What do you think?
Rate this book
The Dispossessed
The Dispossessed is an examination of the modern day stirrings of rebellion in a people physically and culturally dislocated by North American settlers Geoffrey York's acclaimed work spent 48 weeks on the Globe and Mail 's best-sellers list as the country awoke to its astute observations and opinions With a new chapter examining more recent events involving Canada's native population, The Dispossessed is still as relevant as ever Renowned and respected Aboriginal Canadian Tomson Highway provides the foreword to this contemporary Canadian classic
291 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1989
4 people are currently reading
139 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 27, 2015
I read this initially in 1990, over the years the history I learned from this book has helped shape how I think about everything else that affects FN people in Canada. EXCELLENT read. Highly recommend.
November 10, 2022
This book made me cry. And it made me angry. And it made me care in a way that I’m sorry I never had before. And yet it’s not written in an emotionally-charged style. It’s written in an engaging yet objective journalistic style, reporting well-documented content that really opened my eyes to a history that I suspect most Canadians know very little about. At least I didn’t. When I read this, I had a close friend who is Cree, who grew up in parts of northern Manitoba mentioned in this book. I spoke to her about details of the book, and it was clear that York hasn’t exaggerated the details he describes. If anything, he could’ve been harsher by telling more individual stories of the broader history he covers. But he got me crying anyway with what he included. It’s a very moving story told in a very caring way.
June 3, 2022
I picked this book at the Writing-on-Stone PP visitor centre, and I found myself consuming it ravenously over the course of three evenings, almost as if it was my duty to educate myself more on this topic.
York covers a broad range of topics through the nine chapters in the book, and although some concepts are briefly repeated, I believe the repetition is both beneficial and necessary for those who only read certain chapters in the book, or for those who don’t read the book in a linear fashion.
I think the most difficult part of reading this book was knowing that the authors present tense writing is now over three decades old. I spent a portion of my reading time consumed with asking myself whether the positive strides described by the author had held up over the 30 years since he wrote the book.
Regardless of what the answer to the aforementioned question might be, York demonstrates in his writing that journalists make some of the best research-based writers on the planet. The beginnings of his chapters read like a lede to an article, and the rest reads like a formal news article, backed up with the statistics and quotations one would expect from a reputable journalist.
In the absence of flowery prose, York guides readers on a very straightforward path towards better understanding how First Nations got to where they were leading up to 1990. Although outcomes may have changed since his writing, he provides readers with a comprehensive foundation in understanding the historical building blocks of the sociological breakdown and rebirth of Canadian Indians over two centuries.
Also, the author was only 29 when he wrote this. Remarkable.
York covers a broad range of topics through the nine chapters in the book, and although some concepts are briefly repeated, I believe the repetition is both beneficial and necessary for those who only read certain chapters in the book, or for those who don’t read the book in a linear fashion.
I think the most difficult part of reading this book was knowing that the authors present tense writing is now over three decades old. I spent a portion of my reading time consumed with asking myself whether the positive strides described by the author had held up over the 30 years since he wrote the book.
Regardless of what the answer to the aforementioned question might be, York demonstrates in his writing that journalists make some of the best research-based writers on the planet. The beginnings of his chapters read like a lede to an article, and the rest reads like a formal news article, backed up with the statistics and quotations one would expect from a reputable journalist.
In the absence of flowery prose, York guides readers on a very straightforward path towards better understanding how First Nations got to where they were leading up to 1990. Although outcomes may have changed since his writing, he provides readers with a comprehensive foundation in understanding the historical building blocks of the sociological breakdown and rebirth of Canadian Indians over two centuries.
Also, the author was only 29 when he wrote this. Remarkable.
November 23, 2021
A must read for all Canadians.
October 25, 2011
A few things stand out from this book. A lot of the stuff I already knew was pretty shocking when I learned it the first time; Geoffrey York's a Globe and Mail reporter (currently Africa Bureau Chief), and the mass of other writing this good I've read like this, has been in the G&M. If you don't know the history, pick this book up; all the water-borne illnesses and impossibly bad housing that gained Indian Affairs the admiration of South Africa's National Party and the ire of Desmond Tutu.
A litany of abuses by the white government multiplied by examples of white industry or settlers having Native nations resettled for the farmland, timber, minerals or oil on their land, with billions extracted from the best land of the country, only to see northern river deltas, where many groups resettled for the game and fish, flooded for hydro-electric production. Whatever the mechanism, the book abounds with stories of moving reserves to infertile, boggy land. An almost total lack of long-term employment for natives in extractive industries and seclusion to poor reserves leads to unemployed boredom and other social ills follow, all from the government's land policy.
Sabaskong Bay, Ontario was the first place to have a band run school in 1975.
Starting with the closure of residential schools ("mid-1960s to 1980s") up-to hundreds of native children were "exported" out of their home provinces to white adoptive parents (one example of a significant number is of Manitoba sending children to Louisiana). Labelled by a (white) government report as "cultural genocide," and seen as such especially in relation to residential schools.
Alkali Lake sobering, and that community's influence on other Native communities around Canada, including a widespread video Alkali Lake made about their experience.
Tommy Douglas was the first Canadian government leader to fund a native political organization.
The edition I read end with a back-and-forth set of tales. The apartheid South African ambassador accepts an invitation from a Manitoba reserve which leads to a spurt of federal funding to improve reserves. Shortly after the (all white) Canadian first ministers come up with the Meech Lake Accord, a set of constitutional amendments which would have labelled Quebec as a distinct nation within Canada and provide for Quebec to preserve their unique culture: no word of anything like this for natives. Natives in Manitoba identify a mechanism to stop Meech Lake and the rest is history.
A litany of abuses by the white government multiplied by examples of white industry or settlers having Native nations resettled for the farmland, timber, minerals or oil on their land, with billions extracted from the best land of the country, only to see northern river deltas, where many groups resettled for the game and fish, flooded for hydro-electric production. Whatever the mechanism, the book abounds with stories of moving reserves to infertile, boggy land. An almost total lack of long-term employment for natives in extractive industries and seclusion to poor reserves leads to unemployed boredom and other social ills follow, all from the government's land policy.
Sabaskong Bay, Ontario was the first place to have a band run school in 1975.
Starting with the closure of residential schools ("mid-1960s to 1980s") up-to hundreds of native children were "exported" out of their home provinces to white adoptive parents (one example of a significant number is of Manitoba sending children to Louisiana). Labelled by a (white) government report as "cultural genocide," and seen as such especially in relation to residential schools.
Alkali Lake sobering, and that community's influence on other Native communities around Canada, including a widespread video Alkali Lake made about their experience.
Tommy Douglas was the first Canadian government leader to fund a native political organization.
The edition I read end with a back-and-forth set of tales. The apartheid South African ambassador accepts an invitation from a Manitoba reserve which leads to a spurt of federal funding to improve reserves. Shortly after the (all white) Canadian first ministers come up with the Meech Lake Accord, a set of constitutional amendments which would have labelled Quebec as a distinct nation within Canada and provide for Quebec to preserve their unique culture: no word of anything like this for natives. Natives in Manitoba identify a mechanism to stop Meech Lake and the rest is history.
November 3, 2020
I should have read this 30 years ago, but better late than never. Excellent primary research by Geoffrey York (to be expected).This sort of writing should be set work in every Canadian school. The parallels with South Africa are chilling. The parallels with the people of the lake Chad region are blatant - rob people of their dignity, humiliate them, and nothing good will happen. Geoff - if you have the time and the strength - an update would be welcome!
August 4, 2012
An sober look at history and the effects on Native peoples(my own people) in Canada. Definately an eye-opener to the effects of oppression and how money cannot solve the deeper issues of life.
October 1, 2012
This book should be a staple in Canadian Social Studies / History curricula. I read it at 19 and it opened my eyes. I'll never let this book go, it's with me til the end of me time.
January 10, 2014
Provides real insight into how Canada's First Nations have been treated. I could not put the book down although usually I will not go for historical books
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews