Description: A historic account of how the Canadian government purposefully implemented policies that starved Indigenous peoples on the Plains to clear the way for settlement in the 19th century.
Brief description:
James Daschuk has a Ph.D in History from the University of Manitoba. He is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Health Studies at the University of Regina and a researcher with the Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Unit.
Pub Board term, 2023-29.Review Quotes: "Clearing the Plains is a tour de force that dismantles and destroys the view that Canada has a special claim to humanity in its treatment of indigenous peoples. Daschuk shows how infectious disease and state-supported starvation combined to create a creeping, relentless catastrophe that persists to the present day. The prose is gripping, the analysis is incisive, and the narrative is so chilling that it leaves its reader stunned and disturbed. For days after reading it, I was unable to shake a profound sense of sorrow. This is fearless, evidence-driven history at its finest."--Elizabeth A. Fenn, author "Pox Americana "