Bienfait /ˈbiːnfeɪt/[3] is a town in Saskatchewan on Highway 18 that is 14 km (9 miles) east of Estevan. It is 30 km northwest of the town of North Portal, which is next to the Canadian-American border and is also 10 km south of Estevan. It is surrounded by the RM of Coalfields.

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Bienfait, Saskatchewan
Town
Main Street
Location of Bienfait in Saskatchewan Show map of Saskatchewan Bienfait (Canada) Show map of Canada
Coordinates: 49.1465°N 102.7956°W / 49.1465; -102.7956
Country	Canada
Province	Saskatchewan
Census division	1
Post office established	1893
Village	Apr 16, 1912
Town	March 1, 1957
Government
• Mayor	Ken Bonokoski
Area
• Total	3.09 km2 (1.19 sq mi)
Population  (2011)
• Total	780
• Density	252.4/km2 (654/sq mi)
Postal code	S0C 0M0
Area code	306
[1][2]

For services, Bienfait has one school and a gas station. There is also a curling rink[4] and an ice rink,[5] which is where the Bienfait Coalers[6] of the Big 6 Hockey League play.[7] The Coalers have won the Lincoln Trophy 15 times, which is the most of any team.

The Bienfait Museum is in the old CPR Station on the east end of town.[8] The original location for the station was on the CPR line on the north side of town.

History

Bienfait was incorporated as the Village of Bienfait on April 16, 1912. It became a town on March 1, 1957, and was named by the Canadian Pacific Railway after Antoine Charles Bienfait, a banker with Adolphe Boissevain & Company of Amsterdam since the firm had been involved in the sale of Canadian Pacific shares in Europe.[9]

In 1931, striking coal miners marched from Bienfait to nearby Estevan, which resulted in the Estevan Riot.

Train/Caboose Lot

On the north side of town on Railway Avenue at the head of Main Street, sits a Manitoba & Saskatchewan Coal Company (M&S) Locomotive #3522, which is on the Canadian Register of Historic Places. The M&S Locomotive was built in 1907 and used to transport coal from the mines to Bienfait to market until 1968. It was one of the last commercially-functioning steam engines in Canada.[10]

The town of Bienfait acquired the locomotive in 1968 and the caboose in 2000. The caboose is an old Canadian National Railway caboose. This site was added to the list of historic places in Saskatchewan on 28 March 2002.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Bienfait had a population of 668 living in 284 of its 355 total private dwellings, a change of -12.3% from its 2016 population of 762. With a land area of 3.05 km² (1.18 sq mi), it had a population density of 219.0/km² (567.2/sq mi) in 2021.[11]

Gallery

• 
  M&S Locomotive in Bienfait
• 
  Main Street Bienfait, looking north with the locomotive at the end of the road
• 
  M&S Locomotive plaque

See also

• List of communities in Saskatchewan
• List of towns in Saskatchewan
• Coal mining in Saskatchewan

References

• Endicott, Stephen (2002). Bienfait: The Saskatchewan Miners' Struggle of '31. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-8452-4.