Locals will immediately recognize our name as Regina’s unofficial nickname. It is an anglicization of the original Cree name for our city, oskana ka-asastēki, (often shortened to Wascana or Oskana). The name was changed to Regina, after Edgar Dewdney, who “just so happened” to own land in the area, declared it to be the Territorial capital and made himself rich in the process. The Cree name was dropped in favour of “Regina” in honour of Queen Victoria, but Pile O’ Bones, Wascana, and Oskana all carry on in extensive use throughout the area.
For instance, Regina’s crown jewel and the 4th largest park in North America bears the name Wascana Park. Wascana Park is also home to the First Nations University of Canada which is located on one of Regina’s few urban reserves. There is both a Federal riding known as Wascana, currently occupied by Minister of Public Safety, Ralph Goodale and a provincial constituency known as Regina Wascana Plains. The City’s downtown core features a monument by legendary artist and Order of Canada recipient, Joe Fafard which is named oskana ka-asastēki, and the Provincial Youth Aboriginal Hockey Championships are known as the Oskana Cup. Many other groups adopt the anglicized version Pile O’ Bones, including the local Derby Club, the Pile O’ Bones Tattoo Convention, the Pile O’ Bones Rodeo, the local BBQ competition and even the local Toast Masters club. The Office of the Treaty Commissioner has recommended the teaching of the original Indigenous place names in our education curriculum and explicitly included Wascana in its list of names to be taught to our youth. Meanwhile local Cree language advocates have called for the City to return to the original name, oskana ka-asastēki.
So we chose Pile O’ Bones Brewing Company to remind people of the fact that Cree, Saulteaux, Nakota, Lakota, Dakota and Métis people called the plains of Saskatchewan home and hunted Buffalo for thousands of years before Dewdney showed up.
Our logo is the Plains Bison, which literally supported thousands of years of life on the Prairie. It is also reflective of our devotion and commitment to our local community.
OUR COMMITMENT - We are craft beer drinkers and award-winning home brewers. We know you only get out of a beer what you put into it. That’s why we’re committed to using the best quality ingredients we can get our hands on and treating them with respect. Whether it’s malt and other grains, water, yeast or hops; we pay attention to every detail to ensure we’re producing a quality craft beer for you.
