"Canadians and politicians have a common responsibility: 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.

Set in Saskatchewan during the Great Depression, this is the story of hockey legend Gordie Howe and his first experience with skating. The book is charmingly illustrated in full colour by Leanne Franson. Bill Waiser is a popular historian and Governor-General's-Award-winning author. Times were hard for five-year-old Gordie and his family in the 1930s. One day, a neighbour, desperate for some money, sold Mrs. Howe a bag of meager possessions. Inside was something wonderful: an old pair of men's hockey skates. Even though they were several sizes too large, Gordie and his sister pounced on them. At first, she and Gordie tried skating on just one foot... then holding hands to keep their balance. Eventually, his sister abandoned her skate, and Gordie grabbed it. He never looked back! Gordie's Skate is an ode to the love of hockey and a tale about hard times, where a family makes do with what little they had, even eating oatmeal for lunch and supper. It's also a story about kids creating their own fun, with determination-Gordie and his friends played for hours with little or no equipment. This inspirational picture book shows how people came to depend on one another to endure the Great Depression. Gordie Howe's long and celebrated NHL career owed much to his mother's willingness to help a neighbour. Lively illustrations capture life in Saskatoon in the 1930s, and show how a pair of old skates helped Gordie build skill and confidence and achieve his dreams.

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 protesters and RCMP clashed in one of Canada's most significant historic events.

Short listed for 3 Saskatchewan Book Awards:Non-Fiction Award, Saskatoon Award, Book of the Year Award. On the morning of 5 December 1933, a young RCMP constable discovered a grisly scene in the Avalon schoolyard in rural Saskatchewan. A young boy lay dead in a rented car, an apparent victim of carbon monoxide poisoning. In the car with him were his parents, who would survive both the effects of the gas and self-inflicted knife wounds only to face murder charges in their son's death. The subsequent trial of Ted and Rose Bates ranks as one of the most hotly debated in Saskatchewan history.Historian Bill Waiser examines an incident long held up as an example of the sheer despair and bureaucratic heartlessness of the Depression and shows that the truth is much more complex. Through meticulous research, including letters, police and trial documents, contemporary accounts, and interviews with people who knew Ted, Rose, and Jackie, the author recreates the troubled lives and desperate times of Ted and Rose Bates in order to explain what led them to that isolated schoolyard on a cold December night. Waiser traces the Bates' story from Ted and Rose's arrival in Canada as immigrants searching for a better life to the final outcome of their dramatic trial. The story is written with an immediacy that goes beyond a more traditional narrative approach in order to provide a better understanding and appreciation of the circumstances behind the sorry incident. The words spoken throughout the book are taken verbatim from the sources and serve to reinforce that the Bates were not simply helpless victims of the Depression, but flawed people with complex personalities.Who Killed Jackie Bates? superbly recreates the Depression ethos to provide insight into a time and place that seem light years away from the Canada of today."