Cheated: The Laurier Liberals and the Theft of First Nations Reserve Land

History

Hansen, Jennie

Waiser, Bill

Americas

ECW Press

In Search of Almighty Voice: Resistance and Reconciliation

Fifth House Publishers

History Matters 2: More Stories from Saskatchewan

Self-published

The Great Depression of the 1930s brought drought, unemployment, and poverty to the West, and the token wages from the government's "make work" projects only fanned the flames of unrest. In 1935, this unrest took on a purpose: to march on Ottawa and demand a solution from Prime Minister R. B. Bennett. Thus was born the On-to-Ottawa trek, which culminated in the Regina Riot, where the protestes and RCMP clashed in one of Canada's most significant historic events. 
 All Hell Can't Stop Us: The On-to-Ottawa Trek and Regina Riot is noted historian Bill Waiser's detailed retelling of one of the seminal moments in Canadian history. This new, balanced history is based on a number of new sources that have only become available in the last few decades, including previously closed RCMP records, Regina City police records (now available through the Access to Information and Privacy Division) and the papers of John Gregory (Jack) King, one of the leading figures in the Regina Citizen's Emergency Committee. Other primary sources consulted were the records of the Regina Riot Inquiry Commission and trial transcripts for those charged with rioting or related offenses - most of these records had never been consulted since they were filed in 1936. 
 In April 1935, many young unemployed single men left work camps in British Columbia where they often laboured six and a half days a week for 20 cents a day. They congregated and organized in the city of Vancouver led by Arthur "Slim" Evans. After two months of unsuccessful struggle for union wages, they decided to take their case direct to Ottawa and the Prime Minister. Their journey came to be known as the On-to-Ottawa Trek. They left Vancouver on June 3. "Riding the rod" (on and in railway freight cars) across mountains and prairie they reached Regina, still only half way to Ottawa. Here they were stopped by the RCMP on orders from Bennett in Ottawa, and a month later, on Dominion Day (July 1) the Regina Riot ended the trek, when police ill-advisedly tried to round up the group leaders during a peaceful protest march. The official toll of the encounter was one dead, dozens injured, and over 100 people arrested, but Waiser has uncovered evidence that these statistics don't tell the whole story. In the course of research for All Hell Can't Stop Us he not only discovered nine previously unpublished sketches of the scene of the riot, but also found references to a second man, Nicholas (Nick) Shaack, who died as a result of blows inflicted by the RCMP - a death that was never recorded or investigated by the RCMP. A death that strengthens arguments of unwarranted RCMP brutality that night. 
 While the trek was suppressed, its ideals were not lost. The trek and the riot captured the hearts and minds of Canadians who sympathized with the hopes and dreams of the men involved. It came to epitomize all that was wrong with the federal government's handling of the single homeless unemployed during the depression. In the federal election a few months later, the Conservative government went down to resounding defeat. The new Liberal government felt compelled to abolish the camps, and further reforms established much of the social system we

All Hell Can't Stop Us: The On-to-Ottawa Trek and Regina Riot

Historians, like reporters, are detectives - hunting down new stories that provide different perspectives on historical events. Looking Back is based on the popular weekly five-minute history series of the same name created by Paul Dederick, an award-winning CBC TV current affairs producer and Bill Waiser a University of Saskatchewan history professor. Looking Back highlighted little-known, compelling, and sometimes quirky stories from Saskatchewan's past. All stories were filmed on location and - more often than not - featured people who had some personal or special connection to the event. The series was never intended to offer an in-depth analysis of historical events and personalities; rather, it's purpose was to educate and entertain and in doing so, get people interested in and talking about the province's rich and varied past. Broadcast on CBC TV's "Saskatchewan Now" early-evening news from 1998 to 2001, the program was shortlisted for the Pierre Berton Award, and honourable mentions at the Columbus International Film and Video Festival.

Looking Back: True Tales from Saskatchewan

Fifth House

Saskatchewan: A New History

In Saskatchewan: A New History, award-winning author and historian Bill Waiser presents a fresh, entertaining account and interpretation of Saskatchewan's unique and captivating history. Writing with clarity, candor, and compassion, Waiser describes in detail his province and its people through the stimulating, often tumultuous years since joining Confederation in 1905. 
 A gift to the province from the University of Saskatchewan, written in commemoration of the province's centennial celebrations in 2005, Saskatchewan: A New History tells, above all, the engaging stories of the people of Saskatchewan. Their wisdom, foresight, bravery, toil, and eternal optimism gave birth to one hundred years of extraordinary history. 
 Waiser leaves no stone unturned as he records the events and stories of the people who experienced them: from the province's earliest days, when anything seemed possible; through the years of the Great Depression, when the prospect of greatness seemed all but lost; to the second half of the century, when an intense, at times bitter, debate raged over how best to govern Saskatchewan. Relying on the most up-to-date historical research available, he offers new perspectives on traditional views and tackles previously neglected, often difficult, concepts and events. 
 "What is most striking about these images, aside from the richness of their color and the skillful use of light, are the happy, smiling faces. He could see things like no one else with a camera. He had an uncanny skill to set the scene. He caught people in everyday life and everyday activities and people wanted to have their picture taken by him." 
 Generously illustrated with carefully selected archival images and two sixteen-page color inserts of commissioned photographs by Saskatoon's John Perret, Saskatchewan: A New History also pays a stunning visual tribute to the historical, urban, and natural splendour of Saskatchewan and its people. 
 Includes: two 16-page color photo inserts by John Perret, 205 Black and White photographs and illustrations, 20 reference tables, 15 maps . . . and more. 
 Saskatchewan Book Award for Non-Fiction nominee, 2005 
 Saskatchewan Book Award for Scholarly Writing nominee, 2005

