Clearing the Plains

Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Indigenous Life

By: James Daschuk, Elizabeth A. Fenn - foreword, Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair

Narrated by: J.D. Nicholsen

Revealing how Canada’s first Prime Minister used a policy of starvation against Indigenous people to clear the way for settlement, the multiple award-winning Clearing the Plains sparked widespread debate about genocide in Canada.

In arresting, but harrowing, prose, James Daschuk examines the roles that Old World diseases, climate, and, most disturbingly, Canadian politics—the politics of ethnocide—played in the deaths and subjugation of thousands of Indigenous people in the realization of Sir John A. Macdonald’s “National Dream.”

It was a dream that came at great expense: the present disparity in health and economic well-being between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations, and the lingering racism and misunderstanding that permeates the national consciousness to this day.

This new edition of Clearing the Plains has a foreword by Pulitzer Prize winning author, Elizabeth Fenn, an opening by Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair, and explanations of the book’s influence by leading Canadian historians. Called “one of the most important books of the twenty-first century” by the Literary Review of Canada, it was named a “Book of the Year” by The Globe and Mail, Quill & Quire, the Writers’ Trust, and won the Sir John A. Macdonald Prize, among many others.

©2013 University of Regina Press (P)2022 University of Regina Press

Critic reviews

“A tour de force that dismantles and destroys the view that Canada has a special claim to humanity in its treatment of indigenous peoples…This is fearless, evidence-driven history at its finest.”—Elizabeth A. Fenn, author of Pox Americana

“Required reading for all Canadians.”—Candace Savage, author of A Geography of Blood

“Clearly written, deeply researched, and properly contextualized history. ..Essential reading for everyone interested in the history of indigenous North America.”—J. R. McNeill, author of Mosquito Empires

Such a great depth of info so badly presented

Every … and I mean EVERY word is spoken from this book including it’s heavy references throughout. It is beyond annoying when trying to listen to the huge depth of info that was written. It’s a college textbook ad naseum. The content is fantastic but the presentation is horrible. Who ever green lit this as a performance should be forced to listen to it over and over again.