Punnichy sits along Highway 15 in the heart of the Touchwood Hills, about 126 kilometres northeast of Regina. It grew up on the main Canadian National Railway line as part of the original "Alphabet Line," with Lestock to the east and Quinton to the west. Other towns on that line, the M, N and O stops, have long since been deserted.
The name comes from the Saulteaux word panacay, meaning a fledgling bird with few feathers. It was a joke about the appearance of a pioneer merchant. Punnichy became a village on October 22, 1909.
The village is surrounded by four First Nation reserves: Muskowekwan, Kawacatoose, Day Star and Gordon. Gordon Indian Residential School stood here and was one of the last federally funded residential schools in Canada, closing in 1996.
Today Punnichy has an elementary school, a high school and a Carlton Trail Regional College centre. Hockey defenceman Nolan Yonkman, Indigenous political leader Jim Sinclair and singer Jeffery Straker are among the notable people connected to the village.
Written from Wikipedia’s article “Punnichy” (CC BY-SA 4.0), and shared under the same licence.