"Authoritative, well-written... brilliant." 
-- The Globe and Mail 
"Waiser's history tells the full, often gritty story of how politicians tried to carve a grid of European settlement, almost overnight, onto the wild Western steppe... Yet he does not shy away from the harsher truths: the systematic attempt to extinguish aboriginal culture along with the bison; how women had to wait until 1979 to receive full property rights under law; or that farming culture began to die almost as quickly as it was born." 
-- Canadian Geographic 
Bill Waiser leaves no stone unturned as he records the events and stories of the people who experienced them: from the province's earliest days when anything seemed possible through the years of the Great Depression, when the prospect of greatness seemed all but lost and to the second half of the century, when an intense, at times bitter debate raged over how best to govern Saskatchewan. Relying on the most up-to-date historical research available, Waiser offers new perspectives on traditional views and tackles previously neglected, often difficult, concepts and events.

Park Prisoners the Untold Story of Western Canada's National Parks

Between 1915 and 1946, the Canadian government put some ten thousand unskilled foreigners, jobless and homeless people, conscientious objectors, perceived enemies of the state, and prisoners of war to work in western Canada's national parks. These men had committed no crimes, but because of war or depression, they were seen as a possible threat to public order and a potential source of civil unrest. 
 Many of the Banff, Jasper, and other national parks' heritage buildings and roads were constructed through the backbreaking work of the internees in these labour camps. More than 125 archival photographs illustrate this compelling history of how these men lived and worked, how they were treated, and the legacy they left in our national parks.

Park Prisoners

Everett Baker's Saskatchewan: Portraits of an Era

Saskatchewan Book Awards Shortlist - Non-Fiction, 2007 If a picture is worth a thousand words, then Everett Baker's photographs of Saskatchewan and its people taken during the 1940s, 50s, and 60s are worth a million! 
Unlike the black and white photos that typically document the era, they are as colourful as a flax field in bloom. 
Everett Baker's Saskatchewan is a book filled with photos of the province as Baker saw it starting in 1937, when he traveled from town to town as a field man for the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. With his German-made 35mm Leica camera, Baker took Kodachrome colour slide pictures of the people, towns, and farms he visited, immortalizing a unique chapter in Saskatchewan's history. It was the golden age of the co-operative movement in the province, as well as a time of change with the rise of Tommy Douglas's Co-operative Commonwealth Federation government. The old world was slipping into the shadow of the new, and Baker was there to capture it before it disappeared altogether. 
University of Saskatchewan historian Bill Waiser has selected and compiled photographs from Everett Baker's unique vision into the first ever book-form showcase of this exceptional photographer's work. 
"Baker's photographic documentation of the province in the mid-20th century is a national treasure," says Waiser. "He set out to photograph the co-operative movement but he did not stop there. During his long days on the road, Baker used his camera to capture the diverse Saskatchewan landscape through the seasons. He coaxed people to pose for him." 
In Baker's time, Saskatchewan suffered from severe decline in the international demand for wheat and a prolonged drought. He saw the suffering of refugees. He knew a Saskatchewan that lacked electricity and indoor toilets. Baker documented a lifestyle where seven out of every 10 still lived in a rural setting. 
"What is most striking about these images, aside from the richness of their colour and the skillful use of light, are the happy, smiling faces. He could see things like no one else with a camera. He had an uncanny skill to set the scene. He caught people in everyday life and everyday activities and people wanted to have their picture taken by him."

Arts & Photography

Individual Artists

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Waiser, Bill. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Waiser, Bill

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Waiser, Bill. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Cheated: The Laurier Liberals and the Theft of First Nations Reserve Land

In Search of Almighty Voice: Resistance and Reconciliation

History Matters 2: More Stories from Saskatchewan

All Hell Can't Stop Us: The On-to-Ottawa Trek and Regina Riot

Looking Back: True Tales from Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan: A New History

Saskatchewan: A New History

Park Prisoners the Untold Story of Western Canada's National Parks

Park Prisoners

Everett Baker's Saskatchewan: Portraits of an Era