About Saskatchewan Municipal
Hail Insurance Association

Saskatchewan Municipal Hail Insurance Association is

• a non-profit, municipal organization
  
• owned, operated and controlled by Saskatchewan farmers since 1917
  
• governed by the Municipal Hail Insurance Act
  
• administered by a Board of nine directors elected by the Rural Municipalities

History of Municipal Hail

Municipal Hail came into being on June 1, 1917 following a developmental period that began in 1903 when the North West Territories established a system of government hail insurance. At the time, all other organizations were prohibited from providing hail insurance. In 1905, Saskatchewan became a province and continued this system. By 1908, extreme losses had been suffered and the Act was repealed.

Farmers were unhappy with this move and through the Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association, pressed for another public hail insurance plan to be established. A system of municipal hail insurance was proposed and was incorporated into an act in 1912. Following a period of revisions and adjustments due to an extremely heavy loss by hail in 1916, the new Municipal Hail Insurance Act came into force in 1917. This Act welded rural municipalities into an organization of their own, giving them powers to operate their own hail insurance business. The Association continues to operate today on the same principles upon which it was founded.