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Cheated: The Laurier Liberals and the Theft of First Nations Reserve Land
“Canadians and politicians have a common to learn from the mistakes inherited from a colonialist legacy; and to not repeat the wrongs, corruption, and injustices our people suffered in the hands of government officials, politicians, and their oppressive laws. Reading and learning from Cheated would be a good place to start reconciliation and reparation.” ― Ovide Mercredi, former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations The story of how Laurier Liberals took hold of the Department of Indian Affairs in 1896 and transformed it into a machine for expropriating Indigenous land. You won’t find the Ocean Man and Pheasant Rump reserves on a map of southeastern Saskatchewan. In 1901, the two Nakoda bands reluctantly surrendered the 70 square miles granted to them under treaty. It’s just one of more than two dozen surrenders aggressively pursued by the Laurier Liberal government over a fifteen-year period. One in five acres was taken from First Nations. This confiscation was justified on the grounds that prairie bands had too much land and that it would be better used by white settlers. In reality, the surrendered land was largely scooped up by Liberal speculators ― including three senior civil servants and a Liberal cabinet minister ―and flipped for a tidy profit. None were held to account. Cheated is a gripping story of single-minded politicians, uncompromising Indian Affairs officials, grasping government appointees, and well-connected Liberal speculators, set against a backdrop of politics, power, patronage, and profit. The Laurier government’s settlement of western Canada can never be looked at the same way again.
352 pages, Paperback
Published October 3, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 4, 2025
I found this very interesting as I have lived rurally in the prairies and come from a farming background. As a child, I lived in an area that had lots of indigenous history, yet no reserves. I found that odd and this book explains this. Different areas were granted different amounts of reservation land per family of 5. The prairies were granted the most at 640ac/family of 5. The Laurier govt felt this land should be cultivated land. With limitations and restrictions placed on indigenous people to farm the land themselves, the govt deemed them unfit.
Coercive methods on the second theft of indigenous land took place soon after Laurier formed government. Stolen land was sold to developer friends or land speculators for as low as $0.91/acre. I’m not sure what that translates into today’s money. Small amount of families got large swaths of land for a song. Indigenous people were displaced because of cities, towns, rail lines, roads, etc.
i read the audiobook which helped make it seem less like a text book, however the reader did not learn how to say indigenous names properly and I think in an effort to respect indigenous people, the reader/author could have made an effort to learn.
Coercive methods on the second theft of indigenous land took place soon after Laurier formed government. Stolen land was sold to developer friends or land speculators for as low as $0.91/acre. I’m not sure what that translates into today’s money. Small amount of families got large swaths of land for a song. Indigenous people were displaced because of cities, towns, rail lines, roads, etc.
i read the audiobook which helped make it seem less like a text book, however the reader did not learn how to say indigenous names properly and I think in an effort to respect indigenous people, the reader/author could have made an effort to learn.
February 17, 2025
An okay book about a horrible situation. But it didn't really say anything new, just tale after tale of political corruption and disgusting racism from ministers and Liberal cronies in the departments of Indian Affairs and Interior Affairs. While the situations were infuriating and certainly evoked a lot of emotions, the flat presentation turned the book into a dry list of events.
June 5, 2024
There is no getting around the fact that the nation of Canada exists on land occupied previously by flourishing and interconnected societes. It is a fundamental contradiction that has had atrocious consequences, and that continues to echo while other aspects manifest. Colonialism is not just yesterday's problem. While it has characterized our past and present there is a growing demand that it not characterise our future. That is where this book steps into the fray.
To its credit it admirably demonstrates how the acquisition of First Nations land has been both a Liberal and Conservative priority that persisted well into the 20th century.
Historically neither political party has had any interest in the interests of "the Indian", and instead just wanted the land. If anything it's the Conservatives who purported to speak for the interests of First Nations, but it is well argued that this "support" was really just a Conservative tactic untended to smear the Liberals.
Really, it is argued, when considering that the Laurier Liberals enabled several people to profit from induced reserve land surrenders that the Conservatives resented missing out on the opportunity to milk the patronage cow.
While this book presents the Liberal acquisition of the land as little more than an elaborate scheme by corrupt civil servants at one time, the racist Frank Oliver and his shady extended family, as well as sundry others who either (or both) sought to increase their holdings or flip the land for a profit, what is barely recognized in the book is that it was both Liberals and Conservatives that oversaw the aquisition of First Nations land by Canada during treaty negotiations.
Comparitivley speaking over 3 million miles² of land was taken by Canada in treaty negotiations, overseen by both Liberal and Conservative governments. Perhaps a few thousand more were taken (and considering the information presented in this book "taken" is not a misleading word to use, nor should it be minimized, the authors point out this was over 20% of reserve land in the Canadian prairies) in the early 20th century by the Laurier Liberals.
What is evident is that neither the Conservatives or Liberals really has First Nations interests as a priority. In my opinion it is either ignorant or foolish, or perhaps both, to expect anything but more than continued depredations from either party.
While I appreciate how this book contributes to a perspective on the perpetration of a colonial, "replacement" agenda by both Conservative and the Liberals it should be acknowledged that currently their is no political party in Canada genuinely representing anti- colonial interests, current policy amounting to little more than fine words while economically easy "low hanging fruit" is ticked off the list from the calls to action in the Truth and Reconciliation report, by the current Liberal government (which takes the Laurier Liberals as a model).
There are also things I didn't like, and one of these things I find divisive and dangerous by its assumptions.
The first thing that I didn't like was the discrepancy between the number of acres surrendered noted in the table at the front of the book versus what is presented in the text itself. But this may be because of an error I made in adding.
The second thing I didn't like is the incorrect assumption that land for settlers was free. Certainly it was promoted that way at the time, and it's a very common assumption in modern times. While correctly pointing out that often a surrender was often partially induced with a payment in the form of a farming "outfit" (a collection of the basic tools necessary to start farming) is a violation of treaty (reserve land, guaranteed during treaty negotiations, was demanded in exchange for a basic farming outfit, also promised in treaty negotiations), the same incisive logic is not extended to the rank and file settlers.
While the purchase of such a farming outfit (which could run hundreds of dollars) was not included in the "free" land settlers occupied, it was also recommended that a settler had savings of several hundred dollars or they would have to also work for wages.
But these things are not costs for taking land. So then what was? A settler, upon claiming the quarter section (160 acres, 1/4 of a full section which was 640 acres, or 1m²) they liked would then have to pay a $10 entry fee to register their occupancy of the land at the local Dominion Land Office. Once they had built their home, and a few outbuildings, and brought a few acres into production (a massive amount of labour, "sweat equity" as the realtor's call it), assuming that had all happened within a few years, ownership of that quarter section was passed to them.
Aside from the labour and money needed, the $10 entry fee is used to call the land "essentially free" by the authors. But when describing the corruption at the DIA in which a female late night cleaner at the Department of Indian Affairs was complicit in a land scam it is noted that her wages were $5.00 a month. Considering this it is incorrect to call the $10 entry fee "essentially free". More appropriately it is correct to say the land wasn't free, it was eqivalent to at least a months wages.
Not only is it divisive, certainly someone did well by talking First Nations land and flipping it for massive profits, but generally it wasn't rank and file settlers.
Aside from being divisive by perpetuating bourgeois marketing slogans as fact, what is tragic is how such beliefs give right wingers an opportunity to criticize opponents for being wrong, and more importantly undermine anyone who wants colonialism to be destroyed.
Granted the authors contribute to a fuller knowledge base for those of us that are concerned for the future, but like most takes on Canadian history it is more concerned with the narrative than fact. There is some valuable knowledge here, but the limited scope based on incomplete analysis is not to be taken uncritically. Our future demands better.
To its credit it admirably demonstrates how the acquisition of First Nations land has been both a Liberal and Conservative priority that persisted well into the 20th century.
Historically neither political party has had any interest in the interests of "the Indian", and instead just wanted the land. If anything it's the Conservatives who purported to speak for the interests of First Nations, but it is well argued that this "support" was really just a Conservative tactic untended to smear the Liberals.
Really, it is argued, when considering that the Laurier Liberals enabled several people to profit from induced reserve land surrenders that the Conservatives resented missing out on the opportunity to milk the patronage cow.
