Uploaded August 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Clearing the Plains:
Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Indigenous Life
by James Daschuk
University of Regina Press
2013
Here is a Dr. James Daschuk giving a talk on his book. Long, but very worth while:
youtube.com/watch?v=c2IUCd4yX6E
I read this along with Shawn the Book Maniac, who suggested the book and kept me on track with weekly chapter by chapter check in's on Voxer. Please check out his channel if for some reason you don't know of him!
youtube.com/channel/UCXFFuV_loS97oL-UTCazcXA
CPG Grey's video, "Americapox: The Missing Plague" explaining the disasterous consequences of European diseases in North & South America and why Europeans weren't struck down by diseases as well:
youtu.be/JEYh5WACqEk
A fuller transcript of John A. Macdonald from a April 26, 1882 House of Commons exchange:
"When the Indians are starving, they have been helped, but they have been reduced to one-half and one-quarter rations; but when they fall into a state of destitution we cannot allow them to die for want of food. It is true that Indians so long as they are fed will not work. I have reason to believe that the agents as a whole, and I am sure it is the same with the Commissioner, are doing all they can, by refusing food until the Indians are on the verge of starvation, to reduce the expense. The buffalo has disappeared during the past few years. Some few came over this year, and although their arrival relieved the Indians, it was rather sorry, looking to the future, that such was the case, as the Blackfeet, Bloods and Peigana who had settled on reserves at one returned to their nomadic habits and abandoned the settlements. It will occasionally happen that the agents will issue food too liberally… We hope that the Indians will now settle down, but Indians are Indians, and we must submit to frequent disappointments in the way of civilizing them."
Above take from a transcript of CBC's Ideas program "The verdict on Sir John A. Macdonald: Guilty or innocent?":
cbc.ca/radio/ideas/the-verdict-on-sir-john-a-macdonald-guilty-or-innocent-1.4616181
National Post (lord help me) article on the changing of the Sir John A. Macdonal Prize to the CHA Prize for Best Scholarly Book in Canadian History:
nationalpost.com/pmn/entertainment-pmn/books-entertainment-pmn/historical-association-rebrands-award-named-for-john-a-macdonald
LATE ADDITION, Shawn the Book Maniac's review of 'Clearing the Plains':
youtu.be/1wH664x2QXE
(Video #322)
Clearing the Plains:
Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Indigenous Life
by James Daschuk
University of Regina Press
2013
Here is a Dr. James Daschuk giving a talk on his book. Long, but very worth while:
youtube.com/watch?v=c2IUCd4yX6E
I read this along with Shawn the Book Maniac, who suggested the book and kept me on track with weekly chapter by chapter check in's on Voxer. Please check out his channel if for some reason you don't know of him!
youtube.com/channel/UCXFFuV_loS97oL-UTCazcXA
CPG Grey's video, "Americapox: The Missing Plague" explaining the disasterous consequences of European diseases in North & South America and why Europeans weren't struck down by diseases as well:
youtu.be/JEYh5WACqEk
A fuller transcript of John A. Macdonald from a April 26, 1882 House of Commons exchange:
"When the Indians are starving, they have been helped, but they have been reduced to one-half and one-quarter rations; but when they fall into a state of destitution we cannot allow them to die for want of food. It is true that Indians so long as they are fed will not work. I have reason to believe that the agents as a whole, and I am sure it is the same with the Commissioner, are doing all they can, by refusing food until the Indians are on the verge of starvation, to reduce the expense. The buffalo has disappeared during the past few years. Some few came over this year, and although their arrival relieved the Indians, it was rather sorry, looking to the future, that such was the case, as the Blackfeet, Bloods and Peigana who had settled on reserves at one returned to their nomadic habits and abandoned the settlements. It will occasionally happen that the agents will issue food too liberally… We hope that the Indians will now settle down, but Indians are Indians, and we must submit to frequent disappointments in the way of civilizing them."
Above take from a transcript of CBC's Ideas program "The verdict on Sir John A. Macdonald: Guilty or innocent?":
cbc.ca/radio/ideas/the-verdict-on-sir-john-a-macdonald-guilty-or-innocent-1.4616181
National Post (lord help me) article on the changing of the Sir John A. Macdonal Prize to the CHA Prize for Best Scholarly Book in Canadian History:
nationalpost.com/pmn/entertainment-pmn/books-entertainment-pmn/historical-association-rebrands-award-named-for-john-a-macdonald
LATE ADDITION, Shawn the Book Maniac's review of 'Clearing the Plains':
youtu.be/1wH664x2QXE
(Video #322)
