The most remarkable aspect of Clearing the Plains is the narrative arc of the book. Taking the reader on trips through primary documents and using deft and clear prose, Daschuk draws a line that connects nineteenth-century Canadian Indian policy, Sir John A. MacDonald’s railroad, western settlement, Canada’s economic foundation, territorial theft of Indigenous communities and the rise of Canada all together. The conclusion of this story is that Indigenous peoples now experience, a century and a half later, dire circumstances due to these events.
~ Niigaan James Sinclair, Introduction; Book recommended by Chris Hyland, History