While this book presents the Liberal acquisition of the land as little more than an elaborate scheme by corrupt civil servants at one time, the racist Frank Oliver and his shady extended family, as well as sundry others who either (or both) sought to increase their holdings or flip the land for a profit, what is barely recognized in the book is that it was both Liberals and Conservatives that oversaw the aquisition of First Nations land by Canada during treaty negotiations.
Comparitivley speaking over 3 million miles² of land was taken by Canada in treaty negotiations, overseen by both Liberal and Conservative governments. Perhaps a few thousand more were taken (and considering the information presented in this book "taken" is not a misleading word to use, nor should it be minimized, the authors point out this was over 20% of reserve land in the Canadian prairies) in the early 20th century by the Laurier Liberals.
What is evident is that neither the Conservatives or Liberals really has First Nations interests as a priority. In my opinion it is either ignorant or foolish, or perhaps both, to expect anything but more than continued depredations from either party.
While I appreciate how this book contributes to a perspective on the perpetration of a colonial, "replacement" agenda by both Conservative and the Liberals it should be acknowledged that currently their is no political party in Canada genuinely representing anti- colonial interests, current policy amounting to little more than fine words while economically easy "low hanging fruit" is ticked off the list from the calls to action in the Truth and Reconciliation report, by the current Liberal government (which takes the Laurier Liberals as a model).
There are also things I didn't like, and one of these things I find divisive and dangerous by its assumptions.
The first thing that I didn't like was the discrepancy between the number of acres surrendered noted in the table at the front of the book versus what is presented in the text itself. But this may be because of an error I made in adding.
The second thing I didn't like is the incorrect assumption that land for settlers was free. Certainly it was promoted that way at the time, and it's a very common assumption in modern times. While correctly pointing out that often a surrender was often partially induced with a payment in the form of a farming "outfit" (a collection of the basic tools necessary to start farming) is a violation of treaty (reserve land, guaranteed during treaty negotiations, was demanded in exchange for a basic farming outfit, also promised in treaty negotiations), the same incisive logic is not extended to the rank and file settlers.
While the purchase of such a farming outfit (which could run hundreds of dollars) was not included in the "free" land settlers occupied, it was also recommended that a settler had savings of several hundred dollars or they would have to also work for wages.
But these things are not costs for taking land. So then what was? A settler, upon claiming the quarter section (160 acres, 1/4 of a full section which was 640 acres, or 1m²) they liked would then have to pay a $10 entry fee to register their occupancy of the land at the local Dominion Land Office. Once they had built their home, and a few outbuildings, and brought a few acres into production (a massive amount of labour, "sweat equity" as the realtor's call it), assuming that had all happened within a few years, ownership of that quarter section was passed to them.
Aside from the labour and money needed, the $10 entry fee is used to call the land "essentially free" by the authors. But when describing the corruption at the DIA in which a female late night cleaner at the Department of Indian Affairs was complicit in a land scam it is noted that her wages were $5.00 a month. Considering this it is incorrect to call the $10 entry fee "essentially free". More appropriately it is correct to say the land wasn't free, it was eqivalent to at least a months wages.
Not only is it divisive, certainly someone did well by talking First Nations land and flipping it for massive profits, but generally it wasn't rank and file settlers.
Aside from being divisive by perpetuating bourgeois marketing slogans as fact, what is tragic is how such beliefs give right wingers an opportunity to criticize opponents for being wrong, and more importantly undermine anyone who wants colonialism to be destroyed.
Granted the authors contribute to a fuller knowledge base for those of us that are concerned for the future, but like most takes on Canadian history it is more concerned with the narrative than fact. There is some valuable knowledge here, but the limited scope based on incomplete analysis is not to be taken uncritically. Our future demands better.
October 25, 2023
(Some of) the Truth all settlers to Canada should know
In Cheated: The Laurier Liberals and the Theft of First Nations Reserve Land, Bill Waiser and Jennie Hansen document who, what, where, when, why, and how the Canadian government systematically re-possessed swaths of land designated under treaties as reserved for indigenous peoples a few decades earlier. These reserves had been established because the arrival of ever more European settlers to the ‘New World’ had displaced, dispossessed, and decimated the people who once thrived on access to much larger territories. This form of reparation was, at best, dismissive – let’s silence the colonized and segregate them from the colonizers, and at worse, ripe for abuse by the Canadian government.
‘Who’ is disclosed in the title as being "The Laurier Liberals" on behalf of the Government of Canada, while specific agents are named as each ‘land surrender’ in the Canadian Prairies is detailed (what, where, and how). ‘When’ spans from 1897 to 1911. ‘Why’ uncovers greed in various forms, and unfair dealings between members and cronies of the ruling party and those of the opposition. More importantly, ‘why’ brings to light rampant contempt for people who were given no voice in either ruling or opposing the Canadian government of the day, and the ease of committing fraud against them as a result.
Cheated: The Laurier Liberals and the Theft of First Nations Reserve Land exposes (some of) the Truth all settlers should know about those who ruled in our names as Canada became a country, how they (we) abused those responsibilities, and the extraneous reasons why the individuals who committed these crimes were never brought to justice.
I was given a copy of Cheated: The Laurier Liberals and the Theft of First Nations Reserve Landby publisher ECW Press in exchange for posting an honest review online. I am glad—and sad--that I read it from cover to cover, as each fraudulent act perpetrated by the colonizer over the colonized needs to be brought to light for Reconciliation to begin.
In Cheated: The Laurier Liberals and the Theft of First Nations Reserve Land, Bill Waiser and Jennie Hansen document who, what, where, when, why, and how the Canadian government systematically re-possessed swaths of land designated under treaties as reserved for indigenous peoples a few decades earlier. These reserves had been established because the arrival of ever more European settlers to the ‘New World’ had displaced, dispossessed, and decimated the people who once thrived on access to much larger territories. This form of reparation was, at best, dismissive – let’s silence the colonized and segregate them from the colonizers, and at worse, ripe for abuse by the Canadian government.
‘Who’ is disclosed in the title as being "The Laurier Liberals" on behalf of the Government of Canada, while specific agents are named as each ‘land surrender’ in the Canadian Prairies is detailed (what, where, and how). ‘When’ spans from 1897 to 1911. ‘Why’ uncovers greed in various forms, and unfair dealings between members and cronies of the ruling party and those of the opposition. More importantly, ‘why’ brings to light rampant contempt for people who were given no voice in either ruling or opposing the Canadian government of the day, and the ease of committing fraud against them as a result.
Cheated: The Laurier Liberals and the Theft of First Nations Reserve Land exposes (some of) the Truth all settlers should know about those who ruled in our names as Canada became a country, how they (we) abused those responsibilities, and the extraneous reasons why the individuals who committed these crimes were never brought to justice.
I was given a copy of Cheated: The Laurier Liberals and the Theft of First Nations Reserve Landby publisher ECW Press in exchange for posting an honest review online. I am glad—and sad--that I read it from cover to cover, as each fraudulent act perpetrated by the colonizer over the colonized needs to be brought to light for Reconciliation to begin.
November 25, 2023
Waiser and Hansen’s research and narrative was so well done that this book made me angry. Angry because this horrible treatment towards First Nations still continues and this type of land corruption continues (ie Province of Ontario Greenbelt).
Having read Pierre Berton’s The Promised Land : Settling the West, the government at the time had a lot of men in it that were scoundrels. Cheated dug deeper in sources to reveal just how dirty these men were to be set financially at the expense of First Nations that lived on the Prairies. That being said this book is a bit of a slog as I had to put it down so many times because it's a lot to take in. This should be required reading as educating ourselves is a Call to Action.
Having read Pierre Berton’s The Promised Land : Settling the West, the government at the time had a lot of men in it that were scoundrels. Cheated dug deeper in sources to reveal just how dirty these men were to be set financially at the expense of First Nations that lived on the Prairies. That being said this book is a bit of a slog as I had to put it down so many times because it's a lot to take in. This should be required reading as educating ourselves is a Call to Action.
March 4, 2025
Okay, I am pitifully ignorant of how land treaties were made, so this book was a real eye-opener! It is essentially the story of the evolution of racism in Canada. It really gave me a lot to think about.
February 1, 2024
Yet another disgraceful period in the history of Canada. Though as always the Federal Government has treated the First Nations Peoples of Turtle Island despicably.
May 13, 2024
An eye opener. We weren't taught this in school.
June 19, 2024
Dry; not very relevant to the Native perspective. Mostly focused on Ottawa and the people making money off land theft and Genocide.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews