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Lost Harvests: Prairie Indian Reserve Farmers and Government Policy (McGill-Queen's Native and Northern Series)
Despite repeated requests for assistance from Plains Indians, the Canadian government provided very little help between 1874 and 1885, and what little they did give proved useless. Although drought, frost, and other natural phenomena contributed to the failure of early efforts, reserve farmers were determined to create an economy based on agriculture and to become independent of government regulations and the need for assistance. Officials in Ottawa, however, attributed setbacks not to economic or climatic conditions but to the Indians' character and traditions which, they claimed, made the Indians unsuited to agriculture. In the decade following 1885 government policies made farming virtually impossible for the Plains Indians. They were expected to subsist on one or two acres and were denied access to any improvements in technology: farmers had to sow seed by hand, harvest with scythes, and thresh with flails. After the turn of the century, the government encouraged land surrenders in order to make good agricultural land available to non-Indian settlers. This destroyed any chance the Plains Indians had of making agriculture a stable economic base. Through an examination of the relevant published literature and of archival sources in Ottawa, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, Carter provides the first in-depth study of government policy, Indian responses, and the socio-economic condition of the reserve communities on the prairies in the post-treaty era.
352 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 14, 2022
Lost Harvests is an impressive and deeply researched book about the arrival of agriculture on the Canadian prairies, and the process undertaken by the Canadian government to dispossess Indigenous people of their land and culture through the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
As in other countries subjected to British settler colonialism, including Australia, Ireland, and Palestine, agriculture served in Western Canada as an early tool for enclosing land held in common and destroying Indigenous ways of living. In each instance, settlers have claimed their right to the land under the same premise—that the displaced Indigenous groups were too nomadic, communistic, and "savage" to make the land productive. In Canada, the federal government intended to use farming and property ownership to civilize and assimilate First Nations people.
At least, that was the plan. Struggling to establish agriculture and settlement in the extreme climate of the prairies, the government promised tools, seeds, and livestock to Indigenous reserve farmers, whose knowledge of the land and climate far surpassed theirs. Despite inadequate assistance and oppressive, racist policies, many reserve farms eventually flourished, prompting settlers to complain that they were unable to compete in Western Canada's growing agricultural economy. In response, the government imposed debilitating restrictions on the reserve farmers, eventually coercing the surrender of their land—and livelihood—to the settlers. Today, it would surprise most people in Western Canada to learn that farming, the backbone of our economy, had actually been established by Indigenous people.
Although I would have loved for the author to contextualize this process within the larger topic of British colonization, I'm grateful to Carter for concentrating her studies on this region, as it helped me understand how I came to be a descendent and benefactor of English farmers on the prairies. A highly recommended read for anyone looking to understand Canadian settler colonialism.
As in other countries subjected to British settler colonialism, including Australia, Ireland, and Palestine, agriculture served in Western Canada as an early tool for enclosing land held in common and destroying Indigenous ways of living. In each instance, settlers have claimed their right to the land under the same premise—that the displaced Indigenous groups were too nomadic, communistic, and "savage" to make the land productive. In Canada, the federal government intended to use farming and property ownership to civilize and assimilate First Nations people.
At least, that was the plan. Struggling to establish agriculture and settlement in the extreme climate of the prairies, the government promised tools, seeds, and livestock to Indigenous reserve farmers, whose knowledge of the land and climate far surpassed theirs. Despite inadequate assistance and oppressive, racist policies, many reserve farms eventually flourished, prompting settlers to complain that they were unable to compete in Western Canada's growing agricultural economy. In response, the government imposed debilitating restrictions on the reserve farmers, eventually coercing the surrender of their land—and livelihood—to the settlers. Today, it would surprise most people in Western Canada to learn that farming, the backbone of our economy, had actually been established by Indigenous people.
Although I would have loved for the author to contextualize this process within the larger topic of British colonization, I'm grateful to Carter for concentrating her studies on this region, as it helped me understand how I came to be a descendent and benefactor of English farmers on the prairies. A highly recommended read for anyone looking to understand Canadian settler colonialism.
August 12, 2017
Carter strongly disagrees with the myth of the backward Prairie Indians, unwilling to abandon their nomadic hunters’ life style. She maintains that the Indians realized that farming is the only way for them to be self-sufficient after the disappearing of the buffalo. The Canadian government, however, did not provide the Indians with the assistance they promised. They government even did not allow to Indian farmers to sell their surplus. The only thing the government was interested in was to dismantle the tribal system, claims Carter. This government indifference doomed to failure most Aboriginal farmers.
January 28, 2017
I read this book back in my university days. It is an amazing eye opener of Canada`s past and present with regards to social policy based on race. This is a vital and misunderstood part of Canadian history that is often not discussed in our education system. Well written and back up with facts. A definite must have for any history buff.
July 6, 2012
Can't recommend enough .... Carter demolishes many of the myths of Canadian 'peaceful settlement' and nation-building vis-a-vis native peoples, treaties, and government 'benevolence'.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews