting place of several Francophone associations. It has the only professional French Canadian dance ensemble in the